The Goose and the Gander

This is the best of the Kay Francis vehicles, and I had never heard of it before a couple days ago.

Kay is stylish, George Brent actually looks handsome. And there is a real plot, not just cutesy and/or tear-jerking posturing.

Married couples, formerly married couples. And -- a couple who are jewel thieves.

It zings along and is great, amusing, romantic fun.

A silly but smoothly directed farce that throws together adultery, smallpox and jewel thieves acted by a game cast against the usual luxurious backdrops. Routine but fun.

Kay Francis is a divorcee who happens to overhear her ex husband's new wife (Genevieve Tobin) plotting an assignation with her would be lover (George Brent). Francis hatches an elaborate plot to lure Tobin and Brent to her holiday home, and then expose them to her ex, so that she can get him back. However, things start to go wrong, not least because Francis begins to be attracted to Brent, and he to her. and the plot becomes even more confused by a couple of jewel thieves, until just about everyone is pretending to be someone else, in fact it reminds me a bit of a PG.Wodehouse novel, which generally contain several imposters. It is all quite hilarious.

This is just a real cute movie, especially on a drab, frigid winter's day. Kay Francis sparkles and her wardrobe, is as ever, beautiful. George Brent is bright & breezy and seems to be giving the audience inclusive, knowing wink. It's a fun way to spend an hour.

After Kay Francis retired from films, she was recognized. "Aren't you Kay Francis?" someone asked. She answered, "I was."

Certainly no one had risen higher than Francis and had stuck it out, even when Warners filled her scripts with words that had 'r' in them to play up her speech impediment, and even when she could only get roles at studios like Monogram and Republic. Tough isn't the word.

Here she's at the height of her career, very glamorous, in "The Goose and the Gander," from 1935. Besides Francis, the film features George Brent, Geraldine Tobin, John Eldredge, and Claire Dodd.

At a party, Georgiana (Francis), whose husband left her for another woman, overhears that woman (Tobin) planning a weekend affair with another man (Brent).

Georgiana puts together an complicated plot whereby the cheaters wind up at her house, and her ex comes over and catches them. The situation that brought them to her house (too complex to go into - it concerns no gas and a quarantine) brings another couple to her door - jewel thieves!

As others have pointed out, this was probably written during the precode era and rewritten to meet the Code. The only thing that confused me is that Brent and Tobin were going to spend the weekend together and present themselves to Georgiana as a married couple. So she naturally puts them in one bedroom. Tobin has a fit and forces Brent out onto the roof! What were they planning on doing on this weekend? Play cards? It made no sense, even though it was funny.

Very cute comedy, and Brent looks quite handsome. Nice to see Francis in something besides a turgid melodrama. She not only suffered well, but she had a nice comedic style.