User reviews

This film is nearly identical to one of those Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies, except minus music, in place of Astaire is Gene Raymond and in place of Ginger Rogers is Ann Sothern. The supporting characters are taken right from Top Hat or Swing Time. Helen Brodericik, Eric Blore, and Erik Rhodes are all in top form in identical roles from the Astaire/Rogers movies. This particular film is pretty funny, though, mainly because of Eric Blore's power trip when Gene Raymond, his boss, has him pretend to be HIS boss. Blore, always the servant, is hilarious as the pretend-boss. Also, the climactic scene is so bad it's funny. Raymond pretends he's about to commit suicide so that Sothern will prove her love for him. Odd, but charming all the same. 7/10.

Boy meets girl; Boy (Gene Raymond, who sings a song in this one!)devises scheme to spend more time with girl Cookie, Ann Sothern(what movie Wasn't she in, from the 1920ss - 1980s ? It all works out in the end. Clever banter in several scenes, like when Gene tries to get the home address for a model he had just met. Helen Broderick puts him down over & over again with quick zingers. Etta McDaniel (Hattie McDaniel's sister) plays the maid. Eric Blore, the droll butler as always switches places with Gene Raymond, and keeps messing up the Master Plan; Erik Rhodes plays the rich foreigner that massacres the English language, as usual. Fun romp. Look for Alan Curtis, who had leading roles in Mannequin, High Sierra, and the Philo Vance movies of the 1940s.

"The Smartest Girl in Town" is a typical 1936 film with a typical plot. A wealthy man (Gene Raymond) falls for a model named Cookie (Ann Sothern) who mistakes him for a model. He has his butler (Erik Blore) call Cookie's booker and claim he's from an advertising agency so he can book her again and get close to her during the shoot. Meanwhile, Cookie's sister (Helen Broderick) is trying to marry her off to a supposedly rich foreigner (Erik Rhodes) whom Cookie not only doesn't love but can't understand.

The actors are all good - Helen Broderick always had great line delivery, and Eric Blore is in his usual role. Ann Sothern is beautiful and Gene Raymond is charming. It just doesn't add up to much with its very thin plot. I assume this was a B film since it only ran an hour. It's cute, but nothing special.

Ann Sothern and Gene Raymond are the handsome young leads who are bound to get together eventually in this good-natured, slightly manic comedy.

Sothern plays a model determined to find and marry a rich man. She meets handsome millionaire Raymond during a modeling job on his yacht - but mistakenly assumes he is the male model supposed to meet her there. Raymond (immediately smitten, of course) quickly gathers that it will be more fun if she thinks he is a peer rather than a millionaire, and he begins an elaborate scheme to win her heart as a poor working sap.

A big part of Raymond's scheme is enlisting his valet, Eric Blore, to pretend to switch roles with him. Blore is hilarious as the scandalized employee gradually leaning into his assumed role as boss instead of servant. Helen Broderick is equally good as Sothern's tart-tongued sister and manager. Erik Rhodes has a couple of extremely goofy scenes as a baron with money who would be an eligible suitor for Sothern if he could just stop talking about birds and eggs all the time.

The plot holds hardly any surprises, but there is a neat scene where Sothern washes Raymond's wild mop of hair in her bathroom sink, realizing as she does so that he has become more than just a co-worker. And despite the standard plot, clever dialog and enthusiastic performances throughout make this one lots of fun.

This is one of those film in which the dialogue is the star. It is filled with clever repartee. Not exactly realistic, but this is a comedy, after all. And the cast is up to the challenge, delivering the lines with gusto.

Ann Sothern plays the female lead, Cookie--a model who is weary of poverty and vows to change her luck by marrying a rich man. She is quite charming in this role, though I would prefer that her penciled-on eyebrows did not circle her eyes. I exaggerate, and it is not enough to ruin her beauty. In fact, I think the director missed an opportunity to frame that beauty in a meaningful way. Early in the film, she is sleeping in a deck chair, waiting for a shoot to begin. When she removes the hat that is covering her eyes, it is a glamorous shot reminiscent of other actresses' classic introductory shots, e.g. Grace Kelly in "Rear Window". If this shot of Sothern had been the first in the film, it would have been a memorable scene.

Gene Raymond plays the rich playboy, Richard Smith, out to capture her heart. Eric Blore--seemingly a fixture in every RKO production during this era--plays Richard's valet, Philbean, with the customary Blore bluster.

Helen Broderick plays Cookie's sister and delivers some of the best lines. She is determined to help her sister land a guy with greenbacks galore. But neither sister knows that Richard is rich.

"The Smartest Girl" is lightweight fun and only runs 58 minutes.

Ann Southern enjoys being a model and getting to wear rich clothing, but she hates turning it back in. She decides she's going to marry a rich man. When she's shooting a layout on a yacht, she concludes that Gene Raymond is, like her, a model earning a good $10 a day. He's actually the yacht's owner, a man constantly having to pay women for pursuing them. He decides he's going to win her by the force of his personality.

Raymond is in his rich, handsome guy mode here, and that's not my favorite characterizaton, but Miss Sothern is a delight at her most cynical. Under the direction of Joseph Santley, there are some nice comedy sequences, and the whole thing looks like it was shot on the sets for an Astaire-Rogers movie, and it has the character actors to prove it. Eric Blore is Raymond's manservant, Helen Broderick is Miss Sothern's scornful sister, and Erik Rhodes her fractured-Italian suitor. It's clearly all formula all the time, but the wry tone that everyone takes -- except for Raymond -- makes it fun.

Ann Sothern plays a model here who, especially in the beginning, is portrayed as quite a spoiled brat, as a viewer you quickly start to dislike her because of her selfish character.

However, Raymond nevertheless falls head over heels in love with her upon their first meeting. While he knows that she is purely after money, it comes across as very naive.

Gradually she becomes more sympathetic and the sharp edges in her character are smoothed away.

The scene in the bathroom is crucial but actually a bit too little to make it really believable.

All in all, somewhat amusing, but the romance is ultimately not very believable.

"Smartest Girl in Town" is a very funny comedy romance that borders on the screwball. This is one of several comedies that Gene Raymond and Ann Sothern made for RKO, and I think the best of the lot. Although there are a couple more in the screwball realm that are just about as good.

Besides Raymond and Sothern, three other familiar actors in the supporting cast contribute to the humor. Helen Broderick plays Mrs. Gwen Mayen, the sister of Sothern's Frances "Cookie" Cooke. Gwen has an itinerant ex-husband who shows up periodically to mooch off of her. That's Terry, played by Harry Jans. Eric Blore - I think the best comedy actor of all time in butler or valet roles, plays Lucius Philbean here. He is - you guessed it, the valet to Raymond's Dick Smith. That's the somewhat alias that Richard Stuyvesant Smith goes by as he makes a play for Cookie. She calls him m"Smtty." Erik Rhodes is Baron Enrico Torene, who's out to woo Frances with his rare egg collection.

Well, I said this is borderline screwball. The first half is rather straightforward comedy with one of those common wealthy people disguised or acting as a common non-wealthy person, trying to win the other without his (or her) money. It all starts out as a mistaken identity when the wealthy Smith returns early to his yacht. Trusty Philbean has rented it for a couple of hours for use by a photo publicity firm. The shoot has been delayed some because the male model hasn't shown up, so when Dick figures out what's going on, he plays along as the model. All of this to win the girl he's just fallen for.

Philbean, in the meantime, is glad not to have been caught for his indiscreet way of making some money on the side. But, he's also the watchdog of his boss, to keep him from again going overboard and having a young thing taking his boss for some big dough. Well, Cookie has her heart set on marrying for money - nothing new there. Sister Gwen wants her to go for the baron who's loaded with money. She puts off Dick's moves, so he makes up an advertising company with Philbean at the head and he hires Cookie. This is all to film commercials for the make-believe company. But, in reality, it's so Smitty can get close to Cookie and win her over.

Before this is over with, lots of mayhem, silliness and just plain screwball activity happens, bringing the whole thing to a happy conclusion at the end. One scene that may be unique in all of filmdom has Cookie giving Smitty a hair treatment and shampoo. It's funny and quite intense and messy, so it's probably a scene that was shot in just one take. This film has lots of laughs and many smiles. It's for those who enjoy real comedy and like to laugh. I think most people would still enjoy it well into the 21st century. The last scene in the Belvedere Hotel is riotously funny and had me laughing out loud.

Here are some favorite lines.

Mrs. Gwen Mayen, "What's wrong with him?" Frances "Cookie" Cooke, "Oh, there's noting wrong with him, and there's nothing right with him. He's a foreigner. I don't understand him, and he's a bore."

Gwen Mayen, "Oh, what difference does it make what he collects, so long as he has the habit? You can get him to collect furs, emeralds, diamonds just as easy."

Photographer, "Hey, what's your name - I told you to hold here there." Dick Smith, "The name's Smith." Frances Cooke, "You sure it isn't locksmith?"

Lucious Philbean, fumbling with the office phone, as Smith tries to get him to use the switch on his desk, "Hello... switch, which switch, hello, are you there? Oh, of course you're there. Yeah, we're all here... yeah, were al..." He continues mumbling.

Lucious Philbean, "Oh, but sir, I thought...." Dick Smith, "What with?"

Frances Cooke, "My father used to say, A smart man knows that money can buy anything, so he doesn't have to prove it.'" Dick Smith, "Well, mine used to say, 'Money makes a man go for it.'"

Dick Smith, "Wait a minute! That's not right. She can't be in love with that fellow. She must be in love with me." Lucius Philbean, "Isn't that rather carrying the wish to the well, sir?"

Cookie Cooke, "This stuff'll nail your hair right into your scalp."

Dick Smith, "You mean you'd really go to bat for me?" Cookie, "Well, you were nice to get me my job. Anyway, you're such a nitwit that you need a manager."

Dick Smith, "Say, I'm no cripple." Gwen, "Well, you stand an awfully good chance of making it if you don't scram."

This is a very lightweight film from RKO that has many of the same things you'd find in a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film--but also without the same quality or fun. Plus, there is a serious problem with one of the characters that makes it hard to rate this one higher.

Ann Sothern plays a model who has decided that she needs to get married--and not for love but money. It just happens that a rich guy is instantly smitten with her (you're never sure why) and after ignoring him for much of the film, Ann decides she can allow herself to marry a poor guy--and they marry. Sounds romantic, no? NO! But the film has Helen Broderick and Eric Blore and a lot of the plot you'd expect in such a thing. But my problem is that Raymond's character seemed a bit daffy falling for her so quickly and she just seemed like a scheming gold-digger--not exactly an endearing quality.

Despite a charming and capable cast, this movie was really bad.

The story had a fair-to-middling premise, but the final script was just muddled and silly.

The whole things seems to be based on "Hmmmm. We've got to crank out some film to fill some theaters."

Ann Sothern has long been one of my favorites (I guess I have several), and she is delightful to watch and lovely to look at. She is always charming, even downright adorable.

Gene Raymond is a good-looking and talented guy who seems to be little known these days, and I don't understand why.

Unfortunately, the production is slap-dash and fairly senseless and ultimately not a lot of fun. Except to see Ann Sothern.

This movie has a fine cast - Gene Raymond, who had been in the hit *Flying Down to Rio* a few years before; Ann Southern, who would play second lead to some of Hollywood's biggest names, and had already been in a few good musicals; the character actors Eric Blore, Helen Crawford, and Erik Rhodes - and an occasional clever line, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere, and is sometimes rather choppy.

It was obviously released as a B movie - the opening credits are cheaply done, and it's only 58 minutes long - but my guess is that something happened along the way, and that it was meant to be at least a little longer than what we have. Even B movies were usually around 75 minutes. Scenes or parts of scenes seem to be missing. Perhaps more musical numbers? The poster presents Southern as a sultry vamp, and that's not at all her character in the movie. There also isn't anything in the movie to suggest that she's particularly smart. Raymond's character does all the plotting. Something went wrong along the way to completion here.

If you're an Ann Southern fan - I can't imagine that there are any Gene Raymond fans left - you won't have to suffer to get through this. But don't expect to remember any of it 24 hours later.