This is a type of comedy for audiences who like their films to be smart and sophisticated. Gambling establishment owner George Raft sees the opportunity to improve his sophistication (or lack of it) and convinces struggling socialite Dolores Costello to turn her large mansion into his newest casino, helping her out financially while fulfilling his goals in life. One of the first guests is supposed northern heiress Ida Lupino whom we soon find out is not whom she claims to be. Who she is and why she is there becomes the subject of Costello's investigation and it appears that she is not going to win the battle with her sophisticated rival.
A terrific screenplay and an even better supporting cast makes this light comedy so easy to take yet something that is for the intellectual in classic films viewers. James Gleason and Edgar Kennedy are among Raft's staff, instantly resentful of Costello for distracting their boss from business and going uptown when they are definitely of a downton mentality. Reginald Owen is delightfully bombastic as Lupino's con-artist uncle, a stick of dynamite stuck into a cake instead of a candle. Not only are the performances and script extremely well done, but the film has all the panache and sophistication that you would expect from Paramount. The mixture of high class and low class (and no class) obviously made this appealing to audiences of all kinds.
A terrific screenplay and an even better supporting cast makes this light comedy so easy to take yet something that is for the intellectual in classic films viewers. James Gleason and Edgar Kennedy are among Raft's staff, instantly resentful of Costello for distracting their boss from business and going uptown when they are definitely of a downton mentality. Reginald Owen is delightfully bombastic as Lupino's con-artist uncle, a stick of dynamite stuck into a cake instead of a candle. Not only are the performances and script extremely well done, but the film has all the panache and sophistication that you would expect from Paramount. The mixture of high class and low class (and no class) obviously made this appealing to audiences of all kinds.