6/10
Husband and wife exchange roles
22 June 2019
Up Pops The Devil was a Broadway play by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich which ran for 148 performances on Broadway, a most respectable run for the Depression years. It is most dated since it rigidly defines the gender roles of the day. I doubt will see the play revived or the movie remade.

Norman Foster and Carole Lombard are husband and wife. He's an ad man who dabbles in writing, she's your typical homemaker. When he gets a nibble on one of his story ideas he can't work on that exclusively so she goes to work as a showgirl for nightclub owner Theodore Von Eltz. He stays at home and is real unhappy the wife is supporting the household.

They used to entertain a lot, but it turns out Foster can't budget and manage money the way Lombard could. Parties are out, a lot of what they did is out. Both also spark interest from other parties for affairs.

Best in the film is a cameo from Stu Erwin as an inebriated stranger who wanders in off the street because it looks like a good time is to be had.

It's a good film, but it's a museum piece, terribly dated.
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