SPOILERS: In this too wacky for it's own good, screwball-esque and today near humorless comedy a Puerto Rican adventurer John Evans shares a drink with his oddball millionaire double Malcolm Scott (both played by Brian Aherne). For a lark, they get drunk and the millionaire sends Scott sends passed out Evans to Scotts home where the servants put Evans to bed in Scotts room! But Scott we find out later is killed in an accident. And Evans wakes up with a hangover, and everyone believes he's Scott because they look alike (and are played by the same actor so why not?)
And as each scene comes along Evans finds out that Scott has blackmail problems with gangsters, was recently released from an asylum, was in league with crooked business partners, was a forger of bad checks, carried on several affairs even though he was married to Adrienne played by Kay Francis (see he was nuts)!
Now on one hand I'm a fan of good screwball comedies so I'm willing to watch anything close, but the 16mm print we saw was obviously missing a few minutes. There was one scene where Aherne was rushing off to see his lawyer in his downtown office and the next shot is that evening in a Hungarian restaurant with his bewildered but supportive butler Paul played by S.Z. Skall? And there is a scene where his wife catches him with a black mailing girlfriend in his lap, the wife storms out only to pop up in the next scene playing the piano and billing and cooing about a kiss he was supposed to have given her earlier --- but we never saw?
Sadly weak films like this suffer from poor prints. Maybe some archive can restore the missing scenes and it may be a better film. But from the script, acting and direction I experienced this was one of the worst films from an otherwise charming CINEVENT Film Festival, 2013.
And as each scene comes along Evans finds out that Scott has blackmail problems with gangsters, was recently released from an asylum, was in league with crooked business partners, was a forger of bad checks, carried on several affairs even though he was married to Adrienne played by Kay Francis (see he was nuts)!
Now on one hand I'm a fan of good screwball comedies so I'm willing to watch anything close, but the 16mm print we saw was obviously missing a few minutes. There was one scene where Aherne was rushing off to see his lawyer in his downtown office and the next shot is that evening in a Hungarian restaurant with his bewildered but supportive butler Paul played by S.Z. Skall? And there is a scene where his wife catches him with a black mailing girlfriend in his lap, the wife storms out only to pop up in the next scene playing the piano and billing and cooing about a kiss he was supposed to have given her earlier --- but we never saw?
Sadly weak films like this suffer from poor prints. Maybe some archive can restore the missing scenes and it may be a better film. But from the script, acting and direction I experienced this was one of the worst films from an otherwise charming CINEVENT Film Festival, 2013.