MAID'S NIGHT OUT is an absurd little screwball comedy which demonstrates, in painful fashion, why JOAN FONTAINE was relegated to programmers during her early career at RKO. As in most of her other "comic" turns, she's not served well by a script that would be a hurdle for an accomplished comedienne like Constance Bennett, an actress Fontaine admired greatly.
How anyone would mistake Fontaine for a domestic is a pill hard to swallow--and the ensuing plot twists are equally hard to deal with, even in a screwball comedy. The scene with the milk bottles being tossed off the truck is just too much.
JOAN FONTAINE and ALLAN LANE do the best they can with a tiresome script that has her behaving like a spoiled brat for most of the running time, which is mercifully brief. HEDDA HOPPER is her foolish mother and there's a standout performance by BILLY GILBERT as a fish peddler (at a time when a pound of fish was 18 cents!).
Not an essential Joan Fontaine film, even though TCM features it whenever celebrating her birthday. She looks lovely and she and Allan Lane make a charming couple but it's a strained performance--especially on that milk truck with her floundering around in discomfort as the police chase begins.