If there was one thing Hollywood had a bumper crop of it was movies about runaway heiresses. I think someone figured out that after It Happened One Night it was the wish of the American male to find some runaway heiress and romance and wed them so they could escape the grind of the Depression. I'm sure off the top of any reader's head they could think of at least ten films with runaway heiresses from A pictures right down to this one from RKO, Cross-Country Romance.
The heiress is Wendy Barrie who is feeling trapped by a marriage her mother Hedda Hopper has arranged with G.P. Huntley, Jr., one gigantic drip of a human being. Doctor Gene Raymond is on his way to San Francisco to catch a boat to China, but as his last official act for the hospital he's working he agrees to drop off a scroll thanking Hopper for her charitable contributions. Coincidentally on the day of Barrie's wedding.
Barrie takes the opportunity to sneak out and hitch a ride in the trailer that Raymond has. If you've seen It Happened One Night and a few dozen other films you know exactly where this is going.
Although this has all really been done before, I wouldn't be surprised if there were two or three other heiress pictures in release when Cross- Country Romance was in first run. The leads are easy to take and RKO did get them a nice supporting cast which also included Billy Gilbert in a part as a hash house cook, something he seems to be repeating from On The Avenue, Berton Churchill and Tom Dugan as a pair of conmen, and of course Hopper who was really hitting her stride as Hollywood's favorite gossip columnist as her movie career became more of a sideline.
Look quickly toward the end and you'll see Alan Ladd as the first mate of a China bound ship. Cross-Country Romance is not bad for the genre of heiress pictures.
The heiress is Wendy Barrie who is feeling trapped by a marriage her mother Hedda Hopper has arranged with G.P. Huntley, Jr., one gigantic drip of a human being. Doctor Gene Raymond is on his way to San Francisco to catch a boat to China, but as his last official act for the hospital he's working he agrees to drop off a scroll thanking Hopper for her charitable contributions. Coincidentally on the day of Barrie's wedding.
Barrie takes the opportunity to sneak out and hitch a ride in the trailer that Raymond has. If you've seen It Happened One Night and a few dozen other films you know exactly where this is going.
Although this has all really been done before, I wouldn't be surprised if there were two or three other heiress pictures in release when Cross- Country Romance was in first run. The leads are easy to take and RKO did get them a nice supporting cast which also included Billy Gilbert in a part as a hash house cook, something he seems to be repeating from On The Avenue, Berton Churchill and Tom Dugan as a pair of conmen, and of course Hopper who was really hitting her stride as Hollywood's favorite gossip columnist as her movie career became more of a sideline.
Look quickly toward the end and you'll see Alan Ladd as the first mate of a China bound ship. Cross-Country Romance is not bad for the genre of heiress pictures.