Cary Grant is Dr. Maurice Lamar, a Parisian plastic surgeon and beauty expert with a large fanbase of women, both previous and current clients, who adore him for his work and his looks. Rich husband Marcel (Edward Everett Horton) implores Dr. Lamar to not work on his homely wife, but the doctor does so anyway, and the newly beautified Eve (Genevieve Tobin) leaves her husband for the doctor. Meanwhile, Lamar's secretary Anne (Helen Mack) has secretly been in love with the doctor for a long time, but when he starts seeing Eve, she begins seeing Marcel, with the resulting inter-couple shenanigans. Also featuring Lucien Littlefield, Toby Wing, Mona Maris, Henry Armetta, and the "WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1934", including Julie Bishop, Gigi Parrish, and Helen (daughter of George M.) Cohan. 19-year-old Ann Sheridan also appears in a minor part.
This is a mix of several comedy styles: the European sophistication of an Ernst Lubitsch film, the screwball antics that would shortly become so popular, and even some broad slapstick, with a car-chase finale that seems lifted from a Keystone Kops short. Grant is good here, showing many of the qualities of his well-know screen persona. He sings a song at one point, and his warbling vocal isn't too awful. Mack and Tobin are okay in the female leads, but this may have been better with others in their roles. Horton is reliably funny. This was the final year of the WAMPAS Baby Stars lists of promising young actresses, a promotional endeavor started by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers back in 1922. "Baby Star" was another term for "starlet" back then, if the name confused anyone like it did me. While previous lists had included the likes of Joan Crawford, Clara Bow, Ginger Rogers, Mary Astor, and Fay Wray, this final year's roster didn't include any luminaries, with the biggest future name in the pretty-background-girl cast (Ann Sheridan) not on the list. Jean Negulesco is listed as "associate director".
This is a mix of several comedy styles: the European sophistication of an Ernst Lubitsch film, the screwball antics that would shortly become so popular, and even some broad slapstick, with a car-chase finale that seems lifted from a Keystone Kops short. Grant is good here, showing many of the qualities of his well-know screen persona. He sings a song at one point, and his warbling vocal isn't too awful. Mack and Tobin are okay in the female leads, but this may have been better with others in their roles. Horton is reliably funny. This was the final year of the WAMPAS Baby Stars lists of promising young actresses, a promotional endeavor started by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers back in 1922. "Baby Star" was another term for "starlet" back then, if the name confused anyone like it did me. While previous lists had included the likes of Joan Crawford, Clara Bow, Ginger Rogers, Mary Astor, and Fay Wray, this final year's roster didn't include any luminaries, with the biggest future name in the pretty-background-girl cast (Ann Sheridan) not on the list. Jean Negulesco is listed as "associate director".