Of all the major 30s star actresses, Miriam Hopkins ranks among the most bizarrely overlooked and underrated. Her string of excellent 30s and 40s films is quite impressive but she is often referred to as being stagy or brittle. Yet she had a great sense of humor and was memorable in several comedies, including this film, Old Acquaintance (with Bette Davis), and The Smiling Lieutenant (with Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert). Hopkins was famous for her dislike of Hollywood, and the results has been a bad rep -- undeserved.
In Wise Girl she play an heiress trying to rescue the children of her dead sister from their guardian -- the sister's brother-in-law (Ray Milland), an artist who works at odd jobs. The film offers several hilarious scene such as Hopkins taking a bath is a storeroom, Hopkins joining Milland and Guinn Williams in a Greenwich Village restaurant for $3 apiece to act as "Bohemians," and Hopkins going ringside during one of Williams' fights. Milland is also excellent and very funny.
Hopkins and Milland make a great couple. The film also boasts solid support from Williams, Walter Abel, Henry Stephenson, James Finlayson, Margaret Dumont, Grace Hayle, Leonid Kinskey, and Inez Palange. The two girls are OK.
But Hopkins, drunk on a "slice of wine" and wearing a pinned-together dress that is twice her size is hilarious as she blows at stray hairs while smoking a cigarette with a long cigarette holder.... A scream.
Hollywood's version of Greenwich Village is way off of course, but the courtyard complex Milland lives in, filled with artsy types, is quite impressive. Hopkins and Milland make a grand comedy team.
In Wise Girl she play an heiress trying to rescue the children of her dead sister from their guardian -- the sister's brother-in-law (Ray Milland), an artist who works at odd jobs. The film offers several hilarious scene such as Hopkins taking a bath is a storeroom, Hopkins joining Milland and Guinn Williams in a Greenwich Village restaurant for $3 apiece to act as "Bohemians," and Hopkins going ringside during one of Williams' fights. Milland is also excellent and very funny.
Hopkins and Milland make a great couple. The film also boasts solid support from Williams, Walter Abel, Henry Stephenson, James Finlayson, Margaret Dumont, Grace Hayle, Leonid Kinskey, and Inez Palange. The two girls are OK.
But Hopkins, drunk on a "slice of wine" and wearing a pinned-together dress that is twice her size is hilarious as she blows at stray hairs while smoking a cigarette with a long cigarette holder.... A scream.
Hollywood's version of Greenwich Village is way off of course, but the courtyard complex Milland lives in, filled with artsy types, is quite impressive. Hopkins and Milland make a grand comedy team.