If I had to pick out one leading lady to hang out with and get into all sorts of zany adventures with during the 1930's, it would be Joan Blondell who appeared in a ton of movies in just that decade alone, often 10 in a year, and usually the lead. For nearly that entire decade (joining in 1930, departing sometime in 1939), she was at Warner Brother, the most factory like of all movie houses, and basically worked on an assembly line of films for that entire time. Unfortunately, she wasn't a huge star like fellow contract players Kay Francis or later on Bette Davis, but extremely well liked even if her box office was just respectable, if not tremendous. For the first and only time, Blondell is paired with their new king, Errol Flynn, whose rise to the top of the box office had just come a few years before. It is a fast moving screwball comedy that like "It Happened One Night" takes its stars on the road, interacting with real people around the country. While "It Happened One Night" focused on a wealthy socialite (Claudette Colbert) trying to get out of a society marriage she didn't want, this focuses on a chipper and polite heir to a fortune (Errol Flynn) deciding he wants to spend time seeing the real world, running off with perky Joan Blondell who accidentally drove through his fence (with him witnessing the whole thing upside down) after she stands up to his imperious grandmother (the delightful May Robson) who keeps Flynn tied to her side against his will.
Along the way, Flynn becomes involved in an amateur fight after an encounter with Allen Jenkins results in him showing off his strength even though Jenkins assumes him to be some sort of dandy, then enjoying along with Blondell the hospitality of the wacky Hugh Herbert. In the meantime, grandmother Robson and her oh so efficient secretary Edward Everett Horton manage to piece together clues to where he is, having initially thought that Blondell had kidnapped him. In the meantime, Flynn's fiancee (the rather dull Beverly Roberts) spends time romancing Robson's ranch handyman (Dick Foran) who is ironically Blondell's brother. But Blondell, discovering that Flynn is due to be married (thanks to pressure from grandma Robson), suddenly runs off, and Flynn decides it is better to be married to a free spirit rather than tied down in boring society life. It is about standing up to grandma in a way which will not bring the old lady down, and this leads to a very funny conclusion involving Flynn, Blondell and a piece of tunnel.
While there is a plot that holds the film together, much of the structure is episodic in nature, starting off with how Flynn manages to escape from grandma's grasp, then moving to the sequence with Jenkins and his girlfriend (Dennie Moore) who start off as adversaries but end up pals, and the strange sequence with Herbert who takes his "woo woo!" personality once again a bit too far. Flynn, on his own when Blondell runs off, gets a taste of what it is like to be the common man (rather than his society moniker of "The perfect specimen") by working as an auto mechanic and gas station attendant. I'm not sure if Flynn and Blondell really share any chemistry, but they are amusing together. Most of the character performances, particularly Robson and Horton's, are very good. As far as "road" movies go, I've seen better, but overall found this enjoyable with the typical Warner Brothers punch that no other studio really ever could top.
Along the way, Flynn becomes involved in an amateur fight after an encounter with Allen Jenkins results in him showing off his strength even though Jenkins assumes him to be some sort of dandy, then enjoying along with Blondell the hospitality of the wacky Hugh Herbert. In the meantime, grandmother Robson and her oh so efficient secretary Edward Everett Horton manage to piece together clues to where he is, having initially thought that Blondell had kidnapped him. In the meantime, Flynn's fiancee (the rather dull Beverly Roberts) spends time romancing Robson's ranch handyman (Dick Foran) who is ironically Blondell's brother. But Blondell, discovering that Flynn is due to be married (thanks to pressure from grandma Robson), suddenly runs off, and Flynn decides it is better to be married to a free spirit rather than tied down in boring society life. It is about standing up to grandma in a way which will not bring the old lady down, and this leads to a very funny conclusion involving Flynn, Blondell and a piece of tunnel.
While there is a plot that holds the film together, much of the structure is episodic in nature, starting off with how Flynn manages to escape from grandma's grasp, then moving to the sequence with Jenkins and his girlfriend (Dennie Moore) who start off as adversaries but end up pals, and the strange sequence with Herbert who takes his "woo woo!" personality once again a bit too far. Flynn, on his own when Blondell runs off, gets a taste of what it is like to be the common man (rather than his society moniker of "The perfect specimen") by working as an auto mechanic and gas station attendant. I'm not sure if Flynn and Blondell really share any chemistry, but they are amusing together. Most of the character performances, particularly Robson and Horton's, are very good. As far as "road" movies go, I've seen better, but overall found this enjoyable with the typical Warner Brothers punch that no other studio really ever could top.