This Christie Comedy shares a lot of plot points and gags with Charley Chase's CRAZY LIKE A FOX: Neal Burns wants to get out of being engaged to Lila Leslie, so he decides to act insane. Unlike Chase's comedy, however, we lack sympathy for Burns. He has not been asked to marry the unseen daughter of an old friend to satisfy his father, nor has he fallen in love with a girl that very afternoon -- the fact that she is the girl he is under orders to marry is a delicious little joke that the audience shares and that Charley is not in on.
And that is, I would estimate, why the Chase piece is a near-classic, while this one is merely a good comedy with some fine gag sequences: we lack sympathy for Neal Burns, who wants what he wants when it is conventionally desirable, but not otherwise, This is, mind you, not a bad comedy. There are some very funny gag sequences, particularly the opening one in which the butler becomes increasingly violent with his mistress' suitors. But great comedy requires more than great gags. It requires someone we can care about and I don't give a hang about Mr. Burns and his selfish wishes.
And that is, I would estimate, why the Chase piece is a near-classic, while this one is merely a good comedy with some fine gag sequences: we lack sympathy for Neal Burns, who wants what he wants when it is conventionally desirable, but not otherwise, This is, mind you, not a bad comedy. There are some very funny gag sequences, particularly the opening one in which the butler becomes increasingly violent with his mistress' suitors. But great comedy requires more than great gags. It requires someone we can care about and I don't give a hang about Mr. Burns and his selfish wishes.
