One of my favorite screwball comedies, Hands Across The Table pairs my girl Carole Lombard with Fred MacMurray and the results are hilarious. Carole plays manicurist Regi Allen, who works at a swank hotel, and is determined to land a millionaire.One of her regular clients is Allen Macklyn, a rich man who was paralyzed in a plane crash. He's played by Ralph Bellamy. They get along great. Fred MacMurray enters the picture as poor playboy Theodore Drew, III, and the two are instantly attracted to each other. Wrongly believing Theodore to be wealthy, Regi invites him to live in her apartment -- until she discovers he's broke. Theodore wants to marry rich too, and so he gets engaged to an heiress he doesn't love. In classic screwball fashion, Regi and Theodore desperately try to ignore their growing passion for one another in favor of the promise of money -- and fail miserably. Carole and Fred make a great team and Hands Across the Table is a great looking and funny film. It does get a little serious towards the end, but never gets too serious. Carole is on the mark as usual and looks fabulous. Fred is pretty good as well. Great support by Bellamy and Ruth Donnelly as Regi's boss. One of the best screwball comedies ever. And one of my favorites that Carole made. As she is definitely in her element here in this fun movie. With expert direction by the great Mitchell Leisen, this is one of the genre's best!
I could have also written about Carole's next pairing with Fred in the just as wonderful, True Confession in 1937. Maybe I can do that for the next romantic comedy blogathon. Wait, there will be another romantic comedy blogathon, I hope. Here are some more photos from Hands Across The Table.
Thanks to Lara Gabrielle over at backlots and Vince over at carole-and-co for hosting this wonderful blogathon. My entry was just one of many so please check out all the other bloggers who made some terrific entries as well.
Glad someone wrote about this film, which like "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and "Virtue" are Lombard movies that have gained popularity in recent years, alongside the perennials "Twentieth Century," "My Man Godfrey," "Nothing Sacred" and "To Be Or Not To Be."
ReplyDeleteLeisen manages to bring some sexual tension to the movie -- not the easiest thing to do more than a year after the Production Code was strictly enforced -- in the scenes where the two leads are staying the night at her house.
Oh, and one correction: "True Confession" was the last of four Lombard-MacMurray pairings. Second was "The Princess Comes Across," followed by "Swing High, Swing Low."
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