I often like to guess the year a film was made - this was an easy one - with a very young Bette Davis playing an heiress -- it had to be post-1934's It Happened One Night and before her really major late '30s work began.
Yes, it's about an heiress and a reporter - I'd love to see a count of how many films were made post-1934 about heiresses and reporters, probably hundreds. In this case, Davis is a cafeteria cashier hired by a cosmetic firm's publicity agent to live the life of Daisy Appleby, heiress, with the idea that gossip about her will keep the Appelby name in the headlines.
It's not long before Daisy is tired of being chased around, so she asks a reporter named Johnny (George Brent) to enter into a marriage of convenience with her. He needs money to write a book, and she wants to rest. Johnny, however, finds that the good life isn't for him. In fact, it's a big fat bore. He acts out by going after the daughter of an oil tycoon. And you can guess the rest.
Davis is pert, bubbly, and expressive, to the extent that Brent seems a little stodgy for her. I would have loved to have seen her paired with someone like Joel McCrea or the boyish Henry Fonda. I think then it would have been a better film. As it is, it's okay, and she's always a pleasure to watch.
If you like Davis in this, check her out in one of my favorite early comedies of hers, "It's Love I'm After," with Leslie Howard.
Yes, it's about an heiress and a reporter - I'd love to see a count of how many films were made post-1934 about heiresses and reporters, probably hundreds. In this case, Davis is a cafeteria cashier hired by a cosmetic firm's publicity agent to live the life of Daisy Appleby, heiress, with the idea that gossip about her will keep the Appelby name in the headlines.
It's not long before Daisy is tired of being chased around, so she asks a reporter named Johnny (George Brent) to enter into a marriage of convenience with her. He needs money to write a book, and she wants to rest. Johnny, however, finds that the good life isn't for him. In fact, it's a big fat bore. He acts out by going after the daughter of an oil tycoon. And you can guess the rest.
Davis is pert, bubbly, and expressive, to the extent that Brent seems a little stodgy for her. I would have loved to have seen her paired with someone like Joel McCrea or the boyish Henry Fonda. I think then it would have been a better film. As it is, it's okay, and she's always a pleasure to watch.
If you like Davis in this, check her out in one of my favorite early comedies of hers, "It's Love I'm After," with Leslie Howard.