My American Wife

Ann Southern has married very noble Hungarian Fracis Lederer. This pleases everyone in her home town in Arizona, except for her grandfather, Fred Stone. He fought Indians to claim the land, and he and his family are wealthy. What he's proudest of is being American. So he's not impressed by Lederer, who claims to love his wife, but is even more in love with America. But even as he comes to win Stone around, the rest of the family grows more disturbed by the fact that the eclat of his background seems out of step with the rest of them, and gradually, Miss Sothern.

It's more of a drama than a straight-up comedy, which you would not expect from some of the names in the cast, including Billie Burke as Miss Sothern's mother. However, although she had a sure hand as a snobbish but good-hearted nitwit, it's fascinating to watch her move to the other side of amusement into a character whose lack of understanding extends to important issues. Lederer, alas, is off a bit in tone, and the stuffiness and wrong-headed family makes this occasionally unpleasant rather than raising sympathy. But Stone is a delight.