El dichoso engaño

Some spoilers may be contained within.

Odd mixture of some comedy, some music but still entertaining mostly due to it's short running time (67 minutes) and supporting cast. What seems to be a showcase for Ruth Terry (cigar girl and wanna be singer Carol Lambert in a swank hotel in Fla).; instead is stolen away by her unsavory uncle (Col. Ambrose Morgan) played by the always capable and funny Alan Mowbray. Uncle Ambrose (aided by sidekick Eddie Marr as Billy) cons everyone and everything in sight.

Ruth/Carol is given little to do except look nice, sing a few tunes (a nice version of the Joseph Dubin-Gus Kahn standard Love Me Or Leave Me, plus the title tune) and be the love interest for bandleader Gene Ritchie (Robert Livingston). A longer running time may have helped two points...Carol and Gene's romance, told in a montage and Mona's (Adrian Booth, later Lorna Gray) character. Mona is the vocalist in Gene's band, which has a gig at the hotel where Carol works. Mona waits to the last reel before she reacts to Carol taking her vocal spot during a live, coast to coast radio broadcast and shortly after, her man Gene. Before that she puts up some fuss, by not nearly enough.

Fans of the period will recognize other stellar character actors, fussy Franklin Pangborn as hotel mgr. Mr Lovelace, and truck drivers Tom Dugan (Smith); George Chandler (Marx). Again, these pros all make the goings on both watchable and pleasant.

The plot's resolution is fine, but the two leads are lukewarm.