The father of Anna Q. Nilsson and Geoffrey Kerr died, and left them very rich.... and in Kokomo, Indiana, whence they are leaving for a grand tour of Europe. They leave behind a happy town, and James Kirkwood, the executor of their estate, who's long been in love with Miss Nilsson, but never mentioned it. They have a grand time, and in southern Italy, they find love, so they speak. Miss Nilsson is engaged to be married to Prince Norman Kerry, with a promised gift of a mere half a million dollars. When he's asked to write the check, Kirkwood may have just won election as governor, but he won't take office for a few months. He figures he has a duty to investigate, so he heads to Italy, rescuing an incognito King John Miltern, whose car has broken down on the road. Miltern poses as a professor, and invites Kirkwood to stay with him. Kirkwood annoys Kerr and Miss Nilsson by playing the ugly American, ordering ham and eggs and refusing wine while he has his hip flask. But he's a canny fellow who soon realizes that Kerry and his family are a bunch of bunk, conniving grifters. But how can he convince his young charges?
Demille had already made a version of Booth Tarkington's play back in 1914, so with the advantage of actually shooting in Italy, Paramount figured it was a sure property. Under the direction of stylist George Fitzmaurice and DP Roy Overbaugh, there's plenty of Italian scenery for people who want it, and it's a nicely told story. Kirkwood was one of those popular leading men of the 1910s and early 1920s, whose star dimmed, even though he continued working into the 1960s, He died in 1963 at the age of 88. His son, James Kirkwood Jr, wrot the book for A Chorus Line.
Apparently they based the production out of Paramount's British office, which explains why it's a very early credit for an art director and title designer named Alfred Hitchcock.
