Step Lively, Jeeves!

When I acquired the two Jeeves films that Arthur Treacher did I learned that Darryl Zanuck and 20th Century Fox because of the success of Thank You Jeeves wanted to buy David Niven's contract from Sam Goldwyn. But Goldwyn balked. Zanuck wanted to make a series of films based on the P.G. Wodehouse characters, but it was not to be. One wonders about David Niven's career had that happened, but in terms of this film Jeeves without Wooster was a bit of a let down for Wodehouse purists.

The way it worked is that his impulsive and bored master was constantly getting into problems over his head and Jeeves would pull him out. He was the steady rock of the team.

But in Step Lively Jeeves it is Arthur Treacher who gets used by a pair of conmen, Georges Givot and Alan Dinehart. These two convince Treacher he's the heir to Sir Francis Drake and there's a hidden treasure that is his by right. And of course if folks want to invest in the finding of said treasure why Dinehart and Givot are ready to help.

Their con game gets a stroke of luck as a former bootlegger who stashed his loot and is now rich is desperate to crash society take up Treacher's cause. John Harrington and Helen Flint are a pair too good to be true, but in itself causes problems for our two conmen.

Step Lively Jeeves is a funny enough film, but it's all cockeyed as Jeeves is supposed to be the smart one.