Stolen Sweets

Sally Blane is the very properly brought up daughter of a wealthy family. She is returning from spending a lot of money in Paris. One evening she is standing on the A deck of the ship and drops her purse into a group of rowdy passengers on B deck. When they notice it, they pick it up curiously. When Miss Blane descends to collect it, they play a bit of Saloogie, then toss it over the railing, while her stuffy nurse calls them unpleasant things. Nonetheless, the ringleader, Charles Starrett talks her around, and by the time the ship docks, they are in love.... which puts a crimp in her plans to be married to dull, mildly obnoxious and even wealthier Jameson Thomas.

Richard Thorpe directs this unself-aware version of HOLIDAY from a script by Karl Brown, with the thesis that the rich have everything, except freedom, fun and love. Miss Blane has led such a restricted life that she knows neither what she is missing, nor what she has. Starrett knows the value of hard work and both what he has and has not got, and his and Miss Blane's love for each other interferes with everyone's plans. Thorpe does what he can with this script. He gets good performances, he gets in some good compositions, but like many a script decrying the wealthy from people who know nothing of it, it's an exercise in straw-man arguments, in which Miss Blane's father, Claude King, fights unfairly, because he can and it's the only way he has of winning.