Three Loves Has Nancy

I enjoyed the running gag of Janet Gaynor always thinking she lost something - her purse or gloves - and Robert Montgomery trying to help but running into trouble himself because of it (especially in the cute ending). And the idea of a small-town homebody having two sophisticated New Yorkers fall for her is inherently funny, but most of the time I found myself not laughing. So the film is a valiant try but no cigars are forthcoming. This was the last film Janet Gaynor made for about 19 years. (The film "The Young in Heart (1938)" was made earlier in 1938 but came out later that year.) Gaynor is perfect as the girl, with Montgomery and Franchot Tone giving good performances.

I was startled at a major goof near the end, when Gaynor's family and Tone's family meet in Tone's apartment. His father is played by Douglas Wood, who has the speaking part. But in some shots we clearly see another man (Charles Richman) in the background standing in for Tone's father. There was no effort to hide him either, and even if you don't know either actor, you just have to know that Wood has a mustache and Richman doesn't. And the all the actors' placement with each of the fathers are totally mismatched. To me, this ranks as the greatest lack of continuity by a major studio ever, and I'd be curious to know why it happened.