La casa delle fanciulle

Unworldly professor's son John Hubbard returns to his father's house, ambitious to become a newspaper. He's encouraged in this by The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939), Joan Bennett, who has just quit Marc Lawrence's mob in disgust. Newspaper editor Donald Meek wants a story on Lilian Bond's death, apparently form falling off a houseboat, and after a night of drinking with ace reporter Adolphe Menjou, Hubbard writes a story claiming he knows who did it and falls soddenly asleep. Lawrence thinks he's going to be framed, so he continually sends henchman Victor Mature (in his screen debut) to beat up Hubbard, failing because he is a wimp.

Hal Roach not only produced this movie, he directed it, and it's pretty uneven: best when Menjou, Lawrence or Miss Bennett is about, while Hubbard is uninteresting as the mild-as-water lead. At least part of the problem with this movie seems to lie with the editing by William Ziegler, which introduced a couple of plot points which it then ignores, or has people do things simply to set up a gag. But the comedy keeps this one continually interesting.