Miriam Hopkins may be the richest girl in the world, but no one knows what she looks like. Under the direction of her guardian, Henry Stephenson, there are no pictures of her, and her secretary, Fay Wray, poses as her, even to her board of trustees, while Miss Hopkins appears to be Miss Wray, which annoys her husband, Reginald Denny. Along comes Joel Macrea, who quite obviously falls in love with Miss Hopkins, and she with him. However, he doesn't realize it, and when they discuss things, he says he expects to marry one of these days, to some nice girl, and if his bride had an immense pot of money, that would be nice. So Miss Hopkins, in a fit of self-loathing pride, pushes him to go after Miss Wray.
This was a big hit for RKO, and they remade it twice. Like many of their shows, the original is best. Among the reasons are that as society changed, the an attempt to update the themes made the movies seem irrelevant. The two ladies are absolutely gorgeous, and The under-rated Nick Musuraca's camerawork is dark and sharp, and flattering, the glossy look that RKO sought in its society comedies.
The show centers on Miss Hopkins, and director William Seiter shows a lot of the movie through her reaction shots. Hers was an odd beauty. She could look like a rubber-faced dolt in high fashion, but dress her in simple styles and no one looked more gorgeous.
In many ways this is a confluence of three talents respected at the time, but largely forgotten now. Miss Hopkins, if she is remembered, is recalled for being in Lubitsch's Trouble In Paradise; Seiter, if anyone thinks of him, for a couple of early Shirley Temple features; and almost no one thinks of Musuraca, who started as J. Stuart Blackton's chauffeur and worked through the 1960s. Just three of the innumerable talents that populated Hollywood during the Studio period.
The other people who worked on this movie were no slouches either.
