After Jack Smith (Neil Hamilton) and his wife (Miriam Jordan) divorce, she completes her legal education, and they oppose each other in a courtroom in a case involving damages over an annulment forced by a meddling mother-in-law. The case itself reflects the root cause of their own divorce (a meddling mother-in-law). Whether love wins over the "battle axe" dowagers in either case is the basis for the plot of this little comedy.
In some ways this film is a precursor to "Adam's Rib," but Hamilton and Jordan, of course, can't rival Tracey and Hepburn. Even so, there are some notable features making a viewing worthwhile. First, Jordan does a pretty good job of portraying a competent, self-assured and successful layer at a time when women attorneys were rare. Second, she also makes a worthwhile and (relevant to our own times), albeit brief, statement about the credentials as a true American of the son of the immigrant businessman Henry Populopulini (played fabulously by Henry Armetta, who stole every scene he was in). Third, the film offers a case study about attitudes toward marriage, in-laws, and class consciousness in 1934.
Although stagy, with a somewhat abrupt and unsatisfying ending, we can be grateful to the Library of Congress for restoring this film.
