The Girl Habit

Odd comedy has Charlie Ruggles as a Lothario about to be married, but he's being framed by a sales girl who has misleading letters he wrote to her. He tries to get the letters back but her husband walks in and catches them together. To escape the husband, Ruggles gets himself sent to prison.

Many things in this comedy just do not work. Several of the story elements are not funny and do not work. Others don't go anywhere. Ruggles is fine doing his usual bumbling act. The two female leads, however, are simply terrible. Sue Conroy as Lucy Ledyard, has zero appeal, and Tamara Geva as Russian Sonya equals her. This was Conry's final film and Geva's American talkie debut.

Allen Jenkins plays the husband and plays the role as a straight dramatic part. It doesn't work. Douglas Gilmore plays Huntley, the man who's manipulating all the action. Jerome Daley plays the nasty jail warden. Edward Gargan plays a detective.

Coming off better are Donald Meek as Jonesy the butler, Margaret Dumont as Blanche Ledyard, and Betty Garde as Hattie the warden's wife. Paulette Goddard plays one of the sales girls.

In the final analysis, Ruggles and Dumont are good together, but they needed a better story.