Piccadilly Jim

How on earth could one not enjoy a screwball comedy like "Piccadilly Jim?" Directing a nimble cast that included Robert Montgomery, Eric Blore, Billie Burke, Cora Witherspoon, Robert Benchley and Frank Morgan, Robert Z. Leonard kept this '36 movie popping merrily along, stirring up mayhem of one kind or another and garnering plenty of laughter along the way. Yes, okay, it's dated, and one can see the denouement coming a long way off, but -- despite its predictable nature -- the film has a satisfyingly madcap flavor that can only from the comic timing and talent of the team of acting pros assembled here. Veteran Eric Blore (playing yet another of his seemingly unlimited roster of butlers) steals every scene he is in. P.G. Wodehouse wrote the story on which the movie is based and -- for once -- none of the multitude of writers and re-writers hired by the studio for screenplay adaptation purposes managed to deflate Wodehouse's airy insouciance. It's a small gem of a movie and one too infrequently seen. Nab it!

P.G. Wodehouse is best remembered for his creation of the unflappable butler Jeeves in those Bertie Wooster stories. In Piccadilly Jim, Wodehouse creates another butler character Bayliss here played by the slightly more flappable Eric Blore who does save the situation for his employer Robert Montgomery the notorious London cartoonist Piccadilly Jim. Of course not quite in the way he intended.

Piccadilly Jim is your very typical Wodehouse story, a comedy of manners and satire of the upper and middle classes. In this one however we Americans get a bit of a going over for our pretensions and crass commercialism in the persons of the Pett family.

With whom Montgomery and his father Frank Morgan get involved, Montgomery in an effort to help Morgan. It seems as though Frank would like to settle down and marry Billie Burke, but the grande dame of the family, aunt Cora Witherspoon won't hear of it. Montgomery dives into the situation and romances sister Madge Evans who is about to marry a title in the person of dull and dishwater Ralph Forbes. But his instincts as a cartoonist take over and he finds a lot of material for satire in the doings of the Pett family. So much so that they feel they have to leave London where they are vacationing and had back across the pond. Of course Montgomery, Morgan, and Blore follow along on the same ocean liner.

One thing about Piccadilly Jim is that it is so perfectly cast. Just the names of the cast and the roles described and you know exactly what you are in for. This film is a great example of the studio contract system at its best, the studio had all or most of these people under contract to MGM and they just got dropped into roles perfectly suited to the image that MGM had created for them.

Robert Montgomery though American with his stage training and diction fits right into a Wodehouse English role without missing a beat. And Wodehouse's wit and eye for characters and caricature is as sharp as ever. Piccadilly Jim holds up remarkably well after over 70 years and the film is a great introduction to P.G. Wodehouse.

Another great "gentleman's gentleman" role for Eric Blore, similar to his role in "It's Love I'm After," with Leslie Howard. He's hilarious!

Robert Montgomery is smooth and snappy as the artist—er, newspaper cartoonist—known as "Piccadilly Jim." He introduces us to his father, unemployed actor Frank Morgan: "He does Shakespeare or nothing. In other words, nothing." Montgomery and Morgan lead a great cast in this very funny comedy of misunderstood motives and assumed identities.

Madge Evans is witty and lovely as the girl Montgomery spots in a restaurant and then pursues from England to America. Their romance is, of course, full of bumps and misunderstandings; Evans and Montgomery make a great pair, both of them slightly less nutty than their families, and both completely beautiful and lovable.

Madge's two aunts are also splendid. Cora Witherspoon is loud, bossy and funny as the social climber trying to prevent her female relatives from falling in love with the wrong men; and Billie Burke, who carries on a rather secretive affair with old smooth talker Morgan, is just about perfect—funny, sweet, slightly ditzy yet quietly knowing in her own way. The scenes between Burke and Morgan are really delightful—two great character actors at their absolute best.

Eric Blore is hilarious as Montgomery's faithful and eminently correct valet; he completely refuses to be discouraged when his repeated attempts to tell an anecdote about Robert the Bruce are rebuffed.

Besides the great cast, the direction is crisp and the script is excellent—a plot that is silly but holds together, packed with characters who are full of foibles but never really wicked. Lots of fun.

Supporting players Cora Witherspoon and Eric Blore steal the show in this funny 1936 film.

A guy, (Robert Montgomery)who is a cartoonist and his father, a Shakespearian actor, who hasn't played Shakespeare in 20 years, (a very funny Frank Morgan) vie for the attention of two women.

Morgan is after Billie Burke, from a wealthy family, who is a plain ordinary lady. The trouble is her sister, Nesta, played with an aristocratic humor by Witherspoon. She sees Morgan as a fortune hunter and tries to end the liaison. Montgomery starts a cartoon series based on the family which is soon a hit throughout England. Little does her know that the girl he is after is the niece of Witherspoon.

There's a ship-board romance to America. Morgan dresses up as a European aristocrat to impress Witherspoon and her family. Further complications leads him to have the butler, Blore, play his father.

The ending is predictable but it's funny to see how things entangle in this screwball comedy of 1936.