Loosely suggested by the recent ‘Stavisky Affair’ in France*, where an investment swindler’s collapse brought down government & financial institutions, this became a not so atypical Kay Francis vehicle by emphasizing the romantic angle over a very sketchy bond scam. And that’d be fine if either the romance or the scam were filled in better. Alas, Casey Robinson’s script never connects the dots as Francis’s chic clothes model strikes a platonic chord with Claude Rains’ shady investor: He funds her line of clothing stores/She gets him entry into high society. But then real romance comes her way via British attaché Ian Hunter just as Rains' money juggling act starts breaking down. Dramatically, this goes nowhere, with financial machinations left unexplained/unexamined, and romance forced & unconvincing. Even Michael Curtiz, a director who could handle just about anything, is left twisting in the wind on this one. A shame, as Rains is exceptional while Francis shows more bare back and expansive decolletage in a formal gown than most women did in swimsuits of the day.
DOUBLE-BILL: *This story, loaded with political fights of the '30s, gets covered, if hardly explained, in Alain Resnais’s mega-confusing STAVISKY/’74 with Jean-Paul Belmondo & Charles Boyer.
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