Having seen this movie many years ago, I could have sworn that attorney Roger Pryor and his girlfriend/secretary Eve Arden (also an attorney, but not practicing law due to her chauvinistic fiancee) defended members of the same sex, but seeing it over a decade later, boy was I wrong, and boy, would the defense object.
This funny B comedy features Eve Arden in one of her few leading roles outside her TV series later on, and she is quite amusing as a very smart attorney forced to play stenographer and receptionist to the lack of Pryor's clients. But while he's in Washington D. C. on a case involving aging client Clem Bevans, Arden meets with Bevans and takes on his case involving a breach of promise suit. It seems that Bevans allegedly said "meybe" (his version of "maybe") to 65 year old Vera Lewis whom he claimed proposed.
Being the wealthiest man in town, Bevans wants to hang onto his $100,000 that she is suing him for, and when Pryor arrives in this small hamlet, he is upset to find out that Arden has gone against their agreement. Pryor takes on Lewis's side (that is after she practically destroys the hotel lobby and suite and barber shop with her lethal umbrella) and faces off with Arden in court. The whole town turns up for what promises to be more entertaining than an Abbott and Costello film, with a group of boys sitting in the front row chowing down on popcorn as they watch the case unfold.
Bevans was already a well known character actor, one of those feisty older men who seemed to be overdoing his daily intake of wheat germ, and thus had more spring in his step than members of the community half his age. Lewis, a rather minor but always busy contract player at Warner Brothers, gets her best part, and she is delightfully feisty. Probably best known as the nosy neighbor in the "Four Daughters" films, Lewis gets the most screen time she ever had on film in this programmer. The wonderful Zeffie Tilburry, best known to Little Rascals fans for the sling shot, roller skating cranky old lady (as well as Charlie Grapewin's wife in "The Grapes of Wrath"), is hysterically funny as Lewis's mother who should be nearing 90 yet could teach the youngsters a thing or two about keeping young.
Apparently nearly blind and deaf in real life Tilburry hides that fact with her performance here. Cliff Edwards adds a lot of laughs and a brief yodeling song as Pryor and Arden's assistant who for some reason takes on Arden's side in this case. Other fun character performances include Irving Bacon (the postman in the "Blondie" series) as the town do-it-all and Chester Clute as Lewis's original attorney who likes the sauce a little bit too much for Lewis's taste, and thus ends up being a victim of her mighty umbrella several times. This isn't a classic to be sure, but as far as B comedies go, it is fun, fast moving and filled with laughs both from slapstick and the amusing script.
This funny B comedy features Eve Arden in one of her few leading roles outside her TV series later on, and she is quite amusing as a very smart attorney forced to play stenographer and receptionist to the lack of Pryor's clients. But while he's in Washington D. C. on a case involving aging client Clem Bevans, Arden meets with Bevans and takes on his case involving a breach of promise suit. It seems that Bevans allegedly said "meybe" (his version of "maybe") to 65 year old Vera Lewis whom he claimed proposed.
Being the wealthiest man in town, Bevans wants to hang onto his $100,000 that she is suing him for, and when Pryor arrives in this small hamlet, he is upset to find out that Arden has gone against their agreement. Pryor takes on Lewis's side (that is after she practically destroys the hotel lobby and suite and barber shop with her lethal umbrella) and faces off with Arden in court. The whole town turns up for what promises to be more entertaining than an Abbott and Costello film, with a group of boys sitting in the front row chowing down on popcorn as they watch the case unfold.
Bevans was already a well known character actor, one of those feisty older men who seemed to be overdoing his daily intake of wheat germ, and thus had more spring in his step than members of the community half his age. Lewis, a rather minor but always busy contract player at Warner Brothers, gets her best part, and she is delightfully feisty. Probably best known as the nosy neighbor in the "Four Daughters" films, Lewis gets the most screen time she ever had on film in this programmer. The wonderful Zeffie Tilburry, best known to Little Rascals fans for the sling shot, roller skating cranky old lady (as well as Charlie Grapewin's wife in "The Grapes of Wrath"), is hysterically funny as Lewis's mother who should be nearing 90 yet could teach the youngsters a thing or two about keeping young.
Apparently nearly blind and deaf in real life Tilburry hides that fact with her performance here. Cliff Edwards adds a lot of laughs and a brief yodeling song as Pryor and Arden's assistant who for some reason takes on Arden's side in this case. Other fun character performances include Irving Bacon (the postman in the "Blondie" series) as the town do-it-all and Chester Clute as Lewis's original attorney who likes the sauce a little bit too much for Lewis's taste, and thus ends up being a victim of her mighty umbrella several times. This isn't a classic to be sure, but as far as B comedies go, it is fun, fast moving and filled with laughs both from slapstick and the amusing script.
