Titular British cartoonist (Robert Montgomery) and American socialite Ann Chester (Madge Evans) 'meet cute' but the potential romance is sabotaged when Jim starts a very popular cartoon lampooning her nouveau riche family. In the meantime, Jim's thespian father (Frank Morgan) is making a play for Ann's ditsy aunt Eugenia (Billie Burke). The film is a typical screwball comedy with characters bordering on caricatures, mistaken/hidden identities, unlikely happenstances, and budding romances near-thwarted by misunderstandings. Montgomery and Evens are fine in the lead roles but Morgan and Burke seem to have more fun as the hopeful couple dodging Euginia's snooty sister Nesta Pett (Cora Witherspoon). The most amusing character in the film is Jim's valet Bayliss (Eric Blore), but the relationship between him and his boss is not nearly as clever or funny as that of Wodehouse's iconic 'Wooster and Jeeves' team. The least amusing character is Pett's irritating son Ogden (Tommy Bupp). The script lacks the abundance of witty repartee that characterises the best of the era's comedies and the film hasn't aged as well as some of its contemporaries, but it is still fun in a silly Wodehouse way. Burke and Morgan are so established in their 'Wizard of Oz' (1939) roles that it is hard not to hear Glinda the Good Witch or Professor Marvel whenever they speak.
Review of Piccadilly Jim
