Piccadilly Jim ( 1936)

Tally ho! The farcical flair of Robert Montgomery meets its match in the lampooning style of British humorist P.G. Wodehouse in Piccadilly Jim, a blithe and expertly cast concoction from Hollywood’s golden age of screwball comedy. Montgomery plays a London-based cartoonist whose caricatures spoil his actor father’s (Frank Morgan) marriage plans when they offend the elder man’s prospective in-laws. Luckily, the resulting fuss inspires him to create a comic-strip burlesque of the bumptious rich — and becomes a nationwide sensation. Unluckily, the spirited American beauty (Madge Evans) he’s fallen for is a member of the mocked menagerie. In this charming final film of five that teamed perfect pair Montgomery and Evans, director Robert Z. Leonard keeps the mood light and the laughter plentiful with the aid of a smart Charles Brackett/ Edwin H. Knopf adaptation and supporting players — including Eric Blore, Billie Burke, Robert Benchley, Grant Mitchell and young Tommy Bupp — who stoke the sparkle and wizard Wodehouse wit of Piccadilly Jim.

95 minutes

DVD from private collection, in mint condition