Piccadilly Jim
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
Written by Charles Brackett and Edwin K. Knopf from a novel by P.G. Wodehouse
1936/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
James Crocker, Jr.: Have you, by any chance, formed the wrong impression of me?
Ann Chester: I think not. You’re a typical American – European model.
James Crocker, Jr.: A romantic figure, I trust?
Ann Chester: Oh, very. I think the technical term is a bar fly.
The source material and the stars make this movie a lot of fun.
Robert Montgomery plays the title character, James Crocker, Jr., an American artist known as Piccadilly Jim who draws caricatures of London celebrities. He is accompanied everywhere by his faithful valet Bayliss (Eric Blore). One day he spots rich and beautiful Ann Chester (Madge Evans), who is engaged and won’t give him a tumble. Despondent, Jim shifts from caricature work to drawing a comic strip that parodies, unbeknownst to him, Ann’s own batty family. Will Jim get the girl? With Frank Morgan as Jim’s ham actor father.
The first thing I noticed about this film was its sparkling dialogue. The film is based on a P.G. Wodehouse novel and I imagine they lifted pages worth of the great man’s dialogue. It’s kind of a preposterous plot but surely that should be expected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSPHXMDIxrs
