Ernst Lubitsch completism. He directed a screenplay by Samson Raphaelson who had help from Grover Jones in adapting Aladár László's play.
Very funny screwball. The setup is similar to Read My Lips (2001): Miriam Hopkins thinks she has found her next mark in the form of Herbert Marshall (sporting hair like Robert S. McNamara's) as does he. Fortunately both realise that they have found something far more valuable in each other and things are halcyonic until they come across the very glamorous widow Kay Francis in Paris. She's disinterested in running her husband's family's perfume company or in her Thomson-and-Thompson suitors, making her easy prey for Marshall's suave shtick. They meet in a scene where purses stand in for Cinderella's clogs. Things proceed as true love must.
The Art Deco modernism is spectacular. Hopkins got the best lines but is unfortunately onscreen for the least time. IMDB trivia suggests it was a long way from complying with the Hays code. Clock faces indicating hours spent in passion!
Roger Ebert: four stars as a "great movie" in 1998. Mordaunt Hall for the New York Times at the time.
