DULCY (1940)

Screwballish B-ish MGM comedy, mostly notable for giving Ann Sothern something of a change of pace role. Instead of being her usual brassy, streetwise, working-class dame, here she's a ditzy rich girl who meddles ineffectively in the lives of everyone around her, getting things so messed up that they suddenly turn out right. The movie opens with a young Dan Dailey singing "Singin' in the Rain" in the shower until the hot water suddenly goes out; it's his sister Dulcy's (Sothern) fault as she's tinkering with the boiler until it explodes (in a short but funny scene). There's a bunch of seemingly unrelated plotlines set up: Dailey is concerned with the imminent visit of his fiancee's parents (Roland Young and Billie Burke); an inventor (Ian Hunter) is hanging around trying to sell his new airplane engine; there's a crazy man (Reginald Gardiner) who thinks he's actually his own brother, an airplane magnate; there's an ex-con (Guinn Williams) that Sothern takes under her wing as a butler. All the plotlines come crashing together when everyone winds up spending the weekend at a mountain cabin. Thanks to Sothern, all the wires that can get crossed, do, until everything is righted at the end. There's even more characters, including Hans Conreid as a surrealist playwright and Jonathan Hale as a lawyer who is chasing after Gardiner. The short length and fast pace are pluses. There are many funny bits, and Sothern comes off pretty well doing a variation on Hepburn's BRINGING UP BABY part. Of course, Young and Burke are joys, as always. [TCM]