COCKTAIL HOUR (1933)

Cynthia Warren (Bebe Daniels) is a well-liked and well-paid illustrator who lives in a Manhattan penthouse and throws cocktail parties galore. We learn early on that she is dating Prince Philippe (Phil to his friends) but not exclusively, despite what he thinks. Phil, assuming Cynthia will marry him, has brought his mother, the Princess, to Cynthia's latest afternoon shindig to meet her, and Mom seems to realize what her son doesn't—that Cynthia will never marry him. After the party, Cynthia is on her way to the passenger liner that will take her to Europe for a vacation when she stops to chat with magazine editor Randy Morgan (Randolph Scott), with whom she shares a past. They have a discussion about the "rules of sex." He wants to marry her and have her revert back to the sweet Midwest girl she was when she came to the city, but she's not ready to settle down. He prankishly locks her in a closet to stop her from leaving, but she gets out and makes it to the ship to find that Phil and his mother have booked passage on the same ship. On the trip, Cynthia becomes great friends with the seemingly exotic Olga, who is actually Tessie from Topeka, and gets cozy with Bill Lawton (Sidney Blackmer). When the ship docks in London, Lawton admits that he's married, that his wife will be meeting him, and asks her not to make a fuss. Cynthia decides to cut things off with him. In Paris, Cynthia has to deal with Phil still hanging around, and running into Bill and his wife socially, when Randy pays a surprise visit. Things come to a head at a party where booze and hurt feelings lead to someone getting pushed out of a window.

This slight romantic melodrama is interesting, even if the somewhat rushed ending is not terribly satisfying. Cynthia begins as an independent woman who likes men and who engages in affairs but is in no rush to get married. Bebe Daniels plays her with a light touch and she remains sympathetic throughout. The situation with Prince Phil (Barry Norton) is mostly played for laughs until it's not. Jessie Ralph, as Phil's mom, is quite likable; she loves her son but knows full well that he's not likely to wind up with Cynthia, and it doesn't sour her on Cynthia. Muriel Kirkland is fizzy fun as Olga, and Sidney Blackmer is surprisingly charming as the caddish Bill—his character is portrayed mostly as misreading the "rules" of his affair with Cynthia. That leaves second-billed Randolph Scott in a throwaway role as Cynthia's "rescuerer," confined mostly to the beginning and end. Despite being a pre-Code film, Cynthia winds up learning her lesson and seemingly ready to settle for conventionality with Randy. More than watchable if perhaps a little less than memorable. Pictured are Norton, Daniels, and Blackmer. [TCM]