Presented as part of All Aboard!—train movies of the 30s and 40s

"A veritable concerto for [the actors'] remarkable talents, put across by Hawks with maximal energy and voltage."—Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Oscar Jaffe is a megalomaniacal Broadway impresario—played by the great John Barrymore in one his most deliciously deranged performances—who hires a lingerie model (Carole Lombard) to star in his latest production much to the chagrin of the rest of his team. Forcing a new name of Lily Garland on the young performer, he seemingly molds her into a star of the stage and drives her into his arms. But after three tumultuous years and as many hit plays, his protégée leaves him for Hollywood, and his career takes a turn for the worse. Determined to win her back he disguises himself and takes a cross country train where he is surprised to run into Lily and her new beau.

Based on the Broadway hit by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, this Howard Hawks (Bringing Up Baby) comedy arrived at the tail end of the pre-Code era in Hollywood but at the dawn of screwball, paving the way for the genre and taking some critical and commercial dings for it. Incidentally, it was also Carole Lombard's first foray into comedy, a move that would have her dubbed by the press as the, "queen of screwball."