The Palm Beach Story

“Men don’t get smarter as they get older, they just lose their hair”! That’s the view of “Gerry” (Claudette Colbert) who is married to frustrated designer “Tom” (Joel McCrea). He needs $90,000 to build a state of the art airport but all of the traditional investment sources have politely declined. She decides that he would do better on his own, or better yet - she could divorce him the go marry a millionaire and try to fund him that way. He thinks this is bonkers, but next thing she is on a train to Palm Beach where she encounters “J.D.” (Rudy Vallee) who just happens to be a very rich gent who is happy to dispense his largesse generously. Hooked up with this man, they meet his open-minded sister (Mary Astor) to whom “Gerry” spins some fanciful yarns about her husband that only come home to roost when that poor soul, determined not to give up on his wife, arrives and risks spoiling her carefully stacked line of fibbing dominoes. What chance they can get the money without someone in this ostensibly spoiled and vacuous scenario cottoning on? The story is a bit on the far-fetched side, but Colbert has excellent comedy timing and there are quite a few pithy gems amidst the fairly relentless dialogue as the story takes aim at the owners of inherited wealth and at attitudes to the wealthy from those who aspire and despise in equal measure. There’s some fun chemistry on display between all four here and though the denouement is a little rushed and disappointing, this is still a fun romp that I did quite enjoy.