Saturday, October 28, 2023

Borrowed Wives (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Peter has to be married by midnight or else his inheritance goes to his uncle... Who happens to live in a "haunted house".
Directed by Frank R. Strayer. Starring Rex Lease, Vera Reynolds, and Paul Hurst.

Borrowed Wives is a 1930 comedy about a man who is set to receive an inheritance from his grandfather as long as he is married by a certain time. He has plans to do so, but his fiancee's plane is delayed and he is forced to find another woman to pose as his new wife at the last minute, and chaos ensues. The plot and stakes in this one are beautifully simple, and they have a great deal of fun playing with all the ways this could go wrong. It's not an incredible or terribly memorable film -- I didn't walk out of this film necessarily remembering any of the specific jokes, but I did have a general sense of having had a good time, and sometimes that's all you need from your movies. It feels very much like one of those infinite playful mysteries that local community theaters put on as a reliable crowdpleaser, and it is that.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Borrowed Wives > The Blues Brothers
Borrowed Wives < In the Name of the Father
Borrowed Wives > Dan in Real Life
Borrowed Wives < The Country Girl
Borrowed Wives > Logan
Borrowed Wives < There Will Be Blood
Borrowed Wives > Moonwalker
Borrowed Wives > Moby Dick
Borrowed Wives > Orgazmo
Borrowed Wives > Monsters Vs. Aliens
Borrowed Wives < Nine to Five
Final spot: #1257 out of 3821, or 67%.

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