It is indeed a strange group of characters that are introduced during the hectic proceedings in the film version of last season's play, She Loves Me Not. Mixed up with Princeton students are the university dean, his daughter, a fiery-tempered cabaret dancer, a couple of cool gunmen and an energetic motion picture press agent and his persistent camera men. As on the stage, this adaptation is a swift-paced piece of hilarity, with occasional romantic interludes during which Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle contribute some tuneful melodies.
Some of the farcical episodes in this Paramount offering are apt to recall that famous old comedy, "Charley's Aunt," but in the present production, instead of having a varsity student in skirts, they dress up a cabaret girl in male attire after she has invaded a dormitory room. It has many madcap exploits, such as when the urbane Dean Mercer is felled unconscious by one of the students, just after a thug has been treated similarly. It gives the producers the opportunity to present the thug and the college dean bound together on a sofa. And not the least humorous aspect of this incident is the fact that that excellent actor, Henry Stephenson, impersonates the unfortunate dean.
The story slips from a night club in Philadelphia to Princeton, thence to New York and back to the university. Miriam Hopkins appears as Curly Flagg, a dancer who flees from a night club—where she was a witness to a killing—to Princeton, where she takes refuge in one of the students' rooms. She is a constant source of worry to two students, Paul Lawton and Buzz Jones, even when she is garbed as a young man. Then the gangster chief decides that Curly will probably squeal about the murder and he dispatches two hirelings to "take her for a ride."
A motion picture producer hears about the girl being hidden in the Princeton students' room and his imaginative publicity man conceives the notion of employing Curly as a star, after getting as much publicity as possible in discovering her.
Lawton, who is acted by Bing Crosby, becomes infatuated with Midge Mercer, the dean's daughter, and their romance offers opportunity for the singing of several songs, which include "Love in Bloom," "I'm Hummin'," "I'm Whistlin'," "I'm Singin'" and "Straight From the Shoulder, Right From the Heart." These are rendered quite effectively by Mr. Crosby and Miss Carlisle.
Miriam Hopkins gives a vivacious performance as Curly and Warren Hymer adds to the fun by his portrayal of a gangster. Lynne Overman is splendid as the publicity man and George Barbier is in his element in the rôle of a motion picture magnate. Mr. Stephenson makes the most of the rôle of the unfortunate Dean Mercer...
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