Three Cornered Moon (1933)

Elliott Nugent (CAT AND THE CANARY) directs this early screwball comedy. At the height of the depression, a wealthy if eccentric family discovers that due to the mishandling of the family’s fortune by the ditzy airheaded mother (Mary Boland and delightful) that their life of leisure is over and they must actually -gasp- go out in the real world and earn a living like everybody else. It’s mildly amusing if predictable but its engaging likable cast work hard to make it fly by with as much style as they can muster up. Claudette Colbert is the daughter, the sons are Wallace Ford, Tom Brown and William Bakewell, Lyda Roberti is the Polish maid and Richard Arlen and Hardie Albright suitors for Colbert’s hand.