Thirty Day Princess (1934)

While on a goodwill tour of the U.S.A. in the hopes of acquiring foreign aid for her country, a Princess (Sylvia Sidney) becomes ill with the mumps. A banker (Edward Arnold) who is funding her visit hires an actress (also Sylvia Sidney) to impersonate the Princess until she recovers. But while playing the Princess, the actress falls in love with a newspaper publisher (Cary Grant) who is opposed to the aid to her (the real Princess) country. This charming and breezy piece of comedic fluff (co-scripted by Preston Sturges) is a delightful contemporary fairy tale. Not yet quite the Cary Grant, he's well on his way but it's Sylvia Sidney who you fall in love with. It's a pity she's not as revered as many of her 1930s contemporaries (she's more talented than Crawford, prettier than Dunne, sexier than Loy) and it's a treat to see her kicking up her heels in this frothy confection rather than suffering like she did in so many of her vehicles. Directed by Marion Gering. With Edward Arnold, Henry Stephenson and Vince Barnett.