Strictly Dishonorable

Preston Sturges's second stage play (written when he was still in his twenties) became a Broadway hit and was filmed twice: this version and the remake in 1951 that starred Janet Leigh and Ezio Pinza. Screenwriter Gladys Lehman wisely stuck close to the original, and the laughs are many. Paul Lukas portrays a rakehell opera-singer. In an illegal speakeasy one night, he meets naive southerner Sidney Fox, who is engaged to be married to boorish George Meeker. Lukas lets her know that his intentions are strictly dishonorable but it matters not to petite Fox, who is, by this time, disgusted with her aggravating suitor. The speak is owned by William Ricciardi (reprising...