Hands Across the Table **** (1935, Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy) – Classic Movie Review 6757

Director Mitchell Leisen’s delightful hit 1935 romantic comedy stars Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, who fizzle like firecrackers and the film’s success was a big boost for their careers and that of talented Leisen.

The hands of the title belong to gold-digging fortune hunter Regi Allen (Lombard), who works as a hotel manicurist, and her customer, the bankrupt playboy Theodore Drew III (MacMurray), both out to marry money, in this bubbly romance, wittily written by the team of Norman Krasna, Vincent Lawrence and Herbert Fields, and directed with polish by director Leisen.

Ralph Bellamy and Astrid Allwyn put a lot of effort into the thankless roles of Allen Macklyn and Vivian Snowden, the respective partners the couple have to decide to stay with or toss aside.

Also in the cast are Ruth Donnelly, Edward Gargan, Marie Prévost, William Demarest, Marcelle Corday, Bess Flowers, Murray Alper and Albert Conti.

Hands Across the Table is directed by Mitchell Leisen, runs 80 minutes, is released by Paramount, is written by Norman Krasna, Vincent Lawrence and Herbert Fields, is shot in black and white by Ted Tetzlaff and produced by E Lloyd Sheldon.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6757

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