Step Lively, Jeeves
      
Director: Eugene Forde
Year: 1937
Rating: 5.5
Coming soon after the successful "Thank You Jeeves" in 1936 came another film based on the characters from P.G. Wodehouse. Or in this case character. In "Thank You Jeeves" the studio 20th Century Fox married off Bertie Wooster at the end of the film. That was because David Niven who played Bertie was on loan to Fox and they could not get him again. With Bertie married to the lovely Virginia Field there was no need for a Gentleman's Gentleman. They only served bachelors. So Fox made a film with only Jeeves and though it is pleasant enough and still stars the wonderful Arthur Treacher of Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips, it does not have the chemistry of the interplay between Wooster and Jeeves which is what made the books by Wodehouse so popular. As well as the wonderful TV show.

 

Jeeves is the one that gets the dizzy gullible Wooster constantly out of trouble - often with women or con men. So it is a bit odd that it is in fact Jeeves who is the one duped in this film. It really makes no sense. Jeeves doesn't really feel like Jeeves here other than being so proper and so English. Two con men (Alan Dinehart and George Givot) first try to con each other with an old ruse but then decide to combine their talents for a big con. Go to America where the people are not so clever and are easily fooled (still the case) and tell them that they have a man directly related to Francis Drake and that he only needs legal fees to prove this in court and then he will be worth millions. Of course, they need a man and that is where Jeeves comes in. Now employed to another Lord he is easy prey and they convince him that his ancestor was Drake.

 
And they all go to America. On the American side a wealthy wife (Helen Flint) with no social standing demands that her husband (John Harrington) bring the "Earl" - that would be Jeeves to dinner. It gets a little screwball-ish when the two con men try and get the husband to invest in their ruse only to find out he is a dangerous gangster who kills any one who crosses him. Very light and lightly amusing but no real laughs. At 69 minutes it was clearly meant for the B market. Why Fox didn't simply get another Bertie and call the wedding off is a mystery. I guess they thought Treacher could carry it off by himself and he does fine but Jeeves without Bertie is rather pointless.