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Bupp Filmology
Week Eighteen

"Piccadilly Jim" 1936

MOVIE NAME: PICCADILLY JIM
STUDIO: METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
PRODUCER: HARRY RAPF
DIRECTOR: JROBERT Z. LEONARD
DATE: 1936
TYPE: COMEDY
CAST:
ROBERT MONTGOMERY as Jim Crocker, aka Jim Bayliss , FRANK MORGAN as James Crocker, aka Count Olav Osrio, MADGE EVANS as Ann Chester, ERIC BLORE as Bayliss, BILLIE BURKE as Eugenia Willis,ROBERT BENCHLEY as Bill Macon,RALPH FORBES as Lord "Freddie" Priory , CORA WITHERSPOON as Nesta Pett TOMMY BUPP as Ogden Pett,AILEEN PRINGLE as Paducah GRANT MITCHELL as Herbert Pett, E.E. CLIVE as Editor
SOURCE: A F I, Catalog of Feature Films 1931-1940
STORY: Jim Crocker, an American playboy, is a popular cartoonist known as "Piccadilly Jim," whose confidants are his impeccable valet, Bayliss and his father, a perpetually unemployed Shakespearean actor. His father James Crocker reports to him that he has fallen in love and wants to marry Eugenia Willis, everything seems fine except that Eugenia's sister, Nesta and her brother-in-law, Herbert Pett, the "Rag King" of America, do not approve because they think James is a fortune hunter. Hoping to alleviate their fears, James has told them that his son is a renowned artist, like Michaelangelo. That night while out on the town, Jim meets Ann Chester, and becomes infatuated with her, but because Lord Freddie Priory escorts her, she will not reveal her name or address. He tries to see her the next day, while she is riding, but she ignores him. Then he remembers that he was supposed to meet Eugenia's family and shows up drunk, alienating Nesta, who thinks his caricatures are not socially acceptable. Jim is fired from his job because he is late with deadlines. The Petts then take Eugenia off to the continent. While James worries about Eugenia, Jim tries unsuccessfully to find Ann. Jim sketches caricatures of the Petts, and Bayliss finds them hilarious. Jim decides to turn them into a new cartoon strip called "Rags to Riches," featuring the "Richwitch Family," and becomes the hit of London. When the Petts return to England, they are greeted by howls of laughter. The Petts are even more furious with Jim and Ann vows to get even if she ever meets this "Piccadilly Jim." When Jim sees the family's picture in the paper, he goes to her, but does not reveal his identity. Jim follows her to the States, posing as Bayliss' son and resolves to make his characters more benevolent. Americans reading the strip love the "Richwitch" family and the Petts love the attention. Ann learns of Jim's true identity and is furious. When Jim goes to the Pett's home to see Ann, the Petts are delighted and say that Eugenia is now engaged to a Danish Count name Olav Osrio and Ann is engaged to Freddie. Because Bayliss suspects that Freddie is a bogus aristocrat, Jim decides to expose him, but at a dinner party his plan backfires. When he promises to "unmask" an imposter, the Count stands up and confesses that he is really James, hiding behind a beard and Freddie turns out to be a real Lord. After bestowing a generous dowry to his father and Eugenia, Jim leaves. Jim is victorious, when Ann shows up on the ship back to England, after deciding that she will have more fun as the wife of a cartoonist.

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