This movie is supposed to be among the best from Sturges, which I found hard to understand.
(1) The rich and powerful are portrayed to be teddy-bear-cute eccentrics, which, even as a comic conceit, is hard to swallow.
(2) Sturges's famous blend of melodrama and screwball comedy is a bit unbalanced for my taste: too much melodrama, and too little irony.
(3) It lacks the darker undertone in other Surges greats, such as "Lady Eve" or "Miracle at Morgan's Creek". In those better films, Sturges managed to keep tragedy looming in the background, and keep it close to our following of the plot. Although the heroines are always saved by the bell, but just barely, and Sturges made sure we not take the happy endings too seriously. We are entertained by the comedy, calmed by the happy ending, yet never lost sight of the "realness" of tragic turn of events in "real life". Not here.
In fact, even …