Escapade Reviews

This is a charming light comedy set in turn-of-the-century Vienna. William Powell is an artist who falls for sweet, innocent Luise Rainer. Comic complications revolve around a nude sketch of Virginia Bruce which accidentally gets published. Her husband, Frank Morgan, thinks the drawing is of his brother's fiancee (Mady Christians). The film was originally intended as a William Powell-Myrna Loy vehicle, but Loy walked out at the last minute in a salary dispute. Rather than give up the picture, MGM brought in Rainer, who had been waiting around the lot for the right part for her American debut. She stole the picture from its more established performers, and at the end Powell stepped out of character to tell the audience about Luise Rainer and the big plans MGM had for her.