Service de Luxe (1938)

“The Madison” agency is nimbly administered by “Helen” (Constance Bennett) delivering an all-inclusive service to the well-heeled gentleman. She and her formidable all-female team could sort out everything from dinner reservations and theatre tickets to weddings and ensuring that unwanted family members never get off the boat! It’s that last task that introduces her to “Wade” (Vincent Price) but she has every expectation that he’s just another one of those hapless men she keeps encountering. This fellow is a bit different. Though he comes from wealthy stock, he is determined to set up on his own and has even designed an unique form of tractor (looks more like a pint-sized Great War tank) which he needs seed money to develop. He likes her, she likes him - but just as she doesn’t want a wimp, he doesn’t want to be hen-pecked. Sure, the writing for the couple is on the wall from the start, but there are still some daftly amiable scenarios delivered as their anti-courtship plays out for an over-long ninety minutes. Price is a bit wooden, but he’s also got just enough comedy timing to offer an half-decent foil for a Bennett who isn’t really on great form here, but who still manages to own the screen. Halliwell Hobbes is once again the butler, but otherwise the supporting characters who so often provide the meat for the sandwich haven’t enough to do here, and so it’s really left to the two at the top of the bill to eek what they can from the meagre pickings the script provides. It’s watchable enough, but aside from it being Price’s first leading role, it is nothing especially memorable.