Because the Stanislavsky method of playing bridge has no rules, it promotes marital harmony for those who stick with it.Because the Stanislavsky method of playing bridge has no rules, it promotes marital harmony for those who stick with it.Because the Stanislavsky method of playing bridge has no rules, it promotes marital harmony for those who stick with it.
Wally Albright
- Boy Bridge Player
- (uncredited)
William Bailey
- Van Dorn's Bridge Partner
- (uncredited)
Reginald Barlow
- Theodore
- (uncredited)
Maurice Black
- Paul
- (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley
- Bridge Match Referee
- (uncredited)
Jack Byron
- Lola's Contest Escort
- (uncredited)
Walter Byron
- Barney Starr
- (uncredited)
Joseph Cawthorn
- Alex Alexandrovitch
- (uncredited)
Jimmy Conlin
- Oscar Smelt
- (uncredited)
George Cooper
- Josh
- (uncredited)
Gino Corrado
- Barber
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- William Dieterle
- Alfred E. Green(uncredited)
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film uses the actual cover of the November 8, 1932 (no. 2572) edition of Life magazine. At the time, the publication was a humor magazine, like Punch in the UK, with limited circulation.
- GoofsIn the newspaper article about Peter beating Van Dorn, the second paragraph of the story is unrelated gibberish.
- Quotes
Marcia Stanislavsky: How have you been?
Philip 'Speed' McCann: Okay. I've been working pretty hard. I just finished writing a book called Sex and What Causes It. It's for Bernard McGovern. I got five grand out of it.
Marcia Stanislavsky: Five grand!
Philip 'Speed' McCann: For only two weeks work. How have you been?
Marcia Stanislavsky: Oh, boy.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits begin with bridge being played in the background. Then, closeups of cards are shown with a picture of one of the actor/actress, his/her name, and the role s/he plays in the movie; director credited also on a playing card.
Featured review
The satire on bridge playing fizzles, but enjoy the spoof on sports broadcasting.
This film breeches the fine line between satire and silliness. While a bridge system that has no rules may promote marital harmony, it certainly can't promote winning bridge, so the satire didn't work for me. But there were some items I found enjoyable anyway, especially with the big bridge match between Paul Lukas and Ferdinand Gottschalk near the end of the film. It is treated like very much like a championship boxing match. Not only is the arena for the contest roped off in a square area like a boxing ring, there is a referee hovering between the contestants, and radio broadcaster Roscoe Karns delivers nonstop chatter on the happenings. At one point he even enumerates "One... Two... Three... Four..." as though a bid of four diamonds was a knockdown event. And people were glued to their radios for it all, a common event for championship boxing matches. That spoof worked very well indeed.
Unfortunately, few of the actors provide the comedy needed to sustain the intended satire. Paul Lukas doesn't have much of a flair for comedy and is miscast; lovely Loretta Young and the usual comic Frank McHugh weren't given good enough lines; Glenda Farrell has a nice comic turn as a forgetful blonde at the start of the film, but she practically disappears thereafter. What a waste of talent!
Unfortunately, few of the actors provide the comedy needed to sustain the intended satire. Paul Lukas doesn't have much of a flair for comedy and is miscast; lovely Loretta Young and the usual comic Frank McHugh weren't given good enough lines; Glenda Farrell has a nice comic turn as a forgetful blonde at the start of the film, but she practically disappears thereafter. What a waste of talent!
helpful•24
- Art-22
- Jan 25, 1999
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- La gran jugada
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $164,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 7 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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