Easy Living (1937)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Easy Living (1937) – M. Leisen

Effortless screwball comedy scripted by Preston Sturges and directed by Mitchell Leisen that dashes madly from start (when rich banker Edward Arnold drops a fur coat off the balcony and it lands on poor Jean Arthur’s head) to finish (when, you know, steel is up again, Arthur has fallen for Ray Milland, everyone finally knows what’s what and another fur coat falls on another head).  In other words, this is ridiculousness laced with slapstick and the sublime, studded with oddball character actors from the ‘30s.  Arnold is at his gruff, confused but lovable best and Arthur is the original well-meaning airhead (Milland is impossibly young here).  You can see why Sturges soon got his own directing gigs since his script is perfect but Leisen probably made it all more lavish.  Pure escapism (although you might end up thinking about the 1% and then this Cinderella story might turn a bit sour, so don’t).