Review of Smartest Girl in Town

This movie has a fine cast - Gene Raymond, who had been in the hit *Flying Down to Rio* a few years before; Ann Southern, who would play second lead to some of Hollywood's biggest names, and had already been in a few good musicals; the character actors Eric Blore, Helen Crawford, and Erik Rhodes - and an occasional clever line, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere, and is sometimes rather choppy.

It was obviously released as a B movie - the opening credits are cheaply done, and it's only 58 minutes long - but my guess is that something happened along the way, and that it was meant to be at least a little longer than what we have. Even B movies were usually around 75 minutes. Scenes or parts of scenes seem to be missing. Perhaps more musical numbers? The poster presents Southern as a sultry vamp, and that's not at all her character in the movie. There also isn't anything in the movie to suggest that she's particularly smart. Raymond's character does all the plotting. Something went wrong along the way to completion here.

If you're an Ann Southern fan - I can't imagine that there are any Gene Raymond fans left - you won't have to suffer to get through this. But don't expect to remember any of it 24 hours later.