Hands Across the Table

Mitchell Leisen's 1935 American film follows Regi, a manicurist at a hotel. She plans to marry money; Theodore, one of her clients, has the same plan but has already lost his own. The film draws comedy from two people making the same calculation. Both are honest with each other; the real problem is that as their plans proceed they genuinely begin to care. The narrative does not turn this into a moral lesson. The economic reality after the Depression stands plainly inside the narrative; marriage here is a strategy for living rather than a matter of feeling. Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray lead and their rapport is the film's support. Who it's for: those who like thirties Hollywood comedy. Who it's not for: viewers expecting the class criticism carried through; the film chooses the romantic resolution in the end.