It's obvious that Bob Burns loves mules more than people, and can't force himself under any circumstance to stay away from an auction that involves mules. Unfortunately, his social climbing wife, played by the talented but misused Gladys George is embarrassed by him, and keeps making a fool of herself. Every time she has a social event and Burns shows up, he causes chaos with his homespun humor or the presence of a donkey. She continues to make a jackass out of herself when he goes to England on a business trip and ends up involved in the government's decision to buy mules to replace tractors.
Tractors, it appears, break down, and mules, in spite of being sometimes stubborn, are great work animals. Somehow, they join the upper-crust of British society without a title, and her attempts to throw a social bash results her in further assumptions when a group of burns friends show up and George mistakes them for actors when indeed they are members of the titled elite.
This is an enjoyable but corny mixture of different classes of society, and it shows that the nouveau-riche represented by George, are the genuine snobs and the elite titled are down-to-earth and curious about things that haven't been a part of their social existence.
This features a great cast of veteran character actors, led by Gene Lockhart as Burns' business rival. Patricia Morrison as his uppity sister, E.E. Clive as a fun loving Duke, Doris Lloyd as his classy, life loving wife and Melville Cooper as a stuffy English butler whom George hires. Dennie Moore, the manicurist from the women, is very funny as a social climber who keeps changing accents. Burns is an acquired taste, and George, best known for her long-suffering mothers and the Texas Guinan like hostess in "The Roaring Twenties", play a character difficult to sympathize with. The story is amusing but completely unbelievable, and its that absurdity that makes me rank this as a near misfire.
Tractors, it appears, break down, and mules, in spite of being sometimes stubborn, are great work animals. Somehow, they join the upper-crust of British society without a title, and her attempts to throw a social bash results her in further assumptions when a group of burns friends show up and George mistakes them for actors when indeed they are members of the titled elite.
This is an enjoyable but corny mixture of different classes of society, and it shows that the nouveau-riche represented by George, are the genuine snobs and the elite titled are down-to-earth and curious about things that haven't been a part of their social existence.
This features a great cast of veteran character actors, led by Gene Lockhart as Burns' business rival. Patricia Morrison as his uppity sister, E.E. Clive as a fun loving Duke, Doris Lloyd as his classy, life loving wife and Melville Cooper as a stuffy English butler whom George hires. Dennie Moore, the manicurist from the women, is very funny as a social climber who keeps changing accents. Burns is an acquired taste, and George, best known for her long-suffering mothers and the Texas Guinan like hostess in "The Roaring Twenties", play a character difficult to sympathize with. The story is amusing but completely unbelievable, and its that absurdity that makes me rank this as a near misfire.