Constance Bennett in "Service de Luxe" (1938) - w/Vincent Price in his film debut

Описание: The Dorothy Madison Company of New York City, headed by Helen Murphy (Constance Bennett), is a service that will solve any problem for its subscribers. One of Helen's main clients is Scott Robinson (Charles Ruggles), an engineer and bridge builder. He wants to write a cook book, so Helen finds a chef, Bebenko (Mischa Auer), to help him with his experiments.

Robinson is so happy with Helen's work that he turns the management of his flighty daughter, Audrey Robinson (Joy Hodges) over to Dorothy Madison. Although the business is very successful, Helen has grown tired of bossing men around and would like to find a man with a mind of his own.

While on a job to prevent a client's nephew, Robert Wade (Vincent Price), from coming to New York, she mistakes another man for her target and falls in love with the real Bob, whose name she has not learned. Having spent a lifetime being bossed by his aunts, Bob is determined never to be under the thumb of any woman. Believing that his nephew has been dispatched by Helen, Bob's uncle (Lionel Belmore) is furious when Bob appears in his office and sends him off to Dorothy Madison, where Helen learns of her mistake.

From behind the scenes, Helen asks Robinson to take a look at Bob's plans for an expensive tractor, and he is so pleased with them that he offers Bob space to work in his machine shop. Audrey is taken with Bob, too, but he is in love with Helen, not realizing that she is the brains of Dorothy Madison.

Meanwhile, Bob is tired of being organized by Dorothy Madison, especially when Helen, disguising her voice, calls to warn him against Audrey. After Audrey mistakenly thinks that Bob has proposed to her, a delighted Robinson makes the announcement to Helen. Helen rushes to Bob's apartment and confesses that she is Dorothy Madison. Bob is so mad that he tells her he is going to marry Audrey after all.

Completely unaware of Helen's relationship to Bob, Robinson asks for her help in planning the wedding. At the same time, Bob learns that Bebenko is actually a Russian prince. Knowing of Audrey's interest in royalty, Bob tells her about Bebenko's background. Things end happily when Audrey leaves Bob at the church to marry Bebenko, and Bob marries Helen instead.

A 1938 American Black & White screwball romantic comedy film directed by Rowland V. Lee, produced by Edmund Grainger, screenplay by Gertrude Purcell and Leonard Spigelgass, story by Bruce Manning and Vera Caspary, cinematography by George Robinson, starring Constance Bennett, Vincent Price, Charles Ruggles, Helen Broderick, Mischa Auer, Joy Hodges, Frances Robinson, Halliwell Hobbes, Raymond Parker, Frank Coghlan Jr., Lawrence Grant, Nina Gilbert, Crauford Ken, Lionel Belmore, Chester Clute, and Ben Hall. Screen debut appearance of Vincent Price. Released by Universal Pictures.

Constance Campbell Bennett (1904-1965), born in New York City, was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Bennett frequently played society women, focusing on melodramas in the early 1930s and then taking more comedic roles in the late 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her leading roles in "What Price Hollywood?" (1932), "Bed of Roses" (1933), "Topper" (1937), "Topper Takes a Trip" (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in Greta Garbo's last film, "Two-Faced Woman" (1941). She was the daughter of stage and silent film star Richard Bennett, and the elder sister of actress Joan Bennett. After some time spent in a convent, Bennett entered acting, Constance, the first Bennett sister to enter motion pictures, appeared in New York–produced silent movies before a meeting with Samuel Goldwyn led to her Hollywood debut in "Cytherea" (1924). She abandoned a career in silent films for marriage to Philip Plant in 1925 but resumed her film career after their divorce in 1929, at the advent of talking pictures. In the early 1930s, Bennett was frequently among the top actresses named in audience popularity and box-office polls. In 1931, a short-lived contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made her one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. The next year she moved to RKO. Bennett was married five times and had three children. Bennett has a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard, a short distance from the star of her sister, Joan.

Vincent Price, already a veteran of the Broadway stage, makes his screen debut as the romantic lead in that popular genre of 30's comedy known as screwball. Price had an amazing career. It's great to see him at its start. Here, he works with a master actress of the art of screwball comedy, namely Constance Bennett. An almost forgotten "sleeper" of the genre with a good script. Overall, this is enjoyable, clever with likable characters, and a nice romance.