Sometimes amusing madcap, but not front-rank. The premise is a clever one—a falling mink coat elevates a working girl's life from a cheap flat to the penthouse. In the process, we get a humorous look at how reputation can make all the difference, especially among the rich and powerful. And how about that madcap eruption at the auto-mat. I'd almost forgotten about those serve-yourself banks of fast-food, something like an early McDonald's. Here, the goodie filled cubby-holes are turned into a hilarious free-for-all as hungry Depression era folks help themselves to a free lunch.Trouble is Jean Arthur has no one to really play off of, no Cary grant, so to speak. True, Ray Milland is her swain, but their scenes together are few and lack comedic spark. Then there's Edward Arnold as the bullying Wall Street tycoon. His constant yelling and abrasive manner, however, are more annoying than humorous, thus detracting from the overall mood. On the other hand, Arthur shows the engaging potential that often blossomed. Here, however, she's not really given the chance to sparkle, Arthur- fashion. Part of that is due to her many scenes with Luis Albernoni as the obnoxiously over-bearing Louis Louis.All in all, the film's something of a disappointment given the many talents involved. But it'll certainly do for a slow evening or a look at lavish movie interiors.

Mitchell Liesen was clearly frightened as a child by Cinderella; shortly after this outing in which Jean Arthur goes from rags to riches in nothing flat Claudette Colbert, another great actress who peaked in the 1930s/40s gets the same treatment courtesy of Jack Barrymore via Billy Wilder in Liesen's Midnight - and like Sturges Wilder would soon become writer-director. Inexplicbly Paramount contract songwriter Ralph Rainger, who composed the title song which is heard throughout is omitted from the credits though the song (with lyrics by Rainger's regular lyricist Leo Robin) went on to become a standard and is featured in the 1949 entry Easy Living featuring Victor Mature and Lucille Ball, with a screenplay by Irwin Shaw that has absolutely no connection to this prime example of the 'screwball' genre. With the likes of Franklin Pngbourne and James Gleason in support Sturges was already recruiting his repertory and leads Arthur, Arnold and Milland excel in this brilliant time-capsule of Hollywood's heyday.

. . . then the dimmest bulbs must flicker on Wall Street, and EASY LIVING proves that this fact was as well known to Americans in 1937 as it is today. The proverbial one-eyed man may be king in the Land of the Blind, but EASY LIVING illustrates why the possession of even one eye might be a definite handicap for the high rollers of Lower Manhattan. It's better to be completely blind, deaf, and dumb if you want to make your mark there. Jean Arthur plays "Mary Smith" in EASY LIVING, but she might as well be portraying Alice in Wonderland. Mary learns that among the rich, anything goes. The lifestyle props upon which they fritter away their wealth are so impractical and worthless, they constitute grounds for firing if displayed near a normal workplace. That's what happens to Mary when she inadvertently shows up wearing her "gift horse" (a sable fur coat) to work for her real people job. As this year's follow-up to EASY LIVING (THE BLING RING) shows, the forbidden candy most rich celebrities use to fill up their otherwise empty shell of lives can only corrupt NORMAL people (which helps explain why so many lottery winners soon off themselves). Since Mary Smith has a solid working class soul, she is oblivious to some of the temptations thrown her way in EASY LIVING, and triumphs over the rest, settling for live sheep dogs in lieu of murdered mink.

The lives of a rich banker and his son become unwittingly entangled with that of a poor working girl in this enjoyable if unspectacular comedy. Given that comic genius Preston Sturges wrote the screenplay, the talented Mitchell Leisen directed it, and adorable Jean Arthur stars in it, the film falls somewhat short of expectations. Sturges would of course go on to write and direct some of the best comedies of the era, but here the script is not as inspired as his later efforts. It has its moments though, including a slapstick scene in a cafeteria. As the perky young woman, Arthur is fine as usual, as are Arnold as the banker and Milland as his son.