The worm turns in this delightful low-budget comedy that provides a rare showcase for Ernest Truex, who began his seven-decade acting career as "The Child Wonder in Scenes From Shakespeare" after making his stage debut at five as the Ghost in Hamlet. Although he had played opposite Lillian Russell and Mary Pickford on stage, his small stature and light voice made him a perfect choice to play henpecked husbands on screen, mostly in supporting roles. In this outing, wife Florence Bates constantly compares him to a more affluent suitor (George Tobias) from the past. When Truex discovers the man is now a hobo, he plots a little revenge, with a few plot twists to complicate matters. The script was Warner Bros.' third adaptation of Martin Flavin's hit play Broken Dishes, which had helped Bette Davis make the move to Hollywood. It had reached the screen as Too Young to Marry (1931) with O.P. Heggie as the husband and Loretta Young as the daughter, then as Love Begins at Twenty (1936), with Hugh Herbert and Patricia Ellis. Possibly as a tip of the hat to the play's original leading lady, who ultimately became the studio's biggest star, in the third version the character, played by Lucile Fairbanks, was renamed "Bette."

By Frank Miller