1937 | 88 mins | Rated G
With Jean Arthur and Ray Milland
Directed by Mitchell Leisen, screenplay by Preston Sturges
Part social satire laced with lively physical comedy, Easy Living ranks as one of the great American screwball comedies from the 1930s, rating 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes platform. The film follows the fate of a poorly paid and poorly treated stenographer, anxious about keeping her job and finding enough money to pay her rent and to eat. Good fortune literally falls on her head in the form of a mink coat thrown out of the window of a high-rise penthouse during a spat between a mega-wealthy businessman and his spendthrift wife. In unforeseen ways, the incident cascades into a life-changing event for the stenographer. A critic in Time Out (London) described it as “an irresistible screwball comedy with a dash of Wall Street satire … it is a delight”.
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