Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Blistering performances.

"Hard to Get" is not one of the rollicking 1930s comedies written with fast, witty dialog and repartee. Rather, it's a mixture of dialog and antics with a few nice tunes and some excellent acting. The plot is a familiar one for the time – a rich spoiled girl and a nice guy without money or social connections. Only, this film has some extra goodies. Dick Powell stars as Bill Davis and Olivia de Havilland plays Margaret ('Maggie') Richards. The supporting cast is wonderful, and all play superb roles. Charles Winninger has a considerable role as the patriarch of the family, Ben Richards, who made his gazillions of dollars in oil. He's an eccentric given to competition, especially in sports. His valet, Case, is on board primarily as his sparring partner. Melville Cooper plays Case very well, and Ben appears to get quite a workout in his role. Their face-offs are quite funny, and when someone interrupts Ben for a crisis in the family, he invariably gets taken by Case. They box and fence and wrestle their way through the work days. Ben comes up with some nonsensical epithets when interrupted, i.e. "Good Lady Godiva on two white mules." Isabel Jeans plays Mrs. Richards, the epitome of high society snobbery. It struck me as a little strange because they would have been the nouveau rich – having come into their wealth in the past few decades. Such new wealth usually found it long and hard to break into the cream of society that was dominated by the blue bloods of money from the early pioneer period. Rounding out the excellent supporting cast are Allen Jenkin as Bill's friend, Roscoe; Bonita Granville as Maggie's younger sister, Connie; Penny Singleton as the Richards' maid, Hattie; Thurston Hall as Ben's business friend, John Atwater; and Grady Sutton as Ben's office executive gopher, Stanley Potter. Mrs. Richards has some of the funniest lines in the movie. She hopes Maggie will marry Potter. She says, "The Potters are one of New York's oldest families. They came over with the Indians, or turkeys, or something." Connie, "You mean the pilgrims." Ben, "She means the turkeys." Other lesser roles are all played quite well. The movie opens with the wealthy Richards family getting ready to leave New York City for the summer. They are heading for the summer playground of the New York super rich, Newport, Rhode Island. However, Maggie is revolting and doesn't want to go. Ben is on her side, but Mrs. Richards usually wins out. Mrs. Richards, "My dear girl, you're losing your senses. You know perfectly well there isn't a living, breathing soul in New York in the summer time." Maggie, "Except for nine or ten million people, mother." The chauffeur carries in a box with two very tiny dogs in it. Mrs. Richards, "Oh, my poor darlings. You will stop the car occasionally, won't you, and let them run about for a bit?" Chauffeur, "Oh, yes, madam." Mrs. Richards, "That's what Brooks does with me on these long trips and it helps me so tremendously." At a dinner table scene, Hattie has some hilarious lines, posing as the Richards eldest daughter, while Maggie poses as a maid. Dick Powell sang three songs in the movie, including the first pubic performance of "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. Bing Crosby recorded it later and made it a hit single. Powell also did a very good imitation of Al Jolson's "Mammy" in blackface. This wasn't something incidental to the plot, but his blackface performance allowed him to sneak into an exclusive party. Finally, this is a look at Olivia de Havilland in one of her comedy roles. She is known mostly for her dramatic roles, but she was a very versatile performer who played across the acting spectrum. About 30 percent of her films were dramas; nearly a quarter were comedy-romance; and she made several each of Westerns, mystery-crime films, and action- adventure movies. She also appeared in two musicals and one military flick as well as one horror show. De Havilland doesn't have the funny or quirky humor side that Jean Arthur, Carol Lombard, Barbrara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Irene Dunne or Ginger Rogers had. But what she does have is great dramatic ability. So, when we see her early scenes when Maggie is angry or upset, her role is so superbly played that one thinks she really was angry and vengeful at that moment. She surely is one of the greatest actresses of all time. "Hard to Get" is a very good, entertaining and fun movie that the whole family should enjoy. The younger kids might especially like the funny scenes of Ben and Case fighting in various sports. One last thing of note, that another reviewer commented on. Toward the end of the movie, Ben and Case hunt down Bill who has taken a job as a riveter on a new high-rise building. The scenes are real with men being lifted to the top on steel girders.

I don't think I've ever watched more than one film starring Dick Powell, and I don't even remember which one that was, but finding him in this film was a delight. And throw in Olivia deHavilland, and you have a darned entertaining pairing in a pleasant romantic comedy. This is a solid "7".Powell has 2 musical numbers that are quite good. He plays it straight with "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" -- one of the better renditions of the song I've heard. But hams it up a la Al Jolson with "Sonny Boy", and yes, in blackface; I know we're not supposed to like blackface, but this is a hoot.The story is not that unique -- rich society girl (deHavilland) is put in her place was one of the common folk (Powell). But, she soon discovers that he has the potential to get involved in big business, begins to fall in love with him, and influences her father to help him. But there are some distinguishing elements here -- petrol stations, motor courts, building skyscrapers, and a crazy business bet between rivals. SO while the basic story line is not that different, there are some unique aspects of the story that help elevate it beyond many period pieces.As already mentioned, Dick Powell and Olivia de Havilland at the top of the cast are top notch here, although in re screen time, this is very much Powell's picture. Charles Winninger, as the high society father, is interesting here; in his exercise scenes he does his own stunts, and at the age of 54, that was not too shabby. Allen Jenkins was always pleasant to see on screen, usually (as here) in a "buddy" role; Melville Cooper similarly makes the most of his butler role here. Bonita Granville wasn't very impressive as the high society younger sister, nor was Isabel Jeans as the high society mother (although I have the idea she played the role as directed). Grady Sutton was one of those character actors who just seemed made for certain types of roles, as here. Thurston Hall player the other big businessman well.If you're at all attracted to romantic comedies, give this one a watch. I think you'll enjoy it.

HARD TO GET (Warner Brothers, 1938), directed by Ray Enright, is another one of many formula fluff comedies capitalizing on the current trend of spoiled rich girl and the common working man. Not quite Frank Capra material, but something along that line.The spoiled heiress in question is Margaret "Maggie" Richards (Olivia De Havilland), who happens to be young, pretty and bored. She has a sophisticated mother, Henrietta (Isabel Jeans); a business-tycoon father, Ben (Charles Winninger), who spends most of his time doing physical fitness by wrestling with his valet (Melville Cooper) behind office doors and at home; and a bratty kid sister, Connie (Bonita Granville). Because she doesn't want to go to New Port with her family, Maggie storms out of the mansion and takes the convertible. Running low on gasoline, she stops at the Federal Oil and Gas Company, a gas-station motel, to fuel up, where she is served its owner, Bill Davis (Dick Powell), and his partner, Roscoe (Allen Jenkins). Because Maggie accidentally left her purse at home and is unable to pay the $3.48 gas debt, she tells Bill to charge it. Because she's a total stranger, and been duped before, Bill puts this snooty customer to work cleaning out cabins and making the beds. Although Maggie tries sneaking away several times, Bill outsmarts her. After doing her chores, Maggie, resenting Bill's actions, returns home demanding her father to have the gas station attendant fired. Old Man Richards surprises his daughter by agreeing with the young man's actions, and that she is now a young woman who should now look out for herself. This she does, by plotting a vicious scheme getting even with Bill. Returning to the gas station the following morning, she pretends to be sorry, and sweet talks him into taking her out to a dinner date. During those few hours with him, Maggie learns Bill to be an ambitious architect having designed an auto court for a proposed chain of them across the country. What he badly lacks is money and a financier to back him. Maggie suggests Ben Richards (not telling him that he's her father but that of being his maid), and gives him the secret password, "Spouter," so to get past the secretary. Each time Bill goes to the office, he gets thrown out, physically. In spite of everything, Bill is not discouraged, going through extremes (disguising himself as a cleaning lady) to have one of these financial backers examine his blueprints. Once he learns Maggie has played him for a practical joke, he gives up. It's now up to Maggie to amend her ways, and when she does, Bill is gone and nowhere to be found.Occasionally labeled a musical, HARD TO GET is actually a straight comedy with three (really two) songs inserted, crooned by Dick Powell only so briefly. The first, "There'a a Sunny Side to Every Situation" is heard only through a few verses by Powell minus any underscoring. The second tune , "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," crooning to De Havilland on a canoe ride in Central Park, is a song standard composed by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. What fitting lyrics to proclaim De Havilland's beauty. The third and final is an old one, "Sonny Boy" originally introduced by Al Jolson in THE SINGING FOOL (1928). While Jolson sang it for sentiment, Powell (disguised in black-face passing as a member of a band) sings it for laughs. His rendition almost sounds like Jolson himself, performing it to a point where the guests look on confusingly.HARD TO GET may not as famous as the other "screwball" comedies from that era, but it does have some bright moments. Penny Singleton as Hattie, a daffy maid, gets one during an amusing dinner sequence. Switching roles with Maggie, pretending to be the débutante, Singleton displays her ability in comic timing where she becomes responsible for making the proposed dinner party a near disaster. Following the dinner, Powell quips, "That dame... she should be parked on Edgar Bergen's other knee." Although some portions of HARD TO GET might be a trifle slow, it's redeemed by a construction site sequence where Old Man Richards and his valet find the only way to get to speak to Davis, working 40 flights up, is by hanging onto a steal beam lifted over the city streets. While this is obviously done with rear projection screen, it get by realistically.As with most comedies during this period, HARD TO GET gets great support by familiar character actors ranging from Grady Sutton, Granville Bates, Nella Walker and Vera Lewis to Arthur Housman doing one of his many drunk interpretations. Charles Winninger, a Hollywood reliable, gives one of his many business tycoons and lovable father-type performances that has made his famous. Melville Cooper provides some really droll comedy relief with his constant quipping of "Amazing!" HARD TO GET is further evidence of the Warner Brothers musical with lavish dance numbers by Busby Berkeley and Warren and Dubin tunes becoming a thing of the past. Powell continues to sing a song or two, but by 1938 was concentrated more as a light comedy actor in routine assignments. De Havilland, best known for her numerous adventure films opposite Errol Flynn, would appear in more comedies of this sort, but like Powell, she proved her ability in assuming dramatic roles in the changing times of the 1940s.The 80 minute presentation of HARD TO GET can be seen whenever presented on Turner Classic Movies. Amazing! (**1/2)

It's hard to believe that this little Warner Bros. comedy was made a year before de Havilland played Melanie in Gone with the Wind. She is such a feisty, saucy little minx that it's no wonder Dick Powell has to tame her. Proof that de Havilland was not just a fluffy ingenue is the fact that three films later she was playing the demure, ladylike Melanie. Makes you wonder why Jack Warner never fully appreciated her talent. Anyway, this is an enjoyable comedy about a brash architect working as a gas station attendant who treats a spoiled heiress rather harshly when she has no money to pay for gas. She decides to turn the tables on him and therein lies the germ of a plot. Charles Winninger and Melville Cooper are delightful in supporting roles, as is Penny Singleton as a dim-witted maid in the wealthy man's household. Too bad this one isn't available on video. Like another early de Havilland comedy, It's Love I'm After, it deserves to be seen by viewers who don't have Turner Classic Movies on their cable stations.