Service for Ladies (1932)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 13, 2022

"Max" (Leslie Howard) is the maitre'd at a swanky restaurant who takes a shine to visiting "Sylvia" (Elizabeth Allen). Protocol forbids his approaching her, but he gleans that she is heading off on holiday shortly and so he arranges to be in the same resort at the same time. A benefit of his job is that he has many friends in high places - including a King visiting incognito. He helps "Max" to make friends - of sorts - with the woman, before they return to their normal situations in life and the relationship all comes to quite a lively head... A couple of fun contributions from Morton Selten (her dad) and George Grossmith (the King) keep this amiable comedy moving along OK, and we perhaps encounter our first cinematographic reference to "social distancing", too! It's too long, but the dialogue is frequently pithy with the two sparring gently and amusingly at the end.