Paddy the Next Best Thing

Tea planter Warner Baxter shows up in Ireland, getting ready to ask Margaret Lindsay to marry him. Walter Connolly, is about to have everything repossessed by creditors, so persuades her to do so, although she loves local lad Harvey Stephens. On the way to ask, however, Baxter rescues Janet Gaynor, whose sailboat has been swamped in the bay.

We know how this is going to turn out, but there are all those loose ends to tie up, mostly by arranging for Connolly to croak, and allowing Baxter, with apparently an infinite fortune, to settle all matters. There's the inevitable third-act bafflement when Miss Gaynor decides she hates Baxter, but we can be certain this will be handwaved away by the end.

In short, it's typical, sentimental piffle, and while everyone performs their roles well -- Connolly, as always, is excellent -- this was from the weakest period of Fox, and they were allowing their leads to carry the movie instead of giving them good writing or a strong director. Miss Gaynor's roles would show an upswing the following year, but she would not survive the merger with Zanuck's 20th Century Productions.