The Amazing Adventure

This has a worthwhile story idea, plus Cary Grant in one of his earlier starring roles, and it has some good scenes. There are a number of other, better movies made in the 1930s that were based on similar ideas, but this one is a solid feature. The main thing that keeps it from being better is that the story and script do not always make the best use of their opportunities. As a result, there are some sequences that take up screen time that could have been used for something better, while some potentially fine moments are under-emphasized.

Grant plays a wealthy young man who has become jaded and spoiled by the company of other well-to-do idlers, and who sets out on a challenge to learn how to work for a living. This setup lends itself to a lot of good material, and the best moments are Grant's interactions with other everyday persons who don't know who he is.

Within a very short time after this was filmed, Grant became one of the best actors around at handling this kind of material, and he was then able to make this kind of story work even when it wasn't particularly well-written. Here, there are a number of times when his developing flair shows through, but he wasn't quite experienced enough yet to carry the whole load, so there are some sequences that lack the spark that they needed in order to keep moving. It makes the movie somewhat uneven, still worth seeing if you like the era and genre, but otherwise unremarkable.