edwagreen A rather benign story of a model who meets up with a swindler and she comes under his orbit as the years pass and his involvement in selling fake bonds is exposed. He gets her to marry him for social status.You see little to no violence here with the exception of rioting by disenchanted buyers and the final killing scene.The film would have been a lot better if Francis, with those large eyes and had the writing cast her in not only a vulnerable situation, but placed her in grave danger as well.Claude Rains plays the rather erudite thief and even his downfall is rather droll to watch.

jjnxn-1 Better than average Kay Francis picture. Thanks to a stronger script than was usually handed to her as well as a superior co-star in Claude Rains this swindle drama moves along at a nice clip assisted by that master of any genre, Michael Curtiz. Of course this wouldn't be a Kay vehicle if they didn't slap one amazing outfit after another on her back and she wears them with the same effortless grace and elegance she always exhibited.The story isn't terribly inventive but Kay and Claude have a good chemistry which works to the advantage of making the film more involving than it would be. It's nice to see her matched with an artist of equal skill to hers instead of the usual bland leading men such as George Brent and Alan Dinehart she was often teamed with. This was one of the last good films she made as queen of the lot before her feud with the brothers Warner caused them to start sticking her in any piece of low rent junk to get her to walk on her contract.

blanche-2 Kay Francis stars in "Stolen Holiday," a 1937 film that also stars Claude Rains, Ian Hunter and Alison Skipworth. Francis plays Nicole Picot, a beautiful Parisian model who is hired by Orloff (Claude Rains) to be his escort for an important dinner with a financier. The dinner is a great success, Orloff makes a lot of money and sets Nicole up in her own design house. Though there is not a romantic involvement, they are very close friends, and she is very loyal to him.Unbeknownst to her, Orloff is involved in some unsavory business practices, and things begin to unravel when he and Nicole take a vacation together. Since Orloff isn't around, and at the encouragement of her assistant (Alison Skipworth), Nicole is escorted around town by Anthony Wayne (Ian Hunter). The two fall in love. However, Orloff believes that an elaborate society wedding will make the police less likely to bother him, so Nicole agrees to marry him.The cast and the fashions really help this story. Francis looks beautiful in some great fashions. She often played strong, independent women - even as a young woman, as she is here, she has the air of a leading lady and not an ingénue. Despite her famous speech impediment, her speaking voice is one of her most interesting traits - low and melodic. Rains could play anything. Here he's an elegant Russian swindler who has set his business up with his own self-preservation in mind, and he's very believable. Alison Skipworth, as Nicole's friend and assistant, brings some humor to the film as a card-reader who is less than enthusiastic about Nicole's association with Orloff.Good movie, and I'm grateful that here in the states, we're able to see films such as this on TCM.

Oriel Fans of Claude Rains and Kay Francis shouldn't miss this one. It has its weaknesses--the romantic lead (Ian Hunter) is simply not as interesting as the devilish Rains--but it's tremendous fun nonetheless. The opening sequences may be the strongest: independent model Kay Francis meets the dashing but underhanded Claude Rains under strange circumstances, and the two form an unlikely partnership. The scenes between these two are the highlight of the film.In a great supporting role as Francis's best friend and Rains's severest critic, acid-tongued Alison Skipworth is hysterical. And I love the elegant and often eccentric fashions spotlighted by the movie in the fashion show sequences. For me, the interest only flags during the "stolen holiday" of the title--a forced romantic idyll between Francis and Hunter. When Rains starts scheming and Francis starts suffering, that's when the movie really cooks. You'll have your work cut out for you finding this movie, but it's worth seeking out.