(1938, b/w) The "plain man of the people," as his friends Prof Nick (Edward Everett Horton) and Susan Elliott Potter (Jean Dixon) call him, Johnny Case (Cary Grant) unsuspectingly discovers that his fiancée of a few days, Julia Seton (Doris Nolan), upon going to her address for the first time, is the wealthy daughter of Edward Seton (Henry Kolker), living so very grandly in New York City, ensconced in luxury with double staircases and an elevator.

Coming down the lift, the couple encounters Julia's sister, Linda (Katharine Hepburn) - both women wearing furs and atrocious hats - who claims to be the black sheep of the family. While Julia goes off to church (it's Sunday morning before New Year's) to break the news to her father, Linda - defensive of her sister: "It's important she marry the right man" - entertains Johnny with stories of her family and her siblings' childhood dreams, including her own. In saying he's not interested in Julia's dough, Johnny impresses Linda with his not yet having "a reverence for riches." Instead, Johnny's idea is to making enough money on his own in order to have a real holiday while young, to have some fun and find himself first, before getting back to the business of settling into a serious career.

Along with younger brother Ned (Lew Ayres), already a lush with his musical ambitions crushed, Linda and Julia prepare Johnny for his interview with their father. At 30 years of age and having earned commendation of character from his employer, Johnny forthrightly summarizes his rise from the disadvantages of poverty: an orphan by 16, worked his way through Harvard, labored in steel and automobile plants, even drove a garbage truck.

Wanting the wedding in two weeks, Julia wins her father's grudging approval, who then decides to host a formal party on New Year's Eve to announce the engagement, usurping Linda's desire to put on a more intimate, informal party. Refusing to leave her favorite room for the big occasion downstairs - where Johnny, along with receiving pointers about finance, gets introduced to cousin Laura (Binnie Barnes) and her husband Seton Cram (Henry Daniell), aka the Witch and Dopey, according to Ned - Linda's seclusion is interrupted by Nick and Susan, looking for Johnny, lost within the labyrinth of floors and rooms. She becomes much enthralled with the Potters, who sing and put on a puppet show.

Sent by Julia to bring Linda down to join the celebration, Johnny finds his friends ("Glad to have you back") have formed a convivial club with Linda and performs an acrobatic flip with Linda. Following a bitter confrontation between Linda and her father, Mr Seton informs his son-in-law-to-be: "There'll be a desk waiting for you at the bank."

Not one to hide his honest views from others, Johnny brashly reveals his hopes for a vacation dream. Disapprovingly Julia says to him: "You don't realize what Father's offering you… There's no such thrill as making money."

In contrast Linda says, "You know where you want to go, don't you?" though Johnny's feeling uncertain as to his being as convinced of his resolve as before, questioning if he should compromise and perhaps wait a year or two. No mention is made in this Depression-era feature of hard times, so depicting a man willing to give up the opportunity to make millions with a 19% unemployment rate, this had to be pure escapism.

Like Edward Seton's cigars (which along with Linda's smoking cigarettes would have affixed an R rating to this picture today, though the exposed cleavage of Binnie Barnes's décolletage in this age of Lady Gaga and Madonna would hardly have raised the eyebrow of a censorious Christian conservative) director George Cukor's mild romantic comedy is smooth and sweet, based on Philip Barry's play, adapted to the screen by Donald Ogden Stewart and Sidney Buchman.

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