Service de Luxe

Service de Luxe is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Constance Bennett, Vincent Price (in his film debut) and Charles Ruggles.

Service de Luxe
Directed by	Rowland V. Lee
Written by	Vera Caspary Bruce Manning Gertrude Purcell Leonard Spigelgass
Produced by	Edmund Grainger
Starring	Constance Bennett Vincent Price Charles Ruggles Helen Broderick
Cinematography	George Robinson
Edited by	Ted J. Kent
Music by	Charles Henderson
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	October 12, 1938 (1938-10-12)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

Helen Murphy, alias Dorothy Madison number 1, runs a very successful agency, "Dorothy Madison Services," for wealthy people who need someone to run their lives. A huge staff is up 24 hours a day to attend to all sorts of problems. Her alter ego, Pearl, alias Dorothy Madison 2, is there to assist Murphy, who dreams of finding a man who is able to run his own life.

Robert Wade, a young inventor from Albany, New York, leaves behind him five old aunts who tried to run his life. He comes to town to develop his tractor model. Murphy and Wade meet on the boat. Murphy is there on orders from Wade's uncle, who is a client of Madison Services, but she picks the wrong man to send back home, while she meets Wade and is instantly fascinated by him, although he thinks she's not a career girl, as well as being rather helpless.

When she discovers that the man she met on the boat was Wade, she has some problems how to manage this relationship. Her client Mr. Robinson is willing to finance Wade's tractor model and arranges a laboratory for him. Unfortunately, his daughter Audrey wants to marry Wade. While her father has adapted a kitchen in his library to be taught how to cook by Bibenko, Audrey tries to be in the basement laboratory with Wade. When it comes out that Bibenko is a Russian prince, Audrey finds he's the better husband-to-be. Wade marries Murphy, who leaves behind her career-girl life to become a wife.

Cast

• Constance Bennett as Helen Murphy
• Vincent Price as Robert Wade
• Charles Ruggles as Mr. Robinson
• Helen Broderick as Pearl
• Mischa Auer as Bibenko
• Joy Hodges as Audrey Robinson
• Frances Robinson as Secretary
• Halliwell Hobbes as Butler
• Raymond Parker as Bellhop
• Frank Coghlan Jr. as Bellhop
• Lawrence Grant as Voroshinsky
• Nina Gilbert as Mrs. Devereaux
• Crauford Kent as Mr. Devereaux
• Lionel Belmore as Robert Wade (uncle)
• Chester Clute as Bridegroom
• Ben Hall as Yokel

Bibliography

• Kellow, Brian. The Bennetts: An Acting Family. University Press of Kentucky, 2004.

External links

• Service de Luxe at IMDb