Norman Taurog directed Lucky Night, a light, slight screwball comedy, starring Robert Taylor and Myrna Loy.
Cora (Loy) and William “Bill” Overton (Taylor) meet in Central Park. Though they are elegantly dressed, each discovers that the other is also poor.
They manage to convince a benevolent policeman to give them 50 cents by lying that they are engaged.
While walking, they drop the money without knowing it. When their restaurant bill comes, they realize they must have lost it.
Someone leaves a coin on the table, Bill tells Cora to steal it. Bill then spots a slot machine in the restaurant and tells Cora to gamble, which she does and wins.
Bill and Cora go to a casino, win a car in a game and make more money gambling. The two get drunk and wake up to find out they are married.
Bill gets a job but still gets the urge to gamble, but Cora doesn’t care to live that life, so she leaves Bill and goes back to her father.
In the end, Bill goes to Cora’s house to reclaim her love.
Mildly amusing, Lucky Night is a quickly-made programmer that generated small profit for MGM.
Credits:
Release date: May 5, 1939
Running time: 82 minutes
Budget: $589,000
Box office: $1,080,000
