The Criterion Channel has a collection of Jean Arthur films at the moment. I confess I didn't know who she was, and the only film I'd seen her in was that Cary Grant drama
Only Angels Have Wings, where she wasn't particularly distinguished. But she's good in this one, despite one of those truly awful 40s haircuts (what
were they thinking?) She's sort of co-lead with Charles Coburn, the "devil" of the title, at least, according to the opening credits that portray him as such,
although in fact he plays a stuffy, selfish tycoon who goes undercover in a department store he owns (among so many other businesses it was news to him that he
did own it when they hung him in effigy outside it, prompting him to investigate). He can get away with this because he has been notoriously secret about his appearance so nobody would recognize him. (There's an opening message to the "very rich people of the world" about how his character was entirely made up, so nobody should sue them, which of course makes you wonder whom he is supposed to be.) Turns out there's been somebody trying to organize the workers of the store ("Neeley's") and although he's been removed, Mr. Merrick (Coburn's character) wants to investigate further. He had hired a detective to infiltrate the store, but he was moving too slow, and besides, his wife was giving birth in Philadelphia and he wanted to take time off, so Merrick takes over (to the consternation of his Germanic butler, who feeds him crumbled graham crackers because he thinks his stomach can't handle anything stronger). Merrick is quickly taken under the wing of Miss Jones as he is put to work selling slippers,
who feels sorry for him, and mistakes his reluctance to go to lunch (the stomach again) as a sign he has no money for it, and gives him 50 cents. Miss Jones's older friend Elizabeth quickly falls for Merrick (God knows why) and introduces him to the delights of her home-made tuna fish popovers, which he demands his fancy chef back home recreate. Oh, and it turns out Miss Jones's young man is the very union agitator who got thrown out, but is still trying to organize the store. As you can imagine, over the course of a week or so, which includes one eventful trip to an
unbelievably crowded Coney Island, Merrick warms to his proletarian friends. But then Miss Jones discovers the card that says he's a detective, and becomes convinced he's going to cause trouble for the 400 people (which is a minority of the store's employees! Those were the days) whose names her young man has acquired on his list of potential union-members. Will this lose Merrick the love of Elizabeth? Will our young friends lose their jobs? I think you can guess. All in all, a very pleasant diversion. May well give more Jean Arthur films a chance. (I'd never heard of the director before, but I like his predilection for interesting framing shots of faces:
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