Hi Diddle Diddle


Hi Diddle Diddle is a blackandwhite American comedy film made in 1943 directed by Andrew L. Stone and starring Adolphe Menjou, Martha Scott, Dennis OKeefe, June Havoc, Billie Burke, and in a rare film appearance Pola Negri. The title is a play on the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle and the use of diddle as a word for confidence trick. The film features animated portions from Leon Schlesingers studion with the fast moving screenplay frequently breaking the fourth wall.

Young Janie Prescott is about to be married to her sailor sweetheart, Sonny Phyffe, but the wedding is delayed because the ship hasnt arrived to its dock. The wedding ceremony has to be pushed forward, and is combined with a christening ceremony that is to be performed by the same pastor. Sonnys ship eventually docks and when he meets his father, smalltime swindler Hector, before the wedding, he is given a corsage to pass on to Janie. Hector has actually stolen the corsage from Sonnys stepmother, opera singer Genya Smetana. Hector isnt aware of that the corsage has real diamonds in it, and it is a gift from the opera where Genya works. Unfortunately the wedding is yet again delayed when it is discovered that Peter Carrington III, Janies previous suitor, has managed to lose all of Mrs. Prescotts money on bad investments and a roulette table at the 59 Club. The family is now broke. Sonny then tells Janie he doesnt care about her money and the wedding proceeds as planned, after Sonny agrees to let his father help Mrs. Prescott get her money back.With the help of some friends Hector manages to fix the roulette tables at the 59 Club, and after the wedding he drags Sonny to the club before he goes off on his honeymoon. Sonny wins repeatedly, and Peter who watches, decides to make another attempt at sabotaging the relation between Janie and Sonny. He takes Janie, Mrs. Prescott and a Senator Simpson to 59 Club. Confusion and suspicion arises as Hector is seen with his friend, night club singer Leslie, in a compromising position, and then Janie sees Sonny in a similar way. Genya is oblivious about her stepson Sonny, whom she does not know even exhists, and Janie who he is about to marry, so she thinks Hector has married Janie and given her the stolen corsage. ........

Source: Wikipedia


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