A Tad Fun
Dwight Dawson (Don Ameche) is a man with the gift of the gab and he uses for his school of success where he claims he can teach anyone to be a success. But Dwight isn't very successful and so his girlfriend Claire Harris (Lynn Bari) comes up with a publicity stunt to find the laziest man in America to put through Dwight's cause to turn them in to a success. Enter Tad Page (Henry Fonda), a content young man who works part time and lives at home with his mother and is really only interest in the money which Dwight is offering so that they can use if back home for a new fire engine. The thing is that Tad's easy going nature is too much for Dwight who just can't fathom it whilst Tad falls for Claire.
"The Magnificent Dope" = "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" with a simple small town fellow ending up in the city where a slick operator plans to use him. And it is all good fun with things getting increasingly complicated as Dwight uses Claire to try and keep Tad in the city, making out she is available whilst not telling Claire what he is up to and the fact Tad is sweet on her. But do you know what, that is it as the storyline doesn't have a great deal.
What "The Magnificent Dope" has is two actors with first Don Ameche delivering the quick talking sort of slippery wheeler dealer which he is perfect at. The slickness of his delivery and the sense of confidence is so persuasive that he even makes you think that maybe he has a key to success. But then you have Fonda giving small town, happy go lucky innocence who walks through the movie with a smile on his face and an ability to take others on face value. And these two work well together to deliver plenty of quick paced humour.
What this all boils down to is that "The Magnificent Dope" isn't anything special but it is a lot of fun with the performances of Don Ameche and Henry Fonda delivering plenty of laughs.
