Breakfast for Two 1937

After a night of revelry in town, the idle playboy Jonathan Blair wakes to find Valentine Ransome sleeping in his mansion, with only hazy fragments of the night to guide him. Valentine is drawn to the charming, restless young man and sets out to reform him and eventually marry him, explaining to her horse-breaking uncle Sam that she intends to “slip a bit in his mouth and make him like it.”

slip a bit in his mouth and make him like it

Valentine’s arrival kicks off a clash between romance and business. Jonathan discovers that his neglected family shipping firm is teetering on the edge of disaster, and that his usual checks will not be arriving. With a sly, calculating purpose, Valentine buys up controlling interest in the company and moves into Jonathan’s home as the new tenant. When he learns who owns the mansion now, he jumps to the conclusion that she merely aimed to pry into the firm’s affairs, and he bursts with anger, vowing to fight to reclaim control. Later, in a more candid moment with his loyal valet Butch, he admits that he feels beaten, since no one will lend him the money he needs. Butch, who is sympathetic to Valentine, fills her in on the extent of Jonathan’s troubles.

Valentine presses her advantage by elevating Jonathan to vice president, yet he soon comes to a different task at hand: Carol Wallace, his girlfriend, has asked him to marry her, and he has accepted. The plan launches into a chaotic comedy of interruptions as Valentine attempts to derail the ceremony, aided by a noisy troupe of window washers and presided over by a steadily more frustrated Justice of the Peace. The hush of the moment is shattered when Sam Ransome bursts in, declaring that Carol is the mother of his children, and the wedding is halted in a whirl of confusion. One of the guests, Mr. Meggs, recognizes Sam and brings the truth to light, giving Jonathan a renewed edge to move forward.

The following day, Jonathan presents a bold plan to the firm’s receivership board to turn the company around. The board votes to back his strategy, and control of the business returns to him. Valentine, delighted by his energy and drive, believes the path to their future is clear—until Jonathan drops the bomb that the wedding with Carol is back on. In a desperate move, Butch forges a marriage certificate declaring Valentine and Jonathan as husband and wife, which sends Carol running in a huff.

As the deception unravels, Valentine doubles down on the masquerade, much to Jonathan’s discomfort. When Butch finally confesses the truth to Jonathan, the balance shifts once more. Valentine flees the scene in a flurry, but at the train station, a hard-won understanding brings them back together, and the pair decide to marry for real, sealing their bond with a quiet, shared resolve to face the future side by side.