Three of a Kind 1936

Barbara Penfield tries to persuade her father, laundry magnate F. Thorndyke Penfield, to invest in a business venture proposed by her sweetheart Rodney Randall. His refusal, based on the belief that Randall is a fortune hunter, leads him to cut Barbara off financially—stopping her allowance and freezing her bank account. Determined to help her cause, Barbara decides to swap her luxurious car for a much cheaper one, hoping to free up the funds she needs.

While she is out on a test drive with a salesman, her car is fraudulently sold by the con man Con Cornelius. The buyer, Jerry Bassett, a Penfield Company laundry worker who has just quit after winning a best employee award and $1,000, sets out for the Royal Valley holiday resort and, along the way, picks up Barbara, who is hitchhiking to a rendezvous there with Rodney Randall after the car’s breakdown. Barbara introduces herself under the false name Beatrice Payne, unaware that Bassett is driving her own car. At Royal Valley, Bassett and Beatrice book into separate rooms, and later Con Cornelius arrives with his daughter, Prudence Cornelius, setting the stage for a tangle of mistaken identities that follows.

Bassett soon learns that Beatrice is actually Barbara Penfield, the daughter of his former employer, and the truth is confirmed when Penfield himself arrives to put a stop to any further negotiations between Beatrice and Randall. The investigation into the fraudulent car sale picks up speed, and Police Sgt. Cogarty closes in, recognizing the con and the other party involved. Amid the confusion, Bassett is wrongly arrested for stealing the car, intensifying the comedic string of misunderstandings as everyone tries to sort out who is truly rich and who they’re trying to impress.

In the end, the first marriages—Prudence Cornelius to Randall, and Barbara Penfield with Bassett—signal a bright新的 beginning. With the identities resolved, the couple announces their shared plan to manage the Penfield business once the aging Penfield retires, marking a cheerful conclusion to a whirl of misperceptions and lighthearted deception.