Paddy the Next Best Thing is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Harry Lachman and starring Janet Gaynor, Warner Baxter and Walter Connolly. The screenplay was written by Edwin J. Burke, based on the 1912 novel Paddy the Next Best Thing by Gertrude Page and its later stage adaptation, which had previously been made into a 1923 British silent film of the same title. The film reteamed Gaynor and Baxter who had starred together in the 1931 hit Daddy Long Legs.
Synopsis
Impoverished Irish landowner Major Adair pushes his eldest daughter Eileen to marry the wealthy Lawrence Blake in order to pay off his debts, despite the fact that she is in love with another man. However Adair's younger daughter Paddy falls for Blake herself, and schemes to order events to everybody's happiness.
Cast
Janet Gaynor as Paddy Adair
Warner Baxter as Lawrence Blake
Walter Connolly as Major Adair
Harvey Stephens as Jack Breen
Margaret Lindsay as Eileen Adair
J. M. Kerrigan as Collins
Fiske O'Hara as Doctor David Adair
Merle Tottenham as Maid
Roger Imhof as Micky
Mary McCormic as herself (scenes deleted)
Reception
The film was one of Fox's biggest hits of the year.