The Perfect Specimen
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Michael Curtiz
Errol Flynn
Joan Blondell
Hugh Herbert
Edward Everett Horton
Dick Foran
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
From his childhood, Gerald Beresford Wicks has been educated to be mentally, morally and physically superior to those he will have to oversee as the heir to the Wicks family fortune. Although there has been much publicity about Gerald, few have actually seen him, as he has been raised in isolation on the family estate. Mona Carter is intrigued by the secrecy, so after visiting her brother Jink, who is working at the Wicks estate as a gardener to be near to Gerald's fiancée, Alicia Brackett, the woman he loves, she deliberately crashes her car through the gate, hoping to meet "the perfect specimen." She is disappointed by the man, however, because although Gerald can converse on any subject, his isolation has made him dull and conceited. Mona advises him to go out into the real world and learn how the average person lives. Their conversation ends when Mrs. Wicks, Gerald's domineering grandmother, rudely throws Mona off the property. The next morning, Gerald rises very early and rents Jink's car for the day, driving off the estate without telling anyone. Mrs. Wicks assumes that he has been kidnapped and alerts the police, but because no one has taken a photograph of Gerald since he was a baby, the police are hampered in their search. Meanwhile, Gerald has tracked Mona to her house. His esoteric knowledge of plants impresses Mona's absent-minded horticulturalist father, who invites Gerald to dinner. Gerald and Mona hear the announcement of his disappearance over the radio, but Gerald refuses to return right away. Instead, they take a long drive. In the country, they meet Pinky and his girl Clarabelle, who invite Gerald and Mona to a trucker's picnic. There, Gerald takes Pinky's place in a boxing match, and wins the prize money, which enables Pinky to marry Clarabelle. After escaping the police at a roadblock, the pair picks up Killigrew Shaw, a hitchhiking poet, who offers to let them stay the night at his house. Assuming they are married, Killigrew gives them one room. Mona insists that Gerald sleep in the adjoining room, which has just been painted, but when paint fumes overcome him, she drags him out to spend the rest of the night on the balcony. Caught in the rain the next day, Gerald and Mona stop at a hotel, once again forced to register as man and wife. After Gerald tells Mona that he loves her, she learns that he is engaged to Alicia and runs away. Gerald follows her, but by the time he reaches her house, she has left town. While he waits for her return, Gerald takes a job working as a mechanic and is found by Alica and Jink. They inform Gerald that they love each other, so with the engagement broken, he agrees to return home, especially when he learns that Mona is waiting at his house. At first, Mona refuses to marry Gerald, but outraged that anyone would turn down her grandson, Mrs. Wicks finds an obscure law that, to everyone's satisfaction, states that because they registered as man and wife, they are now considered married.
Director
Michael Curtiz
Cast
Errol Flynn
Joan Blondell
Hugh Herbert
Edward Everett Horton
Dick Foran
Beverly Roberts
May Robson
Allen Jenkins
Dennie Moore
Hugh O'connell
James Burke
Granville Bates
Henry Davenport
Tim Henning
Lee Phelps
John Hiestand
Joe Cunningham
Al Herman
James Burtis
Hal Craig
Eddy Chandler
Tom Brower
Wilfred Lucas
Pat West
Jack Roper
Huey White
Larry Mcgrath
Charlie Sullivan
Jack Kenney
Cliff Saum
Jack Mower
Spencer Charters
George Guhl
Evelyn Mulhall
Frank Mayo
Harry Hollingsworth
Crew
Jay Brennan
E. A. Brown
Harry Joe Brown
Nathaniel Curtis
Edwin A. Dupar
Julius Epstein
Fritz Falkenstein
Leo F. Forbstein
Robert Haas
Byron Haskin
Frank Heath
M. K. Jerome
Lawrence Kimble
Lawrence Kimble
Gene Lewis
Brewster Morse
Terry Morse
Norman Reilly Raine
Lawrence Riley
Charles Rosher
Jack Scholl
Howard Shoup
Rex Wimpy
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Samuel Hopkins Adams' novel was previously published as a serial in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan (Dec 1935). Motion Picture Herald's pre-release "In the Cutting Room" lists these additional actors in the cast: Marie Wilson, Warren Hymer, Donald Meek and Andrew Tombes. Their participation in the final film has not been confirmed.
