Shortly before Hollywood came calling, Preston Sturges conquered Broadway, and Strictly Dishonorable was the comedy king's crown jewel. Hitting the screen soon after its stage incarnation, Strictly Dishonorable is a ribald romance loaded with double entendres and good intention. Isabelle Perry, a Southern belle (Sidney Fox) elects to spend the night in a New York speakeasy following a fight with her New Jersey fianc�. Famous opera singer Tino Caraffa (Paul Lukas) and retired Judge Dempsey (Lewis Stone) befriend the girl, with one declaring his strictly dishonorable intent and the other scheming to safeguard her virtue. The opera element is enlarged for the 1951 remake to better showcase leading man Ezio Pinza's (South Pacific) prodigious vocal talents. The speakeasy is exchanged for a sham marriage, with chorus girl Isabelle (Janet Leigh) set up to protect the reputation of Gus Caraffa (Pinza). But Isabelle's intentions are not so pure.
