Thank You, Jeeves!/Step Lively, Jeeves!

Literature's most popular “gentleman's gentleman”—created by legendary humorist P.G. Wodehouse—Jeeves came to American theater screens in a brace of mid-‘30s “B” movies produced by 20th Century Fox. Horse-faced Arthur Treacher, already typecast in butler roles, was the obvious choice to play the all-knowing and resourceful Jeeves, who had his hands full keeping his likable but dimwitted master, Bertie Wooster (David Niven), out of trouble. Thank You, Jeeves! (1936) finds Bertie smitten with a glamorous femme fatale (Virginia Field) who embroils him in a dubious scheme, while in the marginally better Step Lively, Jeeves! (1937), the unflappable valet (minus boss Bertie) is conned into believing he's the long-lost heir of Sir Francis Drake and winds up in America fending off gangsters. Treacher and Niven (in the first film) are well suited to their roles, and these two breezy entries are very much like Wodehouse stories themselves: droll but inconsequential. DVD extras include featurettes on Wodehouse's life and work. A strong optional purchase. (E. Hulse)