When charming but shiftless Michael Stevens proposes to Alice Bond with a diamond ring that he has charged to his uncle’s account, she tells him that she has already gotten engaged to stable but boring Marshall Winkler. Flattery is second nature to Michael, who professes to believe that Alice could not have chosen a better mate. Several weeks later, at a fund-raising dance in honor of Mayor Paul Loomis, Alice and Marshall quarrel over the mayor. Alice believes that he is dishonest, but Marshall, who has benefitted from the mayor’s patronage, defends him. Michael is also at the dance and takes the opportunity to ask Alice if he can come to say goodbye later that evening. When Michael arrives, he finds Marshall waiting for him and proceeds to tell Marshall the bad points of marriage. Marshall’s response makes Alice so angry that she breaks their engagement. After Marshall leaves, Michael returns and convinces Alice to marry him instead. To her parents’ dismay, marriage does not change Michael; he is still as irresponsible as ever. Finally, after Alice’s parents threaten to take her home if Michael does not get a job, he decides to take the county tax assessor’s job that the mayor offered him earlier. The mayor tells him the assessor’s job has been filled, but offers him a job as his opponent in the coming election. Michael accepts, then decides to put up a real fight. In his speech he tells the public the truth about the fixed elections, instigating a campaign to elect a new mayor. Michael even convinces his reluctant in-laws to cast their votes for him, and he wins the election by one vote. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Always a Bride (1940)
