After losing their jobs in a burlesque show, Mae Knight and Sadie Appleby follow the advice of a former fellow showgirl and decide to travel to Havana to trap a millionaire in a breach of promise suit. Pretending that Mae needs to visit her sick mother in Kansas, the women borrow the money from Herman Brody, one of Mae’s admirers. Herman does not have the money himself, but he convinces his boss, Butch O’Neill, to loan it to him for thirty days. Unable to resist temptation, Herman loses the money gambling and forges Butch’s name to an insurance policy in order to replace the missing funds. In Havana, Sadie and Mae pretend to be rich widows. They think they have it made when they meet Deacon Jones, a wealthy man who cannot afford a scandal. Mae is smitten with his attractive son Bob, but their lawyer Duffy informs her that Bob has no money of his own. Since the women are introduced to Deacon’s wife, a breach of promise suit is out of the question and Duffy advises them to trap Deacon in a scandalous situation and blackmail him. Meanwhile, the bank calls to verify the forged check and Herman tries to collect his payoff from the agent who sold him the insurance policy only to discover that he has left town. When he tries to track down Sadie and Mae to get the money back from them, he learns that they are not in Kansas, but in Havana. He follows them and meets Duffy by accident in a local bar. Duffy talks Herman into playing Mae’s outraged husband and he agrees as it is the only way he can get his money back. Duffy has Deacon kidnapped, but he resists Mae’s seduction attempts. Nevertheless, a photographer catches him wrapped in a sheet and the photos help Deacon’s wife get the divorce she wants. Butch finds Herman, but he only wants him to return to work because his luck has been bad ever since Herman left. Bob gets a job in New York allowing him to marry Mae, and Sadie marries Herman, to the delight of his boss Butch. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Havana Widows (1933)
