Her Secret (DVD)

Johnny Norton, hard-partying scion of a wealthy Chicago family, is exiled to Arizona by his disgusted father after being jailed for drunk driving. The skirt-chasing wastrel takes a job at a Tucson gas station, which is across the street from a breakfast joint run by Waffles, a pretty girl from Georgia. Johnny falls for the lovely hash slinger and comes to her defense when she is falsely accused of selling bootleg liquor tocollege students. But romantic complications ensue when young Norton's father arrives in town and takes a shine to Waffles himself.

Produced in 1933 but apparently not released until 1936 (as The Girl from Georgia), this oddball but fascinating low-budget drama was independently financed by people connected to the University of Arizona, where it was partially shot. Screenwriter Helen Mitchell, whose script adapted a play by Maude Fulton, was herself an alumnus of the college. Her Secret marked the starring swan song of silent-era juvenile Buster Collier, who took supporting roles in two subsequent films before quitting the acting game. Critics have taken delight in the performance of British-Austrian actress Sari Maritza, whose struggle to replicate a Georgia accent provides considerable entertainment of the unintended kind.

• comedy