Cross-Country Romance (1940)

Cross-Country Romance is a 1940 American romantic comedy film starring Gene Raymond and Wendy Barrie. With the huge success of It Happened One Night, the 1934 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Capra and starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, every studio in Hollywood attempted to cash in with a similar storyline. In addition to this film, there was also Love on the Run (1936) from MGM, The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) by Warner Bros.; even Columbia Pictures, which had made It Happened One Night, produced the musical remake Eve Knew Her Apples (1945).

Synopsis

High-profile heiress Diane North (Wendy Barrie) stows away in the trailer of a bacteriologist Dr. Lawrence "Larry" Smith (Gene Raymond) to escape from her own wedding. Larry has to drive cross country to San Francisco to catch a ship to China, where he will work with an eminent expert on a cure for a serious disease. When he discovers his stowaway, Diane tells him she is poverty-stricken Maggie "Jonesy" Jones, making her way to a slightly less poor uncle. Larry tries to get rid of his passenger at every opportunity, but she falls in love and uses every wile to stay with him.

Actors