"And they say she has no charm..."

Because it was featured in John Springer's Forgotten Films to Remember (my most-prized book on classic movies), I was sure What Every Woman Knows (1934) would be something wonderful. It was: the charming story of a woman who, they say, has no charm.

Scottish lass Maggie Wylie (Helen Hayes) is, by her own account, plain; but possessed of a quick mind and a good deal of gumption. The latter, most often exquisitely subtle, is sometimes delightfully obvious. Upon learning there have been burglars about, and that her father and brothers (David Torrence, Donald Crisp and Dudley Digges) intend to lie in wait for them, Maggie insists upon joining the ambush. She shakes her tiny fist and cries, "I would be very pleased if there were four of them!"

Of burglars, there is only one: he's John Shand (Brian Aherne), a young scholar who twice-weekly steals into the Wylie home to sit by their fire and read the books he can't afford to buy for himself. Seeing him there sparks an idea between the Wylie men who, eager for their Maggie to be happily wed, contrive that John Shand should be her husband. "She'll be the making of him," they say, after learning John aims to enter the world of politics. He'll go far, Maggie will see to it, and do so without his knowing it.

Helen Hayes' performance is sparkling; her Maggie in action is something marvelous to see, as is so much else in this movie (ahhh, the swoonable Brian Aherne). I love the bits of whimsy that fill out a scene, such as a hunt through many pockets for 11 pounds, 10 shillings; the way "father," pronounced with a Scottish accent, comes out as "feather." In the Wylie house is kept a "fine chair" that must not be sat in by the family—it's reserved especially for guests.

My favorite scene involves a meeting between Maggie and the press. She's just been introduced to them as the future wife of MP John Shand and, responding to their clamor for a speech, flings out her arms with this address: "My constituents!"