The Girl Habit

Though he'd been given top billing at other studios, Charles Ruggles attained star status at his home lot of Paramount for the first time in 1931's The Girl Habit. Hoping to escape the murderous wrath of a gangster, wealthy middle-aged playboy Charlie Floyd (Ruggles) tries to get himself arrested. He finally succeeds, only to be thrown into the same cell as the gangster! Then there's the problem of getting out of jail, which comes about when Charlie uncovers evidence revealing the warden to be a crook. And all of this comes about simply because Charlie's sweetheart Sonya (Tamara Geva) tried to cure our hero of his flirtatiousness. Based on a play by A.E. Thomas and Clayton Hamilton, The Girl Habit was something of a enigma, garnering huge laughs in some theaters and stony silence in others. (official distributor synopsis)