Three of a Kind (1936 film)

Plot summary

Barbara Penfield (Evalyn Knapp) tries to persuade her father, laundry magnate F. Thorndyke Penfield (Richard Carle), to invest in a business venture proposed by her sweetheart Rodney Randall (Bradley Page). Her father, knowing Randall to be a fortune hunter, refuses and stops her allowance and freezes her bank account. Undeterred from financing Randall but deprived of cash, Barbara decides to trade in her expensive car for a very cheap one.

While she's out on a test drive with a salesman, her car is fraudulently sold by con man 'Con' Cornelius (Berton Churchill) who is loitering around the car yard. The buyer, Jerry Bassett (Chick Chandler), is a Penfield Company laundry worker who has just quit after winning best employee award and $1,000. He sets out for the Royal Valley holiday resort and on the road picks up Barbara who, after the cheap car broke down, is hitchhiking to a rendezvous there with Randall. She doesn't recognize her own car which Bassett is driving, and introduces herself using the false name Beatrice Payne.

Arriving at the Royal Valley, Bassett and "Beatrice" book into separate rooms. Subsequently arriving are Cornelius and his daughter Prudence. Bassett learns that Beatrice is really Barbara Penfield, the daughter of his ex-employer, and it's confirmed when Penfield himself arrives to put a stop to any further negotiation between her and Randall.

Several cases of mistaken identity result between Penfield, Randall, Cornelius, and Bassett, with almost everyone believing the other is rich and manoeuvering to make a deal with him. Meanwhile, police investigator Cogarty is on the trail of the fraudulently sold car and he recognizes ex-convict Cornelius and swindler Randall. Bassett is wrongly arrested for stealing the car, with police compounding the mistaken identity situation.

Prudence and Randall marry, and when all the identities are sorted out Barbara and Bassett announce their intention to do the same and to manage the Penfield business when Penfield retires.

Cast