The less well known Wodehouse novels can yield gold, and this one is a case in point. Monty Bodkin, heartbroken after Gertrude Butterwick breaks off their engagement follows her, taking passage aboard the RSS Atlantic, bound for New York.

I have loved " The Luck of the Bodkins" for years,one reason being my fascination with enclosed communities( I love train movies for the same reason)
Unable to get far away from each other, Monty and Gertrude's romance continues it's bumpy route. Their friends add to the complications and a McGuffin-like brown plush 'Mickey Mouse' plays a considerable part in proceedings.
Other characters include the talkative steward Peasmarch, whose ramblings always make me think of Eric Blore in the Astaire/Rogersmovies.

Wodehouse has enormous fun with Ivor Llewellyn, President of the Suberba-Llewellyn Film Studios, who is pre-occupied with the problem of how to get his wife Grayce's necklace through customs without paying duty on it. His belief that Monty is a spy who is on to him complicates both their lives further. P.G. Wodehouse loved to have fun at the expense of Hollywood, payback for his less than enjoyable time in the writers block at MGM in 1930.
He wrings every possible variation out of the complex relationships aboard ship, including the mischievous activities of red headed star, Lotus Blossom. The story is continuously funny despite lacking any quotable set pieces. Here the humour comes out of the characters, the situation and the un-usual setting, far away from the familiar Wodehousean Country House milieu. It is a joyful comic experience which I am happy to return to again and again. ( )