Wayne Carter (Lowell Sherman) is easily one of the most eligible bachelors in Manhattan. So many women visit his apartment that he has an entire drawer for all the things his various companions leave behind. Carter’s loyal butler Rollins (Charles Coleman) thinks he ought to settle down, but he just isn’t the marrying kind.
Lita Andrews (Claudia Dell) is an aspiring showgirl and gold digger, and when she goes to Carter’s apartment for lunch one day, her sister Helene (Irene Dunne) has to come over to let her know about an important job offer. Helene is much more proper than Lita and isn’t a gold digger, which Carter finds very endearing. So when he finds out that Helene is looking for work as a stenographer, he personally gives her a job. Helene has reservations about working for such a notorious womanizer, but she’s in no position to turn down $50 a week.
It doesn’t take long for Helene to see that Carter means very well with her and he even gets Lita a job in a good show. She and Carter end up hitting it off and fall in love with each other. But while working at his apartment one day, Helene witnesses some of Carter’s former lovers stopping by, including Agatha Carraway (Mae Murray). Agatha very much wants to get back together with Carter, but even though he couldn’t be less interested in her, she won’t take no for an answer. Helene is disappointed in him and he knows it. He can’t bring himself to face her for a week after that, but their time apart confirms that she’s the only one for him.
Once Helene and Carter reconcile, she comes by his apartment and unexpectedly finds herself caught in the middle of a fight between Carter, Agatha, and Agatha’s gun-toting husband. To make matters worse, when she goes home, she gets into a fight with Lita and she walks out on Helene. But when Carter helps her find Lita, everything is forgiven and she and Carter can live happily ever after.
Bachelor Apartment isn’t a particularly noteworthy movie, but Lowell Sherman and Mae Murray brought some good life to an otherwise completely forgettable movie. If you’re a big Irene Dunne fan, you might be a bit let down by it because she is totally overshadowed by Sherman and Murray. At best, it’s a pleasant enough comedy to keep you busy for a little over an hour. It’s nothing worth going out of your way to see, but there are certainly worse movies you could spend your time watching.
