AllMovie

Directed with panache by Malcom St. Clair, this film was a real feather in the cap of fledgling Columbia Pictures. Stage luminary Lou Tellegan plays a stingy husband who refuses to entrust his wife Elaine Hammerstein with a cent. The disgruntled Elaine turns to shoplifting, which nearly leads her into a disastrous extramarital affair with John Patrick. Ex-Sennett bathing beauty Phyllis Haver steals the show as a profligate flapper. After Business Hours was the first Columbia production to open in a "prestige" New York theater; two years later, director Frank Capra would further elevate the poverty row studio's stock in the industry.