cornbread-jones

Before Indiana Jones (no relation to Cornbread) went on his many popular hair-raising adventures, there was this engaging little gemstone made in 1935 about a pair of crazy dames who go on this hunt for a bevy of undersea booty. Booty as in ""loot," not the other definition of the term, of course.

Thelma's flipping flapjacks at the greasy spoon as Patsy's at home reading the want ads and playing with the dog. Subsequently, she receives a telegram saying that Uncle Salty left them a map that points to a special spot in the ocean where they can uncover many precious jewels, coins, and other shiny goodies. Hot diggety dog!

But Patsy gets stuck in a diving bell Salty sent them while trying it out in their tub and they must visit Houseman The Souse at his machine shop to get her out of it. Luckily they do, and then they hop aboard a vessel hoping to locate the missing swag.

The scenes underwater are indeed the funniest parts, and it's interesting to see what being underwater looked like in the 1930s. The set is obviously spurious, but don't let it stop you from howling out with laughter, particularly the scene with the champagne. Is that a swordfish I see? Poking his nose into their business, is he?

It's one of the more likable entries in the girls' series, and I expressly recommend it to fans of scuba diving, treasure hunting, and Jacques Cousteau.

Those who don't appreciate anything at all... will be all wet.

I'm not sure if I reviewed this one or not, but regretfully it annoys me a bit, and I can't help it, so I have a hard time remembering if I have reviewed it or not. I swear that I wish it hadn't gotten under my skin the way it does. The jokes seem to fall flat, and try as they might, they seem to miss the mark, most of them. Pity. They're all such a gung-ho bunch of veterans. Lahr and Ebsen are fantastic as a songwriting team on the skids. Cornbread's favorite beefcake Kelly plays Lahr's saucy dame, and she's a corker as the hat-check girl. She gives the picture a sprinkle of Irish magic dust and lends it an irresistible elfin-like quality that is rarely equaled.

The female roles in this film are portrayed by such lovely, well-figured, bright, and charming young ladies, that I think everything else about it pales in comparison for me, and I find them so utterly fetching that I feel I believe this is the aspect of this film I enjoy the most and why I feel it should deserve any mention at all. The girls in this film are all angels, almost every one of them... even Margaret Dumont shows up for a quick cameo, probably one of the quickest that I've ever seen.

Despite the few shortcomings this film does have (and it does have its number) Alvino Rey and His Band are an added joy, and the sounds of his magic zither (with the four different playing card suits on its fretboard) waft and wave their way through the atmosphere and the "Hold That Tiger" number IS indeed a WOW, as is the bluesy "Cindy Lou McWilliams," a snappy 12-bar blues I find to be a nifty highlight. Don Barclay plays Luke Brown, and I do think this is a curious choice to play this character; a blast from the past that has returned years later to give us a couple of flat yuks. The music swings in this little weirdo. The comedy doesn't always work, though. The gangster character with the knives rubs me the wrong way, for instance. Some jokes are funny, like one involving an ice crushing machine, and Lahr singing a song about a girl named "Sally." So, what if it ain't exactly Fred and Ginger? I'm not entirely against the picture, but I could've found it to be a tad better than it was. I do admit it can be a little confusing, too, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it all out.