Lightning Strikes Twice

I found myself hardly laughing at this unfunny comedy that must read funnier than it plays. With a mistaken identity plot, a crazed gunman running loose, two policemen thought murdered and trapped in the sewer system, an inept detective impersonating a butler to get at the murderer and a fan dancer and her husband pretending to be Lyon's fiancée and her father, this had the makings of a really funny movie. If it weren't for Walter Catlett and Pert Kelton, however, the movie would have been a total waste. It's unfortunate that such a fine actor as Ben Lyon took this role, because he seems to have no flair for comedy. He and friend 'Skeets' Gallagher should have had better lines to play against one another, although I'm not sure Lyon could have pulled it off. Thelma Todd, as his fiancée, is very beautiful, but can't act very well. Her father, Jonathan Hale, gives his usual competent performance, although he often looks as if he can't wait to go home. And Laura Hope Crews, as the rich dim-witted aunt who mistakes Kelton for her future niece, tries hard, but can't rise above the material. The problem may have been related to the fact that Todd, Kelton, Gallagher and Chick Chandler had one film to be made to fulfill their contracts with RKO, and this was it.

This is a fast-moving farce, the type of thing that Leon Errol would be doing at RKO a few years later. Ben Lyon and Skeets Gallagher, drunk after a stag party, cause a slight accident with Pert Kelton and hubby Walter Catlett. The latter pair wind up disguising themselves as Lyon's fiancé and her father. Laura Hope "Aunt Pittypat" Crews is Lyon's loony aunt who finds the bogus pair charming. All the while John Davidson is sneaking around as a supposed murderer. Great comedy cast topped off in the third act by the entrance of Fred Kelsey as the detective. Thelma Todd is lovely (of course) as Lyon's real fiancé and her role is limited in that respect. Skeets steals the show and, for once, Chick Chandler's excessive mugging is charming and whimsical. All in all, lots of smiles for this fluffy RKO quickie.

In a stormy night, a couple of cops fall into the sewer drains after getting shot at and they struggle to find their way out. They are reported killed and their bodies taken. Steve Brewster and his lawyer friend Wally Richards wake up from a night drinking to find two con artists, Fay and Gus, worming their way into Steve's house. Worst of all, Steve's girlfriend and her Navy Captain father are coming. It gets even worst when shots are fired. Wally thinks that someone got killed with Steve's gun and everything seems to go missing. Steve's aunt mistakes Fay for Judy.

It is a convoluted movie. It is all very chaotic. I have trouble keeping track of all of it. It starts funny enough. The screwball works sometimes. I'm mostly taken with Pert Kelton. First I would reconsider the Keystone Cops opening scene. There really should only be those two cops and there should be no shots. The annoying reporter would make up the story whole cloth. Once the movie gets to the house, they may need fewer characters. It is too complicated. Sometimes chaos is meant to be funny. This one loses the thread and eventually the comedy.

The story seems to revolve around an engaged couple who is about to get married...and it is the morning after the stag party in which a few odd leftovers have occurred. Two cops and a butler have gone missing after some gun fire and all three are presumed dead...with a newspaper reporter and a police detective hot on the case. Meanwhile the soon to be groom and his best man wake up in bed together with powerful hangovers...also waking up in their home are last night's fan dancer and her husband, two con artists desperate to get something out of this deal. They are claiming to be injured from a car accident right outside of the house.

Before our groom and best man can get them out of the house, the bride to be arrives with her sea captain father only to see the groom carrying the fan dancer into another room. Misunderstandings abound and are amplified when the groom's aunt plays a surprise visit and confuses the fan dancer for the bride.

Meanwhile, there is a mysterious man hiding in the house and two cops, who are decidedly undead and roaming around in the sewer.

I love the thirties looks and the costumes and sets were wonderful. My favorite scene may be the drunken fan dance...and the romance between Steve (Ben Lyon) and Judy (Thelma Todd). This is not the best film and probably a watch and delete for me...but there were some moments of comedy brilliance mainly on the part of Ben Lyon, who is paired well with Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher, who plays best man Wally.

I wasn't super-motivated to write a review on this one, but after coming here and seeing the ridiculous negativity, I decided to voice my dissent.

Plot In a Nutshell: A man and his pal try to rid themselves of two scammers while dealing with a ditzy housemaid, a nosy aunt, bumbling cops, a dogged reporter and a crazed butler, and at the same, trying to create a semblance of normalcy for when his fiancée and her father arrive. Good luck!

That sounds screwball, doesn't it? And it sure delivers on that score. One reviewer wrote that the film was confusing. I wasn't confused in the least. I found it very easy to follow. Someone else wrote that it doesn't make sense. It made sense to me. The only part one might argue is why the butler stuck around. But it was established at the end that the butler was clearly unbalanced, so you can't really apply logic to his decisions, can you?

I only watched this film because I recently read a book about the mysterious circumstances of Thelma Todd's premature death in the 1930s. So I try to check out any of her films I come across. And this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It's barely over an hour, so it doesn't wear out its welcome. The two male leads have an engaging chemistry that makes their friendship believable. The plot, although clearly a bit silly, is also clearly meant to be that way. And there were several scenes that made me laugh so hard I had to rewind and watch them again!

All in all, I enjoyed this film thoroughly and did not at all find it a waste of my time.

8/10. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Yes, absolutely.