Broadminded

Broadminded (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Pretty good comedy about a playboy (William Collier, Jr.) whose father grows tired of his constant woman-chasing so he sends him out west with his cousin (Joe E. Brown), which turns out to be a major mistake. Out west the playboy strikes up a relationship with a woman who he plans to marry if they can stay away from a crazed South American (Bela Lugosi) that they keep running into. At 73-minutes the plot doesn't really carry even that short running time but there are enough good things here to make this worth sitting through at least once. Brown gets top-billing but the picture actually belongs to Collier with the big-mouthed comedian playing more of a supporting role. Brown certainly eats up each scene that he's in and actually manages to turn in some very funny moments including one where he spoofs Jekyll and Hyde and another sequence where he talks about how he almost beat up a South American only he doesn't realize the guy is sitting and hearing everything he's saying. Marjorie White and Margaret Livingston add nice supporting performances as does Thelma Todd who plays a friend of the boy's who ends up getting them into more trouble. I didn't care too much for Collier and in fact thought he dragged the film down a bit as he was a bit too stiff in the role and really didn't add any laughs. The highlight of the film is without question Lugosi who easily steals the film with his hilarious performance. I've often wondered what would have happened had the actor never appeared in Dracula and got type cast in horror roles. Many of his early films show he had some nice talent that studios could have worked with and he shows that off here. He mainly plays a guy whose job is to scare Brown by screaming and raving but Lugosi is so good that you'll have a laugh riot just watching him. The strawberry shortcake scene is a minor classic as is the scene that follows during the car wreck. The screenplay has several weak spots but I guess that's to be expected as the film certainly goes for many laughs but in the end it only gets about half of them. I doubt those who hate older movies are going to change their opinion by watching this but this remains a must-see for fans of Lugosi and of course Brown fans will want to check it out.

I recorded this movie to see Buster Collier, who appears in a photo in one of my silent movie star books. I learned that he had dated Constance Talmadge for awhile, and was interested in hearing his voice, to see how close the one I had silently supplied for him was. It wasn't. I was very pleasantly surprised to see Thelma Todd's name in the cast, and she was very good, as she has been in everything in which I've seen her. It's easy to see why she was in such demand.

All through the picture, I kept picturing Jim Carrey in Joe. E. Brown's role. They are both terribly cloying.

I couldn't get over Lugosi's Romanian accent being put across as "South American." All in all,though, it was worth seeing, and only an hour long, but I deleted it from my DVR once I had seen it. I wouldn't sit through it twice. It was a passable time killer.

Released in 1931 by First National Pictures the Joe E. Brown comedy vehicle Broadminded is a brisk 65 minute endeavor that not only showcases the star but has the added attraction of Bela Lugosi, fresh off his triumph as Dracula, appearing as his nemesis. The story concocted by writers Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby is episodic and serves up some Pre Code style sex and debauchery while director Mervyn LeRoy switches gears from social melodramas to lensing the shenanigans of Brown in a pleasant though uninspired way.

Jack Hackett (William Collier Jr.) is youthful New York playboy living off his father's wealth and indulging in a freewheeling party lifestyle. When his latest escapade nearly ends in scandal his father (Holmes Herbert) orders him to leave town and puts him into the care of his cousin Ossie (Brown) whom the old man somehow believes is a steadying influence. The young duo pack up a car and drive out to Pasadena where they become involved with a pair of society gals (Ona Munson and Marjorie White), their disapproving Aunt Polly (Grayce Hampton), and hot headed South American named Pancho Arango (Lugosi) whom Ossie runs afoul of.

The story presents minimal plot and commences with a truly bizarre party sequence where everyone is dressed like a baby. The film is largely set-bound with a handful of exteriors around the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. Sequences of Ossie and Jack driving are lensed with some hilariously awful rear projection that is so phony it intrudes on whatever suspension of disbelief the movie intends to conjure up. Director Leroy seems to have encouraged broad, theatrical performances from his cast who emote as if they were onstage. One wonders how a film depicting the travails of spectacularly rich and decadent sex-starved characters with unlimited free time went over with Depression audiences.

Fans of Joe E. Brown will likely be pleased with his antics here. The rubber faced, Pac Man-mouth star is frequently amusing and displays remarkable athleticism in several scenes. Perhaps even more delightful is Bela Lugosi as his combustible antagonist Pancho if only because it is so refreshing to witness the horror icon in a completely different milieu. Lugosi deserved costar billing but for some reason is buried down the cast list and not even mentioned in contemporary promotional material. Nevertheless he leaves an impression and all of the film's highlights involve him. William Collier Jr. Is forgettable as the horny heir being haplessly chaperoned by Brown as is a disappointingly vapid Ona Munson who enacts his true love. Spunky Marjorie White and equally vivacious Margaret Livingston chew up scenery as Miss Munson's pal and Collier's spurned lover, respectively, while Grayce Hampton channels Margaret Dumont as the haughty Aunt Polly. Adding plenty of glamour to the show is foxy Thelma Todd whose mere presence causes all kinds of trouble for the men in the cast. Miraculously she ultimately ends up in the arms of Lugosi!

Broadminded is a mirthful exercise in the absurd and will likely entertain most anyone. It serves as a proper gateway film for those who wish to explore Joe E Brown while fans of Bela Lugosi are sure to enjoy him in this atypical role. Toss in the tragic Thelma Todd, frank depictions of amorous protagonists, and Hollywood Pre Code freedom and the recipe for a harmless good time is achieved.

Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar, who would work on three Marx Bros. films, including "Animal Crackers" the play of which was out the year before this film, are the authors of 'Broadminded'.

It's clear to me that this film is the Warner Bros. idea of how to cash in with a cheapie madcap story.

Thelma Todd is as wonderful as ever. She was a fine actress who always managed to do a fine job even with the sorriest material.

Grayce Hampton who played what should have been Margaret Dumont's role is flat and unfunny. The male lead, played by William Collier Jr., looks like a peeled potato, and yet he's a lady killer. He picks up every good looking woman he sees. But he's lumpy and wimpish. He's a very poor choice for the role. I think he's supposed to be Zeppo Marx playing the love interest, but he's not even that good.

Ona Munson is pretty good as the female lead, but she's not given anything to do.

Joe E. Brown who is the putative star does what he does. He mugs unmercifully throughout, and he makes the most out of his circus clown mouth, and he makes a tremendous number of unwarranted sounds. I grew up in the last years of his really active career, and I thought he was great until I was about seven, when that wore off, and from then on I found him to be darn near intolerable.

But even if were someone else playing the part, it would still be a (in my opinion of course) dull and completely predictable film.

There is absolutely zero witty repartee in this film. There's no singing, no dancing, no harp or piano or guitar playing.

Bela Lugosi does steal the greasepaint mustache that Groucho put on, but now it's in the form of extenders for Lugosi's sideburns.

Lugosi pretty much mugs his way through this film along with the rest, but he looks as though he's playing along because he's being paid. And he's never convincing. He's always Bela Lugosi gone slumming. Not that he was bad, but I'd say that he was skirting it.

I'm glad I had a chance to see this film, I've been hungering for it for several decades now, and it's often presented in movie books as practically a tour de force performance for him.

It isn't.

I did not keep a copy of the film, although I've got many Lugosi films in my library. I just don't think I'll ever want to sit through it again. As it was, it took me two days to get through it.

I gave it a five rating because my tastes aren't universal, and Lugosi and Todd fans should certainly see it.

Even staunch fans of Joe E. Brown may be disappointed by this one, which fails to utilize his comic skills, such as they are, with maximum effectiveness. The foremost liability is the scenario, bulging with some of the feeblest jokes and flat sight gags that one is likely to find outside of a high school drama club original. But wait.....

Playing against type (to say the least) are Bela Lugosi doing an effective comic turn as a temperamental Latin/Hungarian (his accent is variable), and Ona Munson (she of the gritty roles in "Gone With the Wind" and "Shanghai Gesture" that came later) as an ingenue. These are curiosities worth seeing. But wait.....

Thelma Todd is here, too, playing the kind of role she did best, even if she hadn't Groucho's priceless reactions to her vamping. And what of Marjorie White, someone altogether new for me (and like Thelma Todd, destined to die young): a perky pepperpot with exceptional comedic attributes, mugging and bouncing throughout, creating a very appealing character without any of the comic (sic) lines having been written for her.

All in all, a third-rate picture well worth seeing.