Canto Chorado

Can't beat THAT cast! Zasu Pitts. Ned Sparks. Ed Horton. A gangster's girlfriend Ruby (Perl Kelton) wants to star in a show, so when the gangster "Fenny" (Nat Pendleton) hears "Annie" singing (Zasu Pitts), he puts together a show for her, not the girlfriend. The singing and acting are terrible, but Fenny likes her, so they proceed. And of course, the girlfriend wants the lead role for herself, so Annie better watch out! This one gets a little rough around the edges... the film code wasn't being enforced yet. Honestly, if this had a different cast, I probably wouldn't have liked it as much.. I DO love Sparks and Horton. Also interesting to note that in the first couple scenes, Pendleton calls Ed Horton and one of the other guys "Honey" and "Dearie". Directed by Bill Seiter. Another interesting thang -- when Ben Mank introduced this film on Turner Classics, he stated that Walter Brennan appears in the film, but the trivia section states that Phil Tead is often mistaken for Brennan. Pretty good film, but probably because those key actors are so awesome.

I've seen this a few times and it always makes me laugh. Great cast playing for all it's worth, and very pre-code: When told she is to be Annie's chaperone, Ruby replies "She'd be safe on a battleship"; the gum scene; Ruby: "I belong to the world", Fenny: "You probably did before you took up with me." The end has a couple of neat twists too. It drags a bit in the middle, but all in all it's quite sarcastic and funny. And let's not forget Annie Snodgrass, who must sacrifice all because she is an "artist". The "Mother Song" is a neat take-off on a musical genre of the late 20s: "Who taught you wrong from right, while holding you so tight, who misses you tonight... Your Mother". Listen to the words, if you can take the delivery: it's one of the sappiest songs ever written. If you like old movies, pre-code humor and sarcasm, and plenty of 30s slang, this is to be seen.

Sorta like "Bullets Over Broadway" -- A gangster forces a stage producer to use a star who can't sing for a damn. The gangster (Nat Pendleton, as a kidnapping-for-ransom specialist) gets weepy whenever he hears ZaSu Pitts warble "Mother". Everyone else cringes but whatever he says goes. So producer Edward Everett Horton is stuck putting together a show around the spectacularly off-key Pitts. But how can the gang make sure it's a hit? Sour-faced Ned Sparks will twist as many arms as necessary....

The plot's nothing special, but it's got a roll call of great character actors, like Sparks, Horton, Pendleton, John Qualen, and at the top of the cast, ZaSu Pitts. Pleasant escapism.

This down at the heels production provides a lot more laughs than a lot of star filled comedies of its day with leads brought up from the supporting ranks. Zasu Pitts, Nat Pendleton, Edward Everett Horton, Pert Kelton and Ned Sparks more or less apply the same type they excel at in other films without stars stepping in front of their shot or impeding the flow of humor with a half baked romance and for the most part carry it off nicely.

T. Fenny Sylvestor ( Pendleton) makes a good living at cracking safes and kidnapping. During a job he hear's Annie Snodgrass (Pitts) warbling a tune about mom at a rehearsal. stopping the heist dead in its tracks. He then devotes himself to putting Annie on the Broadway stage by way of intimidation.

Sing and Like It is populated with Runyonesque characters playing it broad and sober. The cast of scene stealers have the patter down right and the script by Marian Dix and Laird Doyle runs from high sarcasm (after all Ned Sparks is in the room) to subtle wit (" Look at all the diamonds I've given ya' and not a mark on ya." ) It's unfortunate both writers had brief careers given the promise displayed here.

William Seiter's direction allows for dead moments (How many times must we listen to Ms. Pitts murder the same tune?) as well as a fair share of brutal slapstick in places but overall the team of second stringers he fields all have a good game making Sing and Like It a winner.

Sing and Like It (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Very good little gem about gangster T. Fenny Sylvester (Nat Pendleton) who hears Annie Snodgrass (Zasu Pitts) singing and decides he wants to make her a star. The only problem is that she's got a horrible voice and can't act. Not seeing the truth, the gangster forces a producer to make her the lead in an upcoming musical. SING AND LIKE IT might sound familiar to you because Woody Allen's BULLETS OVER Broadway has a lot of similar moments. I was really shocked at how hilarious this movie was at times because I had never even heard of it until it came on Turner Classic Movies. This is exactly why I record so many "B" movies off of TCM because you just never know when you're going to discover a gem like this. What works best with the picture are the two leads. Both of them were mostly just character actors their entire careers but being able to play leads in "B" movies like this often gave both a real chance to shine and that's exactly what happens here. Pendleton plays that tough but lovable thug like only he can. Pitts is just perfect as the bad singer who still wants her big break. Pitts has to sing the same song over and over again and her voice is just "perfect" in the sense that it's so bad that you can't help but fall for the song. The screenplay offers up some hilarious dialogue and especially all the back and forth between the gangsters and the show producer. I really liked how the producer was constantly putting down Pitts but Pendleton was too stupid to know what he was talking about so one of the goons had to translate it for him. Another surprising thing about this film is its "comedy" from the gangster beating up his first girlfriend. There are two different scenes of him smacking her around, which just goes to show what some considering humor in 1934. Still, SING AND LIKE IT is a highly enjoyable little comedy that deserves to be better known.