Gift of Gab

I watched this film for two reasons. The first was Ruth Etting. A favorite of mine since I heard her great Columbia LP at a faculty member's home at college. Disappointing here as she sings one awful song and a bit of a reprise and then goodbye. Bummer. The other reason was to see Douglas Fowley a good friend of my Dad's when they were young men. (I think Fowley was at my folk's wedding in 1933 a year before this film. Seeing him as a young man before he adopted his trademark pencil mustache made me see my Dad at that age. Otherwise, Gloria Stuart was lovely, Ethel Waters was fine singing a dull song and it was Alex Woollcott who surprised me. Who knew he was so soft spoken? I always thought of him bellowing as did Monty Wooley in The Man Who Came to Dinner. On the other hand, Edmund Lowe was repulsive as the fast talking con man. Yuch. Watching this once will be quite enough.

Painfully unfunny musical comedy from Universal about an arrogant con man (Edmund Lowe) who becomes an even more arrogant radio star. Movies like this remind you how little Universal had going for it at this time outside of their horror pictures. Lowe is about as charismatic as a second-rate William Powell can be. Gloria Stuart has the unfortunate task of playing his love interest. Victor Moore plays one of his nervous nebbish characters I find so irritating. Jack Benny-looking Hugh O'Connell plays Lowe's sidekick. Ethel Waters, Ruth Etting, and Gene Austin sing forgettable tunes. Slightly noteworthy today only for brief cameo appearances by Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Chester Morris, Paul Lukas, and "Sheridan Whiteside" himself, Alexander Woollcott.

The jokes and sketches are all lame. I didn't laugh once. I'm talking "is your refrigerator running" level of humor here. Directed by famed cinematographer Karl Freund but you would never know it as there's no visual style to this at all. Words I was sick of after watching this: stooge, liver, and all variations of gab.

This is a film with an endless procession of one-reelers put together to make a full-length feature and has great actors like: Gloria Stuart, Ethel Waters. Victor Moore, Andy Devine, Paul Lukas and Chester Morris along with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Philip Gabney (Edmond Lowe), a smooth-talking radio announcer, is hired to revive interest in a failing radio show. Karloff played the "Phantom" and Lugosi is a French apache dancer together with a half-dozen stars who appeared in a burlesque murder-mystery conceived by Gabney at the beginning of the film. It seems with all this great talent shown in this picture in 1934, that this film had to produce such meager entertainment. Well, after all, the film only ran for 71 minutes.

"Gift of Gab" has the distinction of being in a very small group of films. They are those with titles that perfectly describe the subject of the film. Some might question the interpretation or use of "gift" in this case. But, in times past, that's how most in society would describe the character that Edmund Lowe plays. He definitely has a gift of gab. By well into the 20th century, though, other words would be used to describe the likes of Phillip Gabney. Blowhard, windbag, stuffed shirt, are some of the terns that come right to mind. And, of course, no one would be thinking of such a person as having a "gift."

But this movie was made in 1934 - a time when people would have been encountering such types occasionally. The period from the invention of the radio in the 1890s through the Roaring Twenties spawned the fast talkers. But by the time this film came out - in the middle of the Great Depression, most had become wary of such characters. On the street they were most associated with con artists. Indeed, the opening scene here shows Gabney as a street huckster and con-man. Still, the likes of Walter Winchell reporting gossip from New York, and those in Hollywood, kept the loud-mouthed braggadocio technique alive a bit longer. And, that's the focus of the plot of this film. Only, when he's on the air, Gabney is all sweetness and nice with his bombast.

Edmund Lowe was a silent film star who segued successfully into sound pictures. But, where he had risen to leading male roles by the mid-1920s, soon into sound he became relegated to supporting roles. Still, he kept acting until 1960 at age 70. His role here as "Gift of Gab Gabney" is quite good. One takes an almost immediate dislike to the character, and Lowe plays it to the hilt. The plot is a version of poor man becomes rich man, only we never see him really down early. Its only when his fame, wealth and ego go to his head that he becomes a pathetic jerk that just about everyone dislikes. Of course, there has to be redemption and it happens. But the screenplay for all of this is quite choppy and has some big holes.

The best part of this movie, though, is the collection of musical performers on the radio show that Gabney hosts.

This is one of only four feature films in which Ruth Etting appears and sings - and perhaps the best that shows that singer who had a wonderful voice. Etting was associated with a scandal and shooting in the late 1930s, and she retired from the public spotlight with her second husband. A highly fictionalized film of her life was made in 1955, titled after one of her theme songs, "Love Me Or Leave Me." Doris Day played Etting.

This film also has singers Ethel Waters, the Downey Sisters, and Wini Shaw. The next year, 1935, Shaw would introduce the song, "Lullaby of Broadway," in the "Gold Diggers of 1935."

The comedy in this film is all of the Vaudeville type and mostly flatter than a pancake. But, it probably appealed to some folks yet in the 1930s.

The main supporting roles are fair, at best. Hugh O'Connell as Patsy, is Gabney's sidekick. He probably has more "comedy" film clips that aren't at all funny, than anyone I can recall from years of watching movies. But, some more prominent names from the cinema had parts in this film - mostly in the skits or sketches that were part of the radio show. Among the supporting cast of well-known actors are Paul Lukas, Binnie Barnes, Victor Moore, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Andy Devine.

This was in the early days of Hollywood when Universal was struggling to be in the second tier of studios. Lowe was among the best it could do for leading men. That further kept it from competing with the Big Five that had the likes of Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, William Powell, Walter Pidgeon, Frederic March, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Fred Astaire, John and Lionel Barrymore, Bing Crosby, James Stewart, and Humphrey Bogart.

The only reason to watch this film is for the musical segments with Etting, Waters and others singing. And to get somewhat of an idea of what the entertainment culture was like at that time in history.

Here are the best lines in this film.

Phillip Gabney, "Why, your troubles are over. When I handle your liver, I'll bring home the bacon."

Phillip Gabney, "What would you call that?" Telephone Girl, "That's the sound effects man." Gabney, "He doesn't look sound to me." Telephone Girl, "They all get that way."

Phillip Gabney, "I'll make Trivers Livers live. I'll put Trivers Livers on the plate of everybody within earshot."

Phillip Gabney, "You wanna get anywhere in this world, Pat, you gotta play every card in the deck... and I'm playin' 'em all."

Phillip Gabney, "Aw, listen, honey.": Barbara Kelton, "I've listened to you for months. You make my ears ache."

Blowhard Philip Gabney becomes a smash radio announcer, until he is canned from the station for a fake broadcast and tries to resume his on air status by attempting a dangerous stunt. Very weak on plot development, but obviously this was done by Universal to promote various radio, vaudeville, and singing stars of the day. Many of the segments from the movie to be done for a radio listening audience seem more suited to a visual mode. Of note, this is the second movie to team Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, even though they don't appear on screen at the same time and are in for a few seconds. Rating, 3 of 10.