Six stars. And that's rounded up. Why? Because Bogart could play anything
and make it work (as long as a New York accent is okay). Even a crappy part
like Ed Hatch in a crappy movie like this. And because, for all the absurdity
of her character, Louise Fazenda also turned in a good performance. Everything
else was strictly B-movie stuff. Including a 77 minute run-time that devoted
at least 15 of those minutes to four over the top musical production numbers
that were designed to make fun of the country hicks. In fact another real
problem is that the tone of the film wobbles drunkenly between sneering at the
yokels and code-approved "love conquers all" stuff. I won't go into the plot. Suffice to say it is a rural screw-ball comedy that is as ridiculous as the
production can make it. But one final word of praise: When Penny Singleton showed up, I HATED her part. She comes in as another
witless, annoying harridan. But then she got to do her song-and-dance stuff. And, as absurdly over-the-top as the material was, she was absolutely the real deal as a
song-and-dance girl.
Bogart is my favorite actor. That's why I dug this one up. And it was
probably a relief for him to get to play something other than a gangster in
1937. He also got to be the nominal star of the film. Pretty rare, at that
point in his career. By my count, this was his 24th film. I've seen 18 of
those, and Bogie was in the star in four of them. So I'm guessing he jumped
at the chance for a starring role, even in a crappy B-movie comedy. If you're
a HUGE Bogart fan, you should watch this. Otherwise, take a pass. 31 July 2024.
