Une tête folle

"Scatterbrain" is a good film in which to see the talented Judy Canova sing, yodel and make some of the hillbilly calls and faces she was known for. This is a good mostly situational comedy - the first that Canova would make with Republic. This is also one of the films in which Alan Mowbray had a leading role. He plays J. R. Russell, a major Hollywood producer. Mowbray would later shine in supporting roles at some of the major studios.

A fine cast of supporting players contribute to this film. Eddie Foy Jr. Is studio PR man Eddie MacIntryre and Ruth Donnelly plays Mowbray's secretary, Miss Stevens. Luis Alberni play Prof. DeLemma, a master hypnotizer.

The unfortunate thing about second and third tier studios back then was that they seldom got great writers for comedies. They could put out some fine films on occasion, but those were usually dramas or mysteries. There's very little clever or funny dialog in this film. Still, it's a decent one that many movie buffs might enjoy.

Here's the best line in the film. Eddie MacIntyre, "Listen, boss, I'll never give you any more ideas." J. R. Russell, "That's a promise?"

The story has Eddie MacIntyre (Eddie Foy, Jr.)as a press agent, talent scout and right-hand man to J.R.Russell (Alan Mowbray), Producer/Director of Perfection Pictures, planning a scheme in which he will "plant" his girl friend, actress Esther Harrington (Isabel Jewell) in the Ozark mountains and then "discover" her for the role of "Ruthybelle" in Perfection's upcoming production, "Thunder Over the Ozarks." With the full approval of Nicholas Raptis (Joseph Cawthorn), Goldwynian president of Perfection Pictures, Eddie farms Esther out to a hillbilly family where she is to remain until she is "discovered"---a discovery to be accompanied by fanfare and publicity.

Russell has heard a recording or Esther's voice, but he has never seen her, and when he arrives in the Ozarks he "discovers" the wrong girl and signs up Judy Hull (Judy Canova), daughter of the hillbilly family, instead of Esther.

The mistake is not discovered until Judy and her Pappy (Emmett Lynn) arrive in Hollywood, and she becomes Perfection's Public Problem Number One. Because there are no loopholes in her contract, Perfection is obligated to use her, but if they do her hillbilly antics will make them the laughing stock of the industry. Or so they think.

But they finally discover a loophole that reads her contract is null and void if she marries before the film is produced. Russell informs Eddie that it is up to him to court and marry Judy so the contract can be voided. But Eddie's plan is to hire Professor De Lemma (Billy Gilbert), a specialist in mind transference, to persuade Judy that she doesn't want to be a movie star and wants to return home to her cows, pigs and chickens.

But Judy does want to be a movie star, and Pappy has sold the farm, become a part of the Hollywood colony and is playing polo with producers named Darrell and such.

It all works out. The producer played by Joseph Cawthorn talks slightly backwards and never knows what he wants when he wants it. Republic goes out of their way in the press releases to say that the character is "a thinly disguised prototype of Sam Goldwyn", without the quote marks.

What Sam Goldwyn thought of that is unrecorded. Probably asked if they spelled his name correctly. And the polo-playing producer wasn't that far off from Darryl F. Zanuck either...especially since he was named Darrell.

This movie is a lot of fun. Great Comedic timing, and fun music. I love the Radio rendition as well

Studio publicity man Eddie Foy Jr. Comes up with a great gimmick to get his girlfriend, Isabel Jewell, as the lead of Alan Mowbray's new hillbilly movie: plant her in the Ozarks and have Mowbray "discover" her after searching for the lead among the people. But when Mowbray shows up, he thinks Judy Canova is the player he's supposed to sign. He doesn't discover his mistake until everyone is back at the studio, the contract is unbreakable, and studio head Joseph Cawthorne thinks she actually a great talent sight unseen.

Republic Pictures had already been appealing to their rural audiences with vehicles for the Weaver Brothers and Elviry. So now that they were producing their first starring Miss Canova, they surrounded her with a lot of great comedy support. Gave her musical numbers which ranged from mugging versions of "Little Brown Jug" to a handsome orchestration of ""Ciribiribin," and threw a kitchen sink of comedy bits from Billy Gilbert's double talk to thrill comedy. Some of the performers are wasted -- Ruth Donnelly is third billed, but gets three minutes of screen time and four lines; Wallace Ford is surprisingly good as a predatory reporter; Luis Alberni plays an incoherent hypnotists. For a woman who's starring in this movie, Miss Canova is on screen a surprisingly small amount of time, but it definitely works, and Yates had a new star on his hands.