If You Knew Susie

What's surprising about a picture being good? This one has a B-picture plot (pure fluff), a modest budget, a "leading man" years past his prime, and a pairing (Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis as husband and wife) that doesn't seem to hold much promise. Surprise! Everything works: the gags, both visual and verbal, are funny; the trite story scampers along at a brisk clip; Cantor and Davis are excellent together, masterful at timing their lines, their reactions, their byplay. Make time on your schedule for this one. You'll be glad you did.

"If You Knew Susie" starts off very badly. Just bear with it, as the film improves considerably after Eddie Cantor's horrible minstrel act! Yes, even in his final film, Cantor brings out his signature black- face routine...something you really wish the movie has neglected to include!

After this hellish routine, the Parkers (Joan Davis and Eddie Cantor) announce their retirement from show business. They've bought back Sam's ancestral home in the town of Brookford in New England. Apparently, Sam (Cantor) comes from a very undistinguished family that has been in the States since the colonial era. However, the uppity nosed folks in Brookford are NOT happy about the Parkers' plans to turn their colonial home into a nightclub. A possible reprieve from bankruptcy occurs when they discover a letter from the founding fathers--proclaiming Sam's relative as a hero of the Revolution. To prove this letter is real and convince all the Brookfordites, Mr. and Mrs. Parker head to Washington, DC. There, however, something VERY unexpected happens...and the Parkers go from nobodies billionaires to nobodies all in one short visit! What does all this mean?! See this cute film and find out for yourself.

Despite this being Eddie Cantor's last film, it's also one of his best. The picture is very well written--with a very clever plot, wonderful dialog and quite a few laughs. And, it IS quite original. You'll particularly enjoy the portion with the gangsters kidnapping the Parkers...it's strange and quite funny.

Sam and Suzie Parker are the heads of a family on entertainers who decide to call it quits and retire to open a Colonial Inn in a community very closely linked to the American Revolution. When their venture fails due to disagreements over the historical importance of the Parker's ancestors, they sell up and resign themselves to a bad job. However a chance discovery of a letter in the house shows that not only was their ancestor a major part of winning the revolution but he was owed money for arms that he supplied at the time. The Parkers head off to Washington to try and get Presidential support for their claim and are taken in by debt-ridden gambler Mike Garrett, who discovers that the Parkers may be owed billions by the Government. However the hope of riches bring the Parkers to the attention of Garrett's mobster acquaintances – and not in a good way.

Given that this film opens with a musical number with a gollywog face and a dancing troupe in full blackface it is perhaps no great surprise that this film is not seen as often as others in the same genre. After this rather un-pc start the film settles down to a rather convoluted story that sees the Parkers come into money and get targeted by mobsters – the whole historical things is only a means to an end. Although it has too much story and have bits that seem to be filler more than anything else, the film is still entertaining and quite lively even if it never really does anything that well. The humour is basic but lively and, combined with the musical numbers produce a distracting piece of period entertainment. The plot doesn't matter but some viewers may find its silliness and lack of narrative cohesion to be a real turn off that the liveliness is not enough to cover.

The cast are all OK but they do tend to overplay as if they were on a stage – but I suppose they match the obvious material. Cantor may have been popular at the time but he is not that well known now and his crowd-pleasing humour has not aged well. He tries hard but he is nothing that special. Davis matches him with a performance that approaches mugging at times. Support is pretty average with each actor playing to the back row with some basic double takes but decent enough energy. Driscoll is all 'gee whiz mister' and full of enthusiasm – but it is hard to forget his fate even here.

Overall this is an instantly forgettable film but one that is just about lively enough to cover up all the weakness it has. The humour is broad but has a few laughs without ever risking being hilarious and the musical numbers are OK without really doing anything special. An OK genre film with plenty of enthusiasm but really needed more work on the laughs, the songs and, most importantly, the plot.

I just caught this film the other day on TV. It was shown at around lunch time on a weekday when mostly everyone is at school or work. I had the day off and so I decided to watch a little bit of it. I was suprised at how watchable the film was.

It is a story about the Parkers, a family of entertainers who decide to quit the showbiz world and settle down amongst a community who are linked to the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution. The community elders take a dislike to the Parkers and try to avoid their "Colonial" themed restaurant in the hope of bankrupting them.

One day the Parkers find a letter written by their ancestor who was a merchant around the time of the American Revolution who mentions that he is owed money by the Continental army for a shipment of arms and supplies.

The Parkers are overjoyed that the letter may finally give them recognition and acceptance from the community of the Founding Fathers. So Mr and Mrs Parker travel to Washington to try and get the letter verified by the US government. There they discover that they are owed millions by the US government for the shipment of weapons which brings them to the attention of the Press and also the attention of Mobsters.

This film turned out to be a very enjoyable film. I was surprised that I was able to watch it to the end as I am not a fan of musicals (Particularily B/W ones). However this film is not overladen with songs like other musicals (there are only 3 and they are all quite good!!)

The emphasis of this film is "light hearted comedy" and it delivers it very well. I thought Cantor and Davis made an excellent double act. But overall Joan Davis stole the show with her funny dance moves and witty one liners.

The choreography of the film is very good. Particularily at the very beginning of the film where Eddie Cantor (dressed as a B/W minstrel) does a musical number.

The comedy and the plot blended well together and the film ended quite satisfactorily. I am not saying that "If you Knew Susie" is an all time classic. But it is a very good film that suprisingly given its age and genre is very watchable today. Which is a lot more than one can say about many of the so called "entertainment" films that are made nowadays.

Based on the title song of one of Eddie Cantor's biggest hits, If You Knew Susie has Joan Davis in the title role of Cantor's wife on screen. The two play a couple of old vaudevillians who are ready to settle down in their small town where the families have been there for generations.

But not only their show business background makes the folks in Brockford snub Cantor and Davis. Everybody else seems to have had a Revolutionary War Hero in the ancestry, but poor Eddie. Which makes Eddie start hitting the archives for something about his ancestor Jonathan Parker.

He hits a proverbial jackpot when he discovers that the First Continental Congress appropriated a sum to this ancestor which was never paid. That compound interest really compounds and if the debt is paid the Cantor/Davis family is Howard Hughes/Bill Gates type wealthy.

Which makes these old Vaudevillians instant celebrities. And they gain a manager of sorts in Allyn Joslyn who is a news reporter for a wire service. He sees many stories that can be had with their movements of all kinds. And when interest wanes, Joslyn creates a couple of stories.

The story line was a bit confusing, but you might not notice it especially toward the end with the frantic antics of Cantor and Davis. Allyn Joslyn has some good moments as well. I think that Joslyn's part might have originally been meant for Adolphe Menjou who played a few such madcap characters in some of his comedy roles. Still Joslyn was very good, grabbing the spotlight when he was on screen even from the leads.

This was Eddie Cantor's last starring film. He'd be concentrating now on radio and that new medium of television. And Joan Davis did a couple of years in an early TV comedy that I still remember, I Married Joan. Both of them went out on a good film and a funny one.