This Ritz Brothers vehicle is better than I expected, having often read how bad it is supposed to be. The production is of good quality and the cast does a fine job of keeping an otherwise weak script entertaining.
Patsy Kelly is the standout performer here. Most people will recognize her face but be unable to identify her. It is interesting to see her so early in her long career. She has most of the funny lines and is certainly more entertaining than the Ritz Brothers themselves. The Ritz Brothers, however, are better than I had often heard. While they did occasionally become annoying, for the most part they were fairly amusing. Their main problem seems to be that they have no screen identity of their own. They can't seem to decide if they want to be Abbott and Costello or the Three Stooges. To make matters worse they look nearly identical and have to resort to wearing different color hats and coats so that we can tell them apart. Being primarily stage performers they were probably unaware of how confusing this would be in a movie. Someone in the production should have corrected this for them. They were probably quite good as a rapid-fire wisecracking stand-up act.
WARNING! The following paragraph contains a small SPOILER!
Bela Lugosi does a fine job in his role as the butler, managing to appear both innocent and guilty at the same time. He maintains his composure no matter what is going on around him as if he has no idea what is taking place in the house. His whole concern is simply doing the job that he is there to do. It is gratifying to a Bela fan to see him actually save the day in the end.
Patsy Kelly is the standout performer here. Most people will recognize her face but be unable to identify her. It is interesting to see her so early in her long career. She has most of the funny lines and is certainly more entertaining than the Ritz Brothers themselves. The Ritz Brothers, however, are better than I had often heard. While they did occasionally become annoying, for the most part they were fairly amusing. Their main problem seems to be that they have no screen identity of their own. They can't seem to decide if they want to be Abbott and Costello or the Three Stooges. To make matters worse they look nearly identical and have to resort to wearing different color hats and coats so that we can tell them apart. Being primarily stage performers they were probably unaware of how confusing this would be in a movie. Someone in the production should have corrected this for them. They were probably quite good as a rapid-fire wisecracking stand-up act.
WARNING! The following paragraph contains a small SPOILER!
Bela Lugosi does a fine job in his role as the butler, managing to appear both innocent and guilty at the same time. He maintains his composure no matter what is going on around him as if he has no idea what is taking place in the house. His whole concern is simply doing the job that he is there to do. It is gratifying to a Bela fan to see him actually save the day in the end.