SAFETY IN NUMBERS

The cast of Safety in Numbers

SAFETY IN NUMBERS  (1930). Director: Victor Schertzinger.

"My uncle says you're well-acquainted with the 400."

"We are. We know all of the husbands and none of the wives."

20-year-old Bill Reynolds (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) will inherit millions on his next birthday, so his uncle inexplicably sends him to New York to supposedly sow his wild oats, yet hires three chorus girls to look after him and keep him out of trouble and away from predatory females. You would think with a plot like this the movie would at least be some fun, but it's so badly written and paced that it's a real snooze-inducer. The three chorus girls are so amateurish that it's a shock to realize that one of them is actually Carol Lombard, who would of course develop into a talented comedienne and major Hollywood figure -- but you'd never know it from this movie. Geneva Mitchell is slightly saucier in her brief turn as Cleo Carew, who has a hankering for Reynolds. 

Rogers had some charm and aplomb, but the movie is dull and the songs not very memorable. Louse Beavers, playing a maid as usual, sings a number -- but you can miss it. The movie has a total of one laugh and only one interesting sequence, when we see a bunch of chorus girls in silhouette before a screen showing scenes of New York. Reynolds unaccountably  falls in love with Jacqueline (Kathryn Crawford), the plainest of the trio. Josephine Dunn rounds out the threesome and Virginia Bruce has so small a role that if you blink you miss her.

Verdict: Almost unbearably bad. 1/2 *. 

SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT

Cagney and Evelyn Daw

SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT (1937). Director: Victor Schertzinger.

"A Japanese who speaks better English than I do, with a weakness for wiener schnitzel. It's too much for me in my weakened condition." -- Terry. 

Terry Rooney (James Cagney) is a popular musical theater man who is tapped to go to Hollywood to make his first picture. Planning to send for his singing sweetheart, Rita (Evelyn Daw), he goes to the studio and meets publicity man Hank Meyers (William Frawley) and studio chief B. O. Regan (Gene Lockhart of A Scandal in Paris), as well as major star Stephanie Hajos (Mona Barrie of The Devil's Mask). After a blow out on the set, Terry walks out and marries Rita, only to discover his first film is a big hit and he's a big star himself. The only trouble is that his marriage must be kept secret ... Cagney is, as expected, swell in the picture, as are most of his supporting players, including Dwight Frye as a hairdresser and Philip Ahn, as his butler, Ito. There's an excellent scene when Ahn reveals that he speaks English perfectly (although in real life he was Korean-American and not Japanese). As for leading lady Daw, it's easy to see why she appeared in only one other movie. Despite a heavy chin, Daw was cute, and not unappealing in an amateurish way, but she has one of the the worst soprano voices I've ever heard -- shrill, nasal, and altogether awful (if not quite as bad as Florence Foster Jenkins). Director Schertzinger's discovery, she retired to get married not a moment too soon. Something to Sing About has some nice tunes, including the title number, Cagney does a lovely soft shoe routine with two professional dancers, and of course is given a chance to belt guys around to prove his "manhood." A shipboard sequence features an actual "cat fight" with two real cats boxing one another (!) and a sailor in drag is tossed over the railing!

Verdict: Frothy, mindless, and reasonably entertaining. **1/2.

STRANGE JUSTICE

STRANGE JUSTICE (1932). Director: Victor Schertzinger.

The lives of two very different men -- Henry Judson (Reginald Denny) and Wally Baker (Norman Foster, pictured) -- intersect in an unexpected way after Baker gives Judson a sock for trying to make time with his girl, Rose (Marian Marsh), at a party. Judson has been embezzling from his bank and finds himself in dire straits while Baker has trouble with money until he wins a lottery, then out of the blue winds up arrested for murder. This plea against capitol punishment is an okay time passer but little more. The predictable race-against-time climax generates few thrills. The acting isn't bad, however, and the film moves at a fast clip.

Verdict: One you can easily miss. **.