Dream House (1932)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
A plumber (Bing Crosby) plans on marrying the woman (Ann Christy) he loves but her stubborn mother decides to take her to Hollywood instead. When the mother mails back the ring he gave the daughter, the plumber decides to take a trip to Hollywood to see what's going on and get his girl back. You'd think a Crosby short would be full of music and very little story but that's actually not the case here. I was rather shocked to see how much story the writers threw in here because you could argue that there's too much going on. This is a pretty wild little film that goes off in any direction that it chooses and perhaps some of this is due to the direction of Del Lord who of course is best known for his Three Stooges shorts. There comedy comes in a ride range of ways but the most glaring is when Crosby gets mud splashed on his face, which leads to a blackface gag where he enters the studio and sits down by a couple white girls who are shocked to see him sitting by them. This of course isn't very politically correct but things take an even stranger turn when Crosby, in blackface, finds his girlfriend on the set and gives her a kiss. This is the first time I've seen a (fake) interracial kiss in any type of film from this era. The comedy towards the end of the film has Crosby running into a lion and the two of them eventually get into a fist fight after the big chase sequence. Crosby, the actor, comes off very natural even when he's throwing punches with the king of the jungle. His voice is certainly on the mark even if the songs aren't the greatest.
