Straight Place and Show

I should warn you up front....I have seen and reviewed several other Ritz Brothers movies and have hated them all. I have found the boys to be incredibly grating...and probably the most unlikable American comedy team. But, I try to be fair and when TCM showed three in a row, I watched them all....hoping, perhaps, that they actually DID make a few good comedies. I tried this with Wheeler & Woolsey. I initially disliked the team but I did eventually find a few of their films that I really liked. Well, this movie surprised me! After all, I really disliked the Ritz Brothers but in this one they weren't bad...and it's a rare case where one of the co-stars is the annoying one!!

When this film begins, Denny (Richard Arlen) and Barbara (Phyllis Brooks) are planning on marrying. There is one big problem, however....Barbara is annoying and rather dopey. Instead of focusing on her fiance, she consistently spends ALL her time and energy on her horse. It doesn't help that she also is very rich and very spoiled. In frustration, Denny makes Barbara a bet....if this racehorse cannot win, he gets to do what he wants with the horse. She makes the bet...the horse loses...and Denny gives away the horse to the Ritz Brothers. Now, Barbara is angry....after all, bets mean nothing to her and she stomps off and breaks her engagement. At this point, I was thoroughly convinced that although I usually hate the Ritz's, they weren't too bad and I thoroughly hated Barbara. Fortunately, despite this, the film turns out to be reasonably entertaining....and is CLEARLY better than the half dozen other Ritz films I've seen...mostly because the Ritz's aren't as annoying as usual and I spent so much time hating Barbara. Not exactly a glowing endorsement....so be it.