This is a dreadful film by any standard. This isn't surprising considering it stars Stepin Fetchit and is made by the tiniest of studios, American. Plus, in the 1930s and 40s, black Americans were often given third-rate black-produced films--films that had negligible budgets and were shown in segregated theaters. In other words, black people got (for the most part) lousy films while the white audiences had the first-rate films! While I wouldn't consider him the star of the film, Stepin Fetchit gets top billing--mostly because he'd already had a long career playing horribly stereotypically stupid caricatures of black men. Frankly, seeing this is often embarrassing and makes your skin crawl. And, in even though I balk at the craze for political correctness today, this is one case where I can agree--Fetchit's routine was demeaning.
The plot of the film involves a young lady wanting to impress her fiancé and his family by pretending to be rich instead of the daughter of a cleaning lady. When her mother finds out, she agrees to keep her secret and use one of her customer's fancy apartments when she is out of town. Now THAT'S teaching our youth a good lesson! This plot, however, really isn't all that important. This is because in the middle of the film it all turns into a musical variety show in the middle of this apartment! Yes, an entire band, singers and tap dancers all perform here--making for a very strange and surreal experience. Not only is does this make little sense, but the performers just aren't very good--and there WERE many talented black performers--just not in this lousy short film. Dumb, dull and daffy--this one represents the three Ds of bad film making!!
