"Honey" (1930) is more like molasses dipped in hydrochloric acid and covered with a Whites Only shell. It may reflect the time in which it was made, and it has some talent and some quality, but 'some' doesn't make up for what it doesn't have, or even for what it shouldn't have. Starring cute-as-can-be Nancy Carroll, with Jobyna Howland, Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher, Stanley Smith, Lillian Roth, Harry Green, Mitzi Green, ZaSu Pitts, and Charles Sellon... I'd leave this as-is for the cast, but not mentioned at all, and involved in the best musical number in the show by far: Louise Beavers, Tess Gardella, Hamtree Harrington, Clarence Muse, Carolynne Snowden, and others who've faded from history. And COULD Louise Beavers sing!
This is based on a stage play. It plays as if it were on stage. Stage-bound to the ground. Camera is fluid, but direction by Wesley Ruggles has never left the New York stage or on the stagecoach for Hollywood. Musical numbers begin appearing nearly 35-40 minutes into the show! OH! This is a musical! By the time we get to the black minstrel inspired "Sing, You Sinners!" number - the finest part of the movie by 10 to 1 - the movie is nearly over. Now, to back up for a moment: the show is about rich southerners who've come into a spot where they're between a rock and hard place, so they're going to rent out their home for $5000 (remember, this is Great Depression 1930!) for a short time to some who're willing to rent their home. Jobyna Howland and her daughter, Lillian Roth, come with Roth's intended, Stanley Smith (about as exciting as watching paint dry). Unfortunately, of those hired to come wait on them, at least two have been arrested and put in jail! What's there to do? Well, at least ZaSu and Mitzi, Ma and daughter, DO show up. Looks like Carroll and Gallagher will have to stay and play cook and butler.
The premise isn't bad. The show is socially and temporally very, very dated. Interestingly, ratings on the IMDb range from 4/10 to 10/10. Either you hate it or love it. I didn't like it. The best thing in the show is, by modern standards, racially against the wall. Still, that number IS rousing by all standards.
