This movie was supposed to be a musical, but by 1930 audiences had tired of at least the "All Singing" part of "All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing" movies. Virtually everyone's first talking picture was a musical, and there just wasn't enough good music to go around. Theaters were even putting up signs in the cases of movies that sounded like they might be musicals with statements that read "This is not a musical" so as not to repel audiences. This situation lasted until 1933.
In this case, the movie probably would have been much better if it had gone through with the originally planned musical format. The introductory titles show that the music was written by Irving Berlin, and the cast even includes crooner Bing Crosby, who was so good in "The King of Jazz" that came out that same year. Instead, there is only one musical number two-thirds of the way into the film, and that is the only place we get to see or hear Bing Crosby. On top of that, Bebe Daniels, the lead actress, was a much better singer than she was an actress. Thus making this a romantic comedy of sorts really took away from all that she could have brought to the movie.
What you're left with is a little bit more than a shell of a movie. It seems like nobody bothered to fill in the blanks left by the depletion of the would-have-been musical numbers. I give this movie six stars instead of five mainly because of the historical value. Douglas Fairbanks would make only two more movies after this one. Someone else has already mentioned the factor his voice played in the end of his talkie career. It is worth mentioning that his voice isn't outright bad, but it just doesn't match the swashbuckling image he had developed during the silent era. It's a higher pitch than what you're expecting. It is great fun to see him doing some of his trademark acrobatic moves during the film, and it's hard to believe a man of almost 50 could still be so agile and have such a youthful and vigorous appearance. Particularly entertaining is Edward Everett Horton as the valet. He had a good career in silent films, but he would do even better as a character actor in the age of talking pictures where dialogue really allowed him to shine as a well-meaning if somewhat befuddled character in a myriad of films. Also, various sets in the film show off some fine and interesting examples of 1930 architecture, and it is interesting to see how the early stages of the depression were interpreted by people at the time. In 1930 the stock market sell-off is still portrayed as a "panic" and a temporary set-back that has merely bankrupted a few high-rolling financiers.
