When a gangster hears an untalented vocalist singing an old fashioned tune dedicated to the love a mother has for her child, the tears begin to flow, and before you can feed the flowers in her hat to a Central Park horse, he's promoting her to be a new star, much to the chagrin of the people forced to have to listen to this ditty over and over again. Yes, it's a one-joke plot, but when you've got the hand-wringing Zasu Pitts warbling one of the worst movie songs ever written (purposely done so), you've got at least a good gag to pass the time.
Pitts could produce laughter from reading a laundry list, and she produces a ton of snickers here with Nat Pendleton in fine support as the dumb mobster, fluttery Edward Everett Horton as a reluctant producer, and crabby Ned Sparks hysterically funny tossing off one liners in Pitts' direction. The wonderful Pert Kelton also stands out as the tough moll, a far cry from her most famous role as Mrs. Paroo in the classic Broadway musical "The Music Man" and its original movie version, made decades after this.
Pitts could produce laughter from reading a laundry list, and she produces a ton of snickers here with Nat Pendleton in fine support as the dumb mobster, fluttery Edward Everett Horton as a reluctant producer, and crabby Ned Sparks hysterically funny tossing off one liners in Pitts' direction. The wonderful Pert Kelton also stands out as the tough moll, a far cry from her most famous role as Mrs. Paroo in the classic Broadway musical "The Music Man" and its original movie version, made decades after this.