In the followup to a weak RKO backstage comedy ("Curtain Call"), Alan Mowbray and Donald MacBride reprise their roles as scheming theater producers that are desperate to raise money for their next play. They encounter old recluse Elisabeth Risdon, claiming to be old friends of the only man she ever loved who jilted her, show her a great night on the town and are overjoyed by her agreement to invest. Now all she needs is the approval of her financial manager (Bradley Page) who wants a piece of the profits, if there are any.
In what was essentially a possible Wheeler and Woolsey script idea retooled for character actors Mowbray and MacBride (one of the few films where he's not some dumb slow burning cop), farce is the name of the game and there's plenty of funny people to force out some laughs. Risdon, who played the harridan wife of Leon Errol's in the "Mexican Spitfire" films, is a delight, an amusing turn that will remind viewers of their stern aunt getting some spring in her step after a few glasses of wine. She easily walks away with the film.
Also stepping in for the fun are Elyse Knox as Risdon's pretty niece, Lee Bonnell as a young actor whom Page resents for pursuing Knox, Mantan Moreland as the elevator operator whom Mowbray and MacBride try to fleece and Chester Clute as Page's assistant clerk. It's all pretty silly and unrealistic, and the play they're putting on wouldn't sell tickets in community theater, let alone on Broadway. But rarely do you see such a large ensemble of talent which makes the mediocrity much more acceptable. After all, play acting purposely horrible performances is a talent to itself, and these funny people have plenty of talent to spare.
In what was essentially a possible Wheeler and Woolsey script idea retooled for character actors Mowbray and MacBride (one of the few films where he's not some dumb slow burning cop), farce is the name of the game and there's plenty of funny people to force out some laughs. Risdon, who played the harridan wife of Leon Errol's in the "Mexican Spitfire" films, is a delight, an amusing turn that will remind viewers of their stern aunt getting some spring in her step after a few glasses of wine. She easily walks away with the film.
Also stepping in for the fun are Elyse Knox as Risdon's pretty niece, Lee Bonnell as a young actor whom Page resents for pursuing Knox, Mantan Moreland as the elevator operator whom Mowbray and MacBride try to fleece and Chester Clute as Page's assistant clerk. It's all pretty silly and unrealistic, and the play they're putting on wouldn't sell tickets in community theater, let alone on Broadway. But rarely do you see such a large ensemble of talent which makes the mediocrity much more acceptable. After all, play acting purposely horrible performances is a talent to itself, and these funny people have plenty of talent to spare.