Safety in Numbers

First of all I was pleased with the large amount of screen time that Carole Lombard had in the film. I would say she gets the best lines of the three girls and the best dresses. Her delivery was also not as stilted as in many other of her early films. Perhaps the quick pace and light atmosphere of the film kept the dialogue more natural. All three girls sing a song to our leading man in an attempt to win his love, but sadly Miss Lombard only talk-sings her song. I thought many of the songs were enjoyable, although none of them were up to the standards of Lombard's other musical "We're Not Dressing". I was impressed, however, by the special effect of the silhouetted dancers dancing over a montage of New York at one point during the feature number. This film did have a heart, but it would have been so much better if we had been able to see any real development of the relationship between Buddy Rogers and the girl he chooses. As it was I can't say there was any reason to chose her over the others. He said he loved her; but why?

Buddy Rogers is set to inherit $25,000,000 soon. His uncle, Richard Tucker, thinks he spends too much time at the office staging musical numbers, so he ships him off to New York to get some seasoning, and includes an introduction to Kathryn Crawford, Josephine Dunn and Carole Lombard, three chorines who share a penthouse apartment, figuring there's safety in numbers. Rogers spends all his cash buying a gift for his hostesses, so he settles down to write a musical, get them better pay, and fall in love with one.

The songs were written by Richard Whiting and George Marion Jr. They're all right, but not particularly well staged or performed, except for one verse by Louise Beavers. In fact, the whole movie is stodgily staged, except for one number involving a big chorus of silhouetted women and an optical printer. The soundtrack is filled with crowd noises, and the pacing of lines is a bit draggy.

This poor pacing is odd because it's directed by Victor Schertzinger, a composer and film director who had been at the latter job since 1917. One would expect the man who composed "Tangerine" (albeit with Johnny Mercer doing the words) to have a better sense of pacing and aural focus. However this was 1930, Hollywood was still in chaos from the switchover to sound, and Schertzinger was probably worried about his job; 1930 was the year that movie musicals collapsed. Despite Rogers' pep, musicals like this, with their risque 1920s-style plots, were rapidly losing favor.

Of interest today almost exclusively due to the appearance of Carole Lombard in one of her first films at Paramount, SAFETY IN NUMBERS is one of those mediocre musical programmers from the early talkie screen that almost killed the movie musical genre. Buddy Rogers (Mary Pickford's future husband) stars as a young heir who has been raised by his uncle since his parents' deaths. Now twenty, his uncle decides the boy needs to experience the world a bit more since he's on the eve of receiving his parents' millions. Uncle Richard Tucker particularly wants him to be wary of golddiggers, so he sends him to New York to be looked after by, all of people, three showgirls, mistress types he trusts (how he knows them is never quite explained!) to keep predatory floozies away from him and help him find a nice girl (with payment for their assistance, of course). These chicks are scarcely older but hardened types but they quickly became enamored of the sweet young man themselves, so unlike the sleazy middle-aged men who pay their rent and give them expensive gifts (these broads are initially p.o.'d that the young heir has given them jewelry valued at "only $2,000" but are touched when they learn that's all the money he has with him.) Brunette Kathryn Crawford particularly likes him and he her, but when he meets a lovely young innocent telephone operator (Virginia Bruce) they all are upset. Crawford in particular has a conscious via her crush, with her long history with sugar daddies she's knows she's not good enough for him.

This is the first time I ever saw Buddy Rogers carry a picture. He was fairly popular at the time in such musicals although his quivering voice is not particularly good. He's kind of a cuter Arthur Lake or unsassy William Haines; he's passable as a lead but definitely not major star material.

This is a very typical early Paramount talkie; the camera is often so far back it's like you're watching a filmed play. The print I viewed was very good but the sound was not; I don't think this was an issue with an aged print as the sound was not static or muffled, it's just hard to hear some of the lines suggesting the mikes were too far away from the actors. Director Victor Schwertzinger later made such excellent films as "The Fleet's In", "One Night of Love" and the first two Hope-Crosby-Lamour Road movies but he doesn't show much promise in the way he handles this picture but then the script is bad and he's got a musical on his hands where nobody can really sing! Actually, somebody can, black character actress Louise Beavers who has a very good voice and gets to sing part of a song perhaps because her costars are not adept.

This is also a typical early Paramount talkie in that it features quite obscure players opposite the leading man (or leading women, in other films), actors who never really went anywhere and quickly disappeared from the screen, the case here being Kathryn Crawford and Josephine Dunn. Carole Lombard has the smallest role of the female trio but she gets the few laugh lines so ultimately has the best role. All three are coated with heavy makeup making them looking like Sadie Thompsons of New York. Complete with gaudy earrings and presumably unintentionally ugly gowns. Lombard's beauty is buried underneath all this, making Virginia Bruce in a small role stand out. Indeed, despite the size of her role, Bruce was often pictured in publicity shots with the four leads perhaps because her loveliness warranted it.

The songs are fairly bad (the movie opens most unpromisingly with a bad number that mercifully is not completed) but two are pretty good, particularly "My Future Just Passed". Lombard's talents alas did not include singing, and she has to talk her way through a terrible number that at east has a very racy line "You're the key to my ignition" (the movie also has a fairly audacious song "I'd Like to Be a Bee in Your Boudoir" that wouldn't have been used post-code). "My Future Just Passed" must have been something as a hit as it is one of the most common pieces of vintage movie sheet music of the day to be found now. Not remotely a good movie but it's nice to know it still exists.

"Safety In Numbers" makes you wonder if Buddy Rogers' career would have gained more momentum had it been filmed in, say, 1934-5, after the clunkiness of early sound-on-film technology had been ironed out. This was clearly meant to be a showcase for Rogers, and he certainly makes the most of his musical opportunities, singing in every number except "You Appeal To Me." Come to think of it, NOBODY sings "You Appeal To Me," because Carole Lombard could not sing, choosing instead to speak the lyrics over the orchestral accompaniment. But Rogers zips through his songs, even playing the drums and piano at one point, not to mention a wicked trombone solo during "The Pick-Up." The only problem seems to be whether or not Rogers is meant to be a libertine or a sweet guy - clearly his uncle imagines him to be a jazz-and-sex crazed rogue, but Rogers' sweet pan and wholesome, charming personality suggest nothing more decadent than a high school football captain slightly intoxicated on grandma's elderberry wine.

Regardless, the film is a risqué romp through an early Depression garden of opportunities to see young women in their underthings for extended periods of time (Rogers ingenuously asks one of the girls what a bra is - she answers: "A ping-pong net." He deadpans: "I love ping-pong.") It's difficult to tell Carole Lombard and Josephine Dunn apart in long shot, but up close (and when they opens their mouths), it's clear that Lombard had an edge on Dunn in terms of comedy and timing. Both Dunn and Crawford were forgotten by the mid-thirties; the former's blandness and the latter's staginess probably did nothing to contribute to their longevity.

Credit goes to George Marion Jr.'s lyrics - he is one of the more obscure Tin Pan Alley lyricists, but I always find his words snappy, literate, and loaded with internal rhymes and fresh ideas (ridiculous as "A Bee in Your Boudoir" might be, it's a clever song that sticks in your head).

If you can find the film, give it a whirl, for the sake of Buddy Rogers, a half dozen great songs, and a look at the "naughty" musical cinema of the Depression before the Code crackdown in mid-1934.

Bill (Buddy Rogers) is sent to New York by his uncle (Richard Tucker) to experience life before he inherits $25million. His uncle has paid 3 women Jacqui (Kathryn Crawford), Maxine (Josephine Dunn) and Pauline (Carole Lombard) to chaperone him and ensure that he does not fall foul of gold-diggers. One such lady Cleo (Geneva Mitchell) turns up on the scene to the disapprovement of the women. We follow the tale as the girls are offered more money to appear in a show instead of their escorting role that they have agreed to carry out for the 3 months that Bill is in New York, while Bill meets with Cleo and another woman. At the end, love is in the air for Bill and one other .............

The picture quality and sound quality are poor in this film. The story is interspersed with musical numbers but the songs are bad and Kathryn Crawford has a terrible voice. Rogers isn't that good either. He's pleasant enough but only really comes to life when playing the drums or trombone. There is a very irritating character who plays a cab driver (Roscoe Karns) and the film is just dull.