User reviews

If you loved Cantor's earlier precodes - "Whoopee" and "Palmy Days" - you'll like this one too. In my opinion it's not quite as good as his two prior film efforts, but there are still enough laughs and good musical numbers to make it worth your while. Cantor costars with a very young Robert Young as two college seniors who are expelled on the eve of their graduation. Young goes to Mexico to find the girl he loves, Eddie goes there as a result of being forced to drive a getaway car for a gang of bank robbers and thus being wanted. The two reunite across the border and the fun begins. There are two major complications in the plot - Eddie starts hitting people anytime he hears a whistle, and while in Mexico Eddie has taken on the identity of a great bullfighter in order to avoid arrest for the bank robbery of which he was an unwilling participant.

There are two big Berkeley numbers in the film, the first one being at the very beginning and bearing a great deal of similarity to "By a Waterfall" in Berkeley's film "Footlight Parade" of the following year.

I like The Kid From Spain very much, it's certainly one of Eddie Cantor's best films. But I'm still trying to figure out why in the world Sam Goldwyn borrowed Robert Young from MGM and cast him as a Mexican. Why didn't he use someone like Gilbert Roland?

Still it's Cantor's show and it begins with Eddie the schnook getting expelled from college after his pal Young puts him in the girl's dormitory where he's discovered by the Dean of Women. To his credit Young owns up to the prank and gets expelled along with Cantor. The two of them decide to go south of the border, but on the way Eddie is forced to drive a gang of bank-robbers across the border.

When American cop Robert Emmett O'Connor goes south after the robbers, the fast thinking Young introduces Cantor as a great bullfighter fresh over from Spain. Now Cantor's got to go through with it or else.

It's pretty thin stuff, but it's enjoyable and the climax with Cantor in the Corrida fighting a bull is something else. See how he overcomes the bovine challenge. Some of that business was used by Lou Costello in Mexican Hayride.

Cantor and Young pair off with Lyda Roberti and Ruth Hall and Ms. Roberti joins Eddie in singing Look What You've Done. The other song Cantor does is unfortunately in black-face and it's What A Perfect Combination. Both songs were recorded by him and sold reasonably well to Depression audiences. The score was written Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby songwriters best known for their Marx Brothers material.

I do say though Robert Young was not a convincing Latino. He was painful to watch and I'm sure he felt more ridiculous than anyone else in the film. It's The Kid From Spain's great weakness.

Other than that, The Kid From Spain is an enjoyable film and those who want to know about the comedic art of Eddie Cantor can't do better than this film to learn.

I like Eddie Cantor movies. This is an early talkie and one of his best. It has two superb dance sequences from Busby Berkeley.

I'd have rated it an 8 but for the number done in black-face. Yes, I know that was fairly standard at the time. It grates today, though. The whole thing is fun. It's improbable but that can be the key to the charm of a Cantor movie.

Nevertheless, the highlight for me was his leading lady. I'd heard the name Lyda Roberti. Probably I've seen her before, too. But I was knocked out by her delightful comic performance. Here was a pretty woman, svelte and attractive, who was a topnotch comic. She presaged such greats as Joan Davis and Judy Canova.

I see she died young. What a loss to Hollywood then and to those of us who treasure vintage movies now! Lyda, you were sublime!

Utterly hilarious Pre Code musical with two massive and riotous Busby Berkeley dance sequences, this Eddie cantor farce was a huge success in Depressed 1932. Filmed and released in the musical lull years 1931 and 1932 when a musical was supposed to be box office poison, this bull snorter is genuinely toe tapping and rib tickling. Imagine seeing this in a 3000 seater full of unhappy people needing a laugh! THE KID FROM SPAIN must have blown the roofs off with thunderclaps of laughter from one side of the country to the other. It is on record as the highest rentals /film hire between 1932 and 1939 with $2.6m returned to the distributor. This means it must have sold over $6m in tickets...in the most economically bad time of the decade and at a time when ticket prices were in cents. Imagine today if seventy million Americans went to one film in its first release! We're talking TITANIC level ticket sales. Well THE KID FROM SPAIN did exactly that. The two dance sequences are truly spectacular and very funny...the finale WHAT A PEFECT COMBINATION is about risqué as it gets in reverse rude lyrics given he is singing about "I'm the lock and you're the key". Warners Bros clearly handed Busby their studio key after this UA success and booked a box office berth, ready to shuffle off to their 42nd Street box office honeymoon. This KID is worth adopting for your home.

Set in a girls' dormitory that looks more like a palace, it is astonishingly sexy, even by pre-code standards (you won't believe some of the innuendo they got away with); it is also one of the only two big production numbers that Busby Berkeley staged for this movie. Choreographically they're standard stuff compared to what he would do later in his career, but you can still spot glimpses of his genius. As for the rest of the movie, a very slight plot provides the framework for some funny moments (Mexican border standoff, "can you shoot me if I stand over here?", and what may be the first use of slow motion for comic purposes on the screen). **1/2 out of 4.

In the 1930s Eddie Cantor made a series of pleasant, sometimes sexy, consistently entertaining, fast paced comedies. This is, in my opinion, one of the better ones. The songs are wonderful, the gags are funny, the 1930's atmosphere is thick, and Eddie himself is so energetic throughout he seems to float.

It's a wonderful picture. Very recommended for 1930's film buffs and musical comedy enthusiasts.

This is one of the two-best regarded Eddie Cantor vehicles, the other being the superior ROMAN SCANDALS (1933). In many ways, it follows the typical formula of star comedians during this era: not only does it mix the laughs with songs, but the setting goes from college to south-of- the-border and involves multiple impersonations (a convict about to be executed{!}, performing a musical routine in blackface and, most pertinent to the central plot, a torero) and the second leads' less- than-smooth romance (he is here played by the non-Latin Robert Young!).

Having Busby Berkeley as choreographer and being a "Pre-Code" film, this could hardly fail to have elaborately risqué' numbers (reportedly, among the Goldwyn Girls here are Paulette Goddard, Betty Grable and Jane Wyman but I did not recognize them) – right from the opening moments (which were trimmed for subsequent reissues!) but, even if the Bert Kalmar/Harry Ruby score is quite pleasant, these definitely come off as longueurs when not involving Cantor himself. Director McCarey had started out in Laurel & Hardy comedies, and he would subsequently handle many of their rivals/successors – apart from the star of this film, the Marx Bros., W.C. Fields, Mae West, Harold Lloyd and, in more sophisticated terms, Cary Grant.

Gags (and dialogue exchanges) are plentiful and generally display a very high standard of inventiveness. Among the highlights are: Cantor unwittingly acting as the getaway driver of bank robbers; his brushes with a flustered immigration official and a U.S. cop after the thieving gang; his serenading the heroine (on behalf of Young – incidentally, he is himself pursued throughout by the girl's blonde friend) sporting a gigantic sombrero; and, obviously, his being passed off as a celebrated bullfighter's son (he trains with a docile animal who can be 'controlled' with a gibberish but unwieldly word – however, the villains (including the blonde girl's fiancé J. Carrol Naish) then have it replaced with the most irate of the herd, able even to leap over the spectator barricades{!}, only for the hero to ultimately put it out of action by pure chance). For the record, the film was referenced in the Walt Disney cartoon short MICKEY'S GALA PREMIERE (1933) and can be seen to have influenced – ironically enough – the Laurel & Hardy outings SAPS AT SEA (1940; in Cantor's violent behaviour triggered by noise) and THE BULLFIGHTERS (1945), not to mention the Italian comic Toto' vehicle FIFA E ARENA (1948) and the classic "Looney Tunes" cartoon BULLY FOR BUGS (1953).

Being made between the funny and entertaining 'Palmy Days' and the very funny and very entertaining 'Roman Scandals', you'd expect this to be something special but it's not. It's got the silliness, the songs, the Busby Berkeley routines, the Goldwyn girls and Eddie Cantor doing what he always does but it just doesn't gel together.

It's not a bad film but it's massively disappointing compared with his previous and subsequent films. What's different is the writing. Roman Scandals benefitted from being written by George Kaufman, one of the main writers for The Marx Brothers and Cantor himself co-wrote'Palmy Days'. W A McGuire (who also worked on the script for Roman Scandals) on his own doesn't quite cut the mustard with this. It comes across as extremely childish but of a quality that would be instantly rejected by any self-respecting children's tv station. If you've never seen an Eddie Cantor film, don't make this one your first or you will never watch another.

Like with the more edgy and cynical Marx Brothers movies, plots in Eddie Cantor films are meant to be completely stupid but this one is so ridiculous that it's just irritating. It also lacks any warmth or empathy with the characters primarily because the supporting actors are so utterly terrible - all of them - they're awful. I know Leo McCarey's directorial style was very relaxed but he seemed to have slept through this one.

On a positive note, it does have a lot of Toby Wing - she was the ridiculously pretty chorus girl who appeared uncredited in loads of early 30s musicals. One wonders why she never became a star. The other positive is that this isn't 'Whoopee', Cantor's first film - that is unwatchably awful.

Forced into Mexico by crooks, a nervous young man impersonates THE KID FROM SPAIN--an imaginary bullfighter -- to keep from getting arrested.

Follies star Eddie Cantor prances his way through this naughty pre-Code comedy. Rolling his eyes and clapping his hands, he uses every trick at his disposal to amuse and he succeeds quite nicely. Cantor never slows down, but, like a mischievous little boy, he seems forever looking for new trouble to explore. His climactic scene in the bullfighting arena remains his best remembered movie moment.

Robert Young seems an odd choice to portray a Mexican college boy, and his problematic courtship of pretty Ruth Hall is totally lacking in excitement, but fortunately it isn't given an inordinate amount of screen time. Polish comic actress Lyda Roberti makes a good foil for Cantor; her amusing face almost matches his own in stealing scenes and her singing & acting are delightfully offbeat.

The dastardly deeds are handled by two of the era's best bad guys--John Miljan as an evil matador and J. Carrol Naish as his grimy sidekick. In addition, Cantor gets to share comedy sequences with three funny fellows--Paul Porcasi as a harried border guard; beefy Noah Beery as Miss Hall's very stern papa & Stanley Fields as a dumb-as-mud killer.

Movie mavens will recognize diminutive Edgar ‘Blueboy' Connor as a bull trainer and a young Betty Grable as one of the chorus girls--both uncredited.

Busby Berkeley directed the movie's musical production numbers, including the opening scene in a girls' dormitory, which seems to serve no other purpose than to expose a good deal of female flesh. The film's conclusion seems a bit abrupt. The villains have not been punished and the Young/Hall romance is still unresolved, but Cantor seems quite happy so why quibble?

Wow -- with all the big names in this one, expected it to be better. Liberal use of backdrop scenery, and the general Three Stooges buffoonery keep us from getting too invested in this comedy from 1932. With Busby Berkley directing the dance numbers, like the naughty opening number where the school girls wake up, go for a swim, and get dressed, it was sure to keep the audiences watching. Eddie Cantor and Robert Young toot down to Mexico and get into trouble after getting bounced from college. Supporting cast of Noah Beery, a 16 year old Betty Grable, Paulette Goddard, and a 15 year old Jane Wyman in the chorus, if we can believe the dates on IMDb. Feels like a collection of vaudeville acts stapled together....Cantor sings a couple songs. Noah Beery's Mexican accent comes and goes. Leo McCarey had been directing films for 10 years by this time, most of them silents. The acting in this one is a little over the top, kind of like a Three's Company episode. It's okay.

THE KID FROM SPAIN (Samuel Goldwyn/United Artists, 1932), directed by Leo McCarey, with choreography by Busby Berkeley, stars Eddie Cantor in his third annual musical-comedy for Samuel Goldwyn. Borrowing the formula from his initial Goldwyn musical, WHOOPEE (1930), switching from wild west to Mexico so not to give the impression of a remake, Cantor once again plays a nervous wreck who goes berserk (this time at the sound of a whistle), and carries on the same surname of Williams. Could these two characters in question be twins? Maybe, but there's only one Eddie Cantor, and for the record, this is not a sequel, just an original premise with recycled ideas.

The story begins in a college where Eddie Williams (Eddie Cantor) is found hiding under the sheets on the bed in a girls' dormitory by the stern Martha Oliver (Theresa Maxwell Conover). Although Eddie assumes the blame, it's his Mexican roommate, Ricardo (Robert Young), responsible for the practical joke. Because of this, both classmates, so close to graduation, are expelled. Ricardo, returning to his native Mexico, invites Eddie to accompany him. On their way to their destination, Ricardo stops at the First National Bank where Eddie waits outside. Parked on the very spot where the getaway car was supposed to be, Eddie encounters new passengers in the back seat, that of the bank robbers who mistake Eddie as their getaway driver. Because Eddie is an eye witness, the bank robbers kidnap Eddie and take him to the Mexican borderline. While in Mexico, Eddie meets again with Ricardo, who, by now, is having romantic problems with Anita Gomez (Ruth Hall), whose father, Alonzo (Noah Beery) prefers she marry Pancho (John Miljan), the greatest bullfighter of all Mexico. Eddie, pursued by Crawford (Robert Emmett O'Connor), an American police inspector, masquerades as Don Sebastian II, matador from Spain visiting Mexico for the upcoming bullfight. Complications ensue when Eddie not only has to fight the bull in the ring to avoid arrest, but to avoid the man-chasing Rosalie (Lyda Roberti) also hot on his trail.

The highlight bullfighting sequence is something of an inspiration for future movie comedians of Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Red Skelton or even Jerry Lewis had they handled such a routine. However, future famed TV comedienne Lucille Ball eventually performed such tactics in an equally funny bullfighting sequence in one of the episodes of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" (1958) co-starring Desi Arnaz as her husband, Ricky Ricardo (a similar name to Robert Young's character in THE KID FROM SPAIN, by which he's called both Ricky and Ricardo), with special guest star, Maurice Chevalier. A similar situation here and to the LUCY program is that both Eddie and Lucy mistake the actual bull for a tamed one for the bullfight. And let's overlook the bullfighting climax featuring Lou Costello, the other half of the Abbott and Costello comedy team, in Mexican HAYRIDE (Universal, 1948), with an added bonus with Costello riding the bull bareback.

Besides good comedy, whether physical or verbal, with some gags and one-liners right out of from the vaudeville days, there's time out for songs by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby including: "The College Song" (with lyrical lines recited by numerous college co-eds, including a very young Betty Grable); "In the Moonlight" (sung by Eddie Cantor); "Look What You've Done" (sung by Lyda Roberti and Eddie Cantor); Untitled dance number (performed by Grace Poggi); "What a Perfect Combination" (sung by Eddie Cantor and Goldwyn Girls); and "What a Perfect Combination" (reprise/finale, sung by Cantor and Roberti).

Also in the supporting cast are J. Carroll Naish as Pedro; Stanley Fields as Jose; Sidney Franklin as himself, an American matador who performs a straight-laced bullfighting scene before Cantor takes over and turns it into a burlesque spoof; Walter Walker (The college dean); Paul Porcasi (The border guard); and Edgar Connor as Blueboy, the Negro bull handler. Connor's film credits are few, but much well noted for his sizable role as Al Jolson's sidekick in HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM (United Artists, 1933).

THE KID FROM SPAIN has all the ingredients for a successful Cantor comedy, although some of his humor, and one production number in which he performs in black-face, may not impress contemporary audiences. Other than finding Robert Young playing a Mexican, sporting mustache and passable spoken accent, there's one scene where Cantor tells the love starved Roberti to shut her mouth in a manner that's too real to be funny, particularly after watching the sad expression on her face. Film buffs can sit back and try to spot some future film stars amongst the chorus girls, including Betty Grable recognizable in the opening number, the blonde haired Paulette Goddard in the background as Cantor as he looks directly into the camera while vocalizing "In the Moonlight" before strolling with the girls and singing directly to them; and Toby Wing, the "Young and Healthy" girl from 42nd STREET (Warner Brothers, 1933), visible in the first two song numbers. One cannot help but notice the girls seen in the college opening to be the same ones in the Nexican sequence, this time in Mexican attire sporting shoe polish in their black hair.

THE KID FROM SPAIN, which formerly aired on commercial television in the 1960s and 1970s, was later transported to cable networks in the 1980s as CBN (now The Family Channel), The Nostalgia Channel, Turner Network Television (1991), American Movie Classics (1993-94) and finally Turner Classic Movies where it premiered September 2, 2007. Formerly available on video cassette, it's the sort of movie that will remain in memory for anyone who's seen and enjoyed this 96 minute laugh feast with impressive Busby Berkeley production numbers. (***)

I loved Cantor in this film. In fact, it was my first Eddie Cantor film. His crazy eyes and fast quips kept my attention throughout! Although, this movie is really old and seems only one step above a silent film (judging by all their facial dramatics), it shines as a funny pre-groucho marx sarcastic fun fest. Poor innocent Eddie Cantor, knee-deep in trouble as usual escapes from a girl's dormitory, he is found hiding in and gets caught up with bank robbers. Running with his friend to cross the border to Mexico, Cantor tells the border's cops that he too, is Mexican. Cantor outwits the bad guys by pretending to be a bull-fighter. Trying to escape, he encounters many hilarious characters along the way and actually has to perform in a bull-fight - hilarity ensues. Cantor is always known for his quick thinking and fast talking, so some of his best lines are thrown around in this movie. Also, there are the 1932 Goldwyn Girls including Jane Wyman, a platinum blonde Paulette Goddard, Toby Wing and a sixteen year-old named Betty Grable (not credited). This film is a real must-see!

I was surprised to see this film streaming on Netflix, as I have had a really hard time seeing any of Eddie Cantor's films. There may be some rights issued involved, but I suspect that Eddie's blackface routines, which are included in all of his Goldwyn films, are the reason these are suppressed. All of these Goldwyn films have first-rate production values, melodic songs, and great co-stars Eddie can play off of. Lyda Roberti, who died far too young, is adorable and funny as the female co-star here. I was somewhat surprised to see a very young Robert Young playing a Latin-type here. Every Cantor film has a comic set-piece, and the bullfight scene here had me in convulsions of laughter. I have excellent DVDs of "Whoopee!" and "Kid Millions", and now I can see this. Let's hope that more films from this great funnyman can become viewable for the many fans.

So inventive was choreographer Busby Berkeley that film studios gave him carte blanc when handling his dancing numbers. In his sixth Hollywood film, his second with comedian/singer Eddie Cantor, in the November 1932 movie "The Kid From Spain," Berkeley amps up his dancing routines by introducing for the first time in his career a water backdrop. The film's opening shows a bevy of college co-eds waking up from their slumbers to begin their school day, giving Berkeley the opportunity to show off the 'Goldwyn Girls' in an elaborate upstairs pool, performing their synchronized kaleidoscope patterns in the water.

From the beginning of his Hollywood career in 1930's "Whoopee!" Berkeley was given a certain amount of independence to create his elaborate dance routines. The directors, such as Leo McCarey in "The Kid From Spain," handed him a truncated script and penned in where his musical numbers would appear. Working alongside musical composers Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar in "The Kid From Spain," Berkeley set out to design his dance formations to fit the narrative. After the Goldwyn Girls, named after producer Samuel Goldwyn, who financed the Cantor film, performed their jaw-dropping swimming routine, they proceeded to dress when they discover Eddie under their bed sheets.

As in many of his future films, Berkeley was given the opportunity to design additional dance numbers near the end of "The Kid From Spain." The film also highlight the early talents of 28-year-old cinematographer Greg Toland. His camerawork shows an expertise in both framing and focus, soon making him one of the most sought-after cinematographers in town. The combination of Berkeley and Toland's work, along with the popularity of Cantor himself, made "The Kid From Spain" the number one box office movie for 1932.

The film's plot follows Cantor playing Eddie William, who's kicked out of college for his outrageous behavior right before graduation. He's wrongly accused of being part of a bank robbery gang and flees to Mexico, disguising himself as an experienced matador. The movie includes an exciting one-of-a-kind bullfight, where he's forced to fight a raging killer bull.

"The Kid From Spain" introduced actress Jane Wyman in her film debut, this as a Goldwyn Girl. The future wife of Ronald Reagan was born and raised in Missouri by foster parents. At 15, she left them for Hollywood for a series of odd jobs where she was briefly part of the Goldwyn's dancing troupe with regulars Betty Grable, Paulette Goddard and Toby Wing. Goldwyn insisted, "every Goldwyn Girl look as though she had just stepped out of a bathtub. There must be a kind of a radiant scrubbed cleanliness about them which rules out all artificiality." It certainly helped the dancers' popularity by appearing in the number one hit for 1932.

Eddie Cantor & Robert Young are our heroes for this pre-code comedy. Young is engaged to a lovely Mexican gal, but her father has promised her to a prominent bull-fighter.

Cantor comes to his friend's aid by impersonating a matador himself (the son of a famous bull-fighter, no less) and wins the affection of a pretty blond girl (but she is the property of the thug buddy of the matador).

Plenty can go wrong with that mixture, including a well-shot bullfighting sequence in the finale.

There are some song & dance numbers with very pretty girls in tight (but not revealing) outfits, a little sizzle on the steak that would all but disappear in a few years with the incoming CODE.

The production and script easily match any of the light-hearted scripts of the 40's. I dont know why these pre-1934 comedies are so much fun. Maybe the actors aren't looking over their shoulders for censors chasing the script girls, with black markers?

Eddie Cantor musical where a jittery simpleton is forced to cross the border to Mexico and pretend he is a matador. It's nothing special all told. Some of the jokes are funny, yes, but the whole is thin and I'm sure recycled from previous film and radio work.

What is of some interest, is that Busby Berkeley is here with his crafty engineering. Oh, both of his numbers feel tacky and have nothing to do with anything, which is more proof of zero vision behind this. Yet both numbers impress. Both are in that voluptuous mode he would cultivate in coming years: sexual tease, sparkle and shadowplay, the female body as the fulcrum of a continuously shifting erotic landscape. Eddie in blackface among Busby's radiant troupe feels crude and out of place.

He would be on to 42nd Street and history the next year.