Sunday, September 8, 2024

Palmy Days (1931)

 I had never seen an Eddie Cantor movie before, the singer/comedian of prohibition times who is still the only person to have a Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon made in thier likeness. In the films first five minutes we have an artdeco bakery, chorus girls in slinky, stylized bakers outfits, a clearly coded gay character and a musical production number titled "Bend Down Sister". So we are clearly in pre code times.

Cantor plays a fake psychics assistant who is mistaken as an efficency expert and tries to go straight, all while pursuing one girl, being persued by another, and threatened by gangsters in league with the fake psychic. The whole film has a rather Looney Tunes air about it, fast paced, kentic and pretty funny. This got me interested in seeing more Cantor movies. ***

No comments: