All the actors do well with what they're given. So I guess one must blame the director.
But the main fault seems to be the humdrum script. It's too bad, too, because it contains several very funny lines. I laughed out loud more than once.
However, it's at least half an hour too long, which, at 83 minutes, gives you some idea. It seems like it's full of padding. It just goes on and on, one barely animate scene after another. The ice skating rink is a good example. It would have been much funnier at about a third its length. In fact, the whole movie probably would have been a winner at about 35 minutes.
Patsy Kelly is good but doesn't have enough to do. The same goes for Alan Mowbray. It would have been nice if their romance had been an actual subplot (heaven knows there was plenty of time for it). As it is, they have no lives of their own, but are merely used to shore up and fill in chinks in the March/Bruce story. The exception is Kelly's Vibrato scene, which is probably the high point of the film.
Virginia Bruce is stock in a faceless part -- I'm not sure any actress could have brought any life to it. Not a single funny line for her, although she does have the other funniest scene in the film, where she's plugging extension cords into light bulb sockets in the sign outside the window. Frederick March handles a comedic role well. Arthur Lake is completely wasted. See the Blondie series of movies if you want to see what he can do.
The only stand-out is Eugene Palette, who has one of his best roles ever. It's just made for his hard-boiled, uneducated delivery. Unfortunately, he has almost no funny lines. Marjorie Main is a highlight of the film and doesn't even get credit!
I don't think the few genuinely funny parts are worth the hour-plus of yawning which engulfs them.
But the main fault seems to be the humdrum script. It's too bad, too, because it contains several very funny lines. I laughed out loud more than once.
However, it's at least half an hour too long, which, at 83 minutes, gives you some idea. It seems like it's full of padding. It just goes on and on, one barely animate scene after another. The ice skating rink is a good example. It would have been much funnier at about a third its length. In fact, the whole movie probably would have been a winner at about 35 minutes.
Patsy Kelly is good but doesn't have enough to do. The same goes for Alan Mowbray. It would have been nice if their romance had been an actual subplot (heaven knows there was plenty of time for it). As it is, they have no lives of their own, but are merely used to shore up and fill in chinks in the March/Bruce story. The exception is Kelly's Vibrato scene, which is probably the high point of the film.
Virginia Bruce is stock in a faceless part -- I'm not sure any actress could have brought any life to it. Not a single funny line for her, although she does have the other funniest scene in the film, where she's plugging extension cords into light bulb sockets in the sign outside the window. Frederick March handles a comedic role well. Arthur Lake is completely wasted. See the Blondie series of movies if you want to see what he can do.
The only stand-out is Eugene Palette, who has one of his best roles ever. It's just made for his hard-boiled, uneducated delivery. Unfortunately, he has almost no funny lines. Marjorie Main is a highlight of the film and doesn't even get credit!
I don't think the few genuinely funny parts are worth the hour-plus of yawning which engulfs them.