SimonJack This film is billed as a comedy, fantasy and musical, and it is all of that. And it clearly seems to be a social statement for the time about the wealthy, proud and powerful and their seeming disregard for the common man, especially the less fortunate. I suppose that would ring well with audiences of 1933, right in the middle of the Great Depression. Anyway, "Roman Scandals" opens that way. A local founder of the town of West Rome is being hailed at the dedication of the new museum he funded. Then we see families evicted from their homes where a new jail is to be built. Eddie Cantor is the hero, Eddie, who livens things up with his witty remarks and a song. When he's evicted from town as a troublemaker, the film transforms to the days of Imperial Rome. In this setting, Eddie become Oedipus. There we see "scandals" of that time and place. There's little sense in this switch in the plot, other than to create the fantasy picture of ancient Rome under Emperor Valerius (most likely the historic Emperor Valerian). The plot has some bizarre twists. It has black face, takes on slavery, and some satire. Eddie has a couple more songs and Ruth Etting sings "No More Love." This is one of the few feature films that Etting made, and one would like to have seen and heard this great singer of the 20s and 30s in more numbers. Busby Berkeley stages a couple of extravagant numbers with dancers and players. One of the public come-ons for the film was the inclusion of six attractive blond women in the nude except for their long hair that covered their breasts and genitalia. This might be off-putting to some adults and a concern for parents who are careful about movies that their children watch. This was in the days before the Breen Office enforcement of the Hays Code. That was a self-imposed means for Hollywood studios to police themselves against public uproars and possible government sanctions. As it turns out, the Hays Code led to some very funny comedies throughout the 1930s. They were all the more funny because of their script changes and comedic ways the directors and writers tried to worm around the code. Hollywood discovered that innuendo had great comedic power, that would be missing in scenes that were played straight. The original story for this film came from writer/actor George S. Kaufman. But many squabbles developed over the movie. It took some imagination to make this a comedic situation. Emperor Valerian was a principal persecutor of Christians, condemning many to death. It would be a huge stretch to equate such persecution to the modern eviction of families from their homes. The producers here obviously concluded that audiences may not find it very humorous. So, the ancient Roman segment is devoted to the intrigue around a plot to kill Valerius, with some allusion to the pagan worship and likely hedonism of the time. The cast are all quite good. Besides Cantor and Etting, some who would become very familiar Hollywood faces have roles. Edward Arnold plays Valerius and Alan Mowbray is Majordomo. Gloria Stuart is Princess Sylvia and Verree Teasdale is Empress Agrippa. David Manners plays Josephus and Lucille Ball is on screen a short time as one of the Goldwyn Girls. Quite a lot went into the lavish production of this film. Huge sets, very large casts with many extras, the Roman costumes and settings. And a chariot chase-race is very well done. The songs are good, but nothing special to remember. Cantor is good and not overly bombastic as he often was on radio shows and public appearance, especially later in his career. Ruth Etting played Olga. It would have been nice if she had been given one or two more songs.

jpickerel Eddie (Cantor) is escorted to the city limits of his home town of Rome (Oklahoma, I think) because of a run in with the city fathers who find his charitable, good nature a hindrance. He falls asleep and wakes up in ancient Rome. If you are a fan of ol' Banjo Eyes, this film is for you. It is pure Cantor, from start to finish, with all the attendant jokes, one liners, comebacks, eye rolling and pratfalls. If you are not a devotee, there is little to recommend this 1933 flicker. George S. Kaufman could have done better by the plot, although anything he might have written would have been over powered by Cantor. Busby Berkley and the Goldwyn Girls provide plenty of eye candy, and the music is among the best of the early musicals, especially "Build a little House" which opens and closes the film. Ruth Etting, although billed along with Gloria Stuart and Veree Teasdale, provides but one song, "No More Love". Teasdale and Stuart will remind you of just how glamorously beautiful the female stars molded by the studio system could be. To boot, they could act. The only actors who come close to matching the presence of Cantor are Edward Arnold, as the Emperor, and Alan Mowbray, as the Major Domo; both could be accomplished scene stealers. The chariot chase is spectacular, although marred by the then common practice of speeding up the action by adjusting the film speed. This is not among the best of the depression era comedies and musicals, but I can think of worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

Bill Painter If you aren't a fan of the Wide-Eyed Wonder already, you should be. He takes the audience of romp after romp from Rome, New York to ancient Rome itself. Cantor was the emperor's food taster in the time of the Roman Empire; what a task! Who else could do it so whimsically? We to go to the movies for fun, right? You will definitely have fun skipping through a loosely written script with the man with the mesmerizing eyes. Considering the time(1930's) and the sad state the entire country was in (the Depression), this had to be the most enjoyable time of a person's week. Absolutely remarkable. And to prove it, this movie made a ton of money! Lucille Ball makes her screen debut in this film and rejoins Eddie a year later in 1934's Kid Millions. Eddie Cantor is said to have commended Lucy for putting "comedy before glamour" in her work on this film.

willowgreen This 1933 Samuel Goldwyn production is generally regarded as being Cantor's most successful thirties film. A fascinating depression-flavoured movie, it is a bit reminiscent of THE WIZARD OF OZ in that there are "reality book-ends" the majority of the film being a dreamer's fantasy. Rather than having a Technicolored centre, however, this film benefits from Gregg Toland's famous silvery hued cinematography. The rarely seen in films Ruth Etting had her only movie role of any merit as Olga: fortunately her character's dialogue is kept to a minimum for it's rather poorly delivered. As Emperor Valerius, Edward Arnold does fine in a surprisingly modern-styled comedy performance, and the usually wooden and boring David Manners delivers an refreshingly against-type performance as the sprighty Josephus. As Princess Sylvia, a luminously youthful Gloria Stuart is lovely. The film premiere at Graumann's Chinese Theatre and was broadcasted via radio & the film made a million dollar profit. Contrary to popular belief, this wasn't Lucille Ball's film debut: she had appeared in both BROADWAY THRU A KEYHOLE & BLOOD MONEY in bits priorly. However, the lovely young blonde girl in the film's beginning who enthusiastically informs the locals "Here comes Eddie!" is indeed a 22 year-old native of Jamestown, New York named Lucille Ball.