This fairly lame two-reel comedy is an early example of an all-star cast, although even by Hollywood standards the cast can be described as stellar. Many of them will be unfamiliar to viewers who aren't knowledgeable about classic Hollywood flicks from the twenties and early thirties, but for those of us who are familiar with that era the film will serve up a few surprises and give us the rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of near-forgotten stars of the past such as Billy Haines who, if I remember correctly, was the first openly gay actor in Hollywood (needless to say, this distinction and the fact that he was a self-destructive hedonist, did his career absolutely no good whatsoever, and probably goes some way to explaining why he is forgotten today.) Here he shares a scene with Joan Crawford, already a Hollywood fixture by then but still looking incredibly young.
The film was financed by Chesterfield (the cigarette people) for the NVA, and is really little more than a series of twenty second gags, each one featuring a couple of stars. Most of the gags are fairly unfunny – although Laurel & Hardy's collapsing car gag is a highlight – but it's still a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era, and a clue as to who was considered hot and who – by their absence – was, perhaps, not back in 1931.
The film was financed by Chesterfield (the cigarette people) for the NVA, and is really little more than a series of twenty second gags, each one featuring a couple of stars. Most of the gags are fairly unfunny – although Laurel & Hardy's collapsing car gag is a highlight – but it's still a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era, and a clue as to who was considered hot and who – by their absence – was, perhaps, not back in 1931.