It's a very strange thing when you watch many films from the 1930s. Although the Depression hit everyone very hard and unemployment hovered around 30%, you sure wouldn't think this was the case when you watch most Hollywood films today. Many of them featured happy- go-lucky rich folks cavorting about...as if it was the best of all possible times. Most featured middle-class folks. And, oddly, few films featured the poor...despite MOST people being so very poor! Now I do understand that Hollywood was trying to sell optimism and folks wanted escapism but sometimes I find it hard to believe just how many obnoxious rich folks are the leading characters in many of the films. "My Man Godfrey" centered around a wacky but oddly likable rich family but other films, such as "Remember Last Night?", featured folks who were thoroughly detestable....and the sort of folks the populists of the era thoroughly hated. But not only the leftist...MOST folks watching the film would have thoroughly hated these spoiled rich jerks...and that must have made this film a very hard picture to sell to the general public.
When the film begins, a young couple, Tony and Carlotta (Robert Young and Constance Cummings) are invited out for a riotous party with their rich and worthless friends. The party consists of the folks dressing up like black people* and slumming it as well as making a lot of noise and then running amok--driving drunk and incredibly recklessly as well. By the time the evening is over, any sane person would want to see the lot of them in prison! Fortunately, one good thing comes of it...when Tony and Carlotta awaken they discover one of these useless party-goers is dead. To make things worse, it turns out everyone was so wasted at the party that no one has any idea what happened the night before and the death is unexplainable. Soon a bright district attorney (Edward Arnold) and his addle-brained sidekick (Eddie Brophy) arrive to try to unravel the mystery. And, although they have no training whatsoever, Tony and Carlotta decide to try to help.
Based on what I've said so far, it's not surprising when I say that a huge strike against the film are the rich folks. While I am very much a capitalist, these sort of folks are awful and it's hard to care at all about any of them. In fact, I found myself hoping that the murderer would strike a few more times!! I really think the writing was the problem---having the folks get drunk and not know what happened isn't a bad plot device. But having them all be so worthless and hateful is something that SHOULD have been softened in the script.
So is the film watchable despite this serious problem? Well, on the positive side the cast is pretty good and the detective and his sidekick better than usual for a mystery film. And, when they aren't acting like spoiled, um...jerks, Young and Cummings are also pretty good. Plus, the film was directed by a competent director, James Whale of "Frankenstein" fame (which is funny as one of the lines in the film references the Bride of Frankenstein). But the script...well...it isn't terrible but isn't enough to overcome the premise about the spoiled rich brats. At times, it's pretty good--with some snappy dialog. At other times, unfortunately, it's overwrought and silly. As a result, I see it as a film that wastes some talent and should have been better had the characters been at least halfway likable and relateable.
*While this scene might have offended just a few in the theaters in the 1930s, today it's enough to give most modern viewers coronaries! Yes, it IS in very bad taste and yes it IS very racist. While I love the good 'ol days, some things about them weren't so good...and it's a truly cringe-worthy part of the film.
When the film begins, a young couple, Tony and Carlotta (Robert Young and Constance Cummings) are invited out for a riotous party with their rich and worthless friends. The party consists of the folks dressing up like black people* and slumming it as well as making a lot of noise and then running amok--driving drunk and incredibly recklessly as well. By the time the evening is over, any sane person would want to see the lot of them in prison! Fortunately, one good thing comes of it...when Tony and Carlotta awaken they discover one of these useless party-goers is dead. To make things worse, it turns out everyone was so wasted at the party that no one has any idea what happened the night before and the death is unexplainable. Soon a bright district attorney (Edward Arnold) and his addle-brained sidekick (Eddie Brophy) arrive to try to unravel the mystery. And, although they have no training whatsoever, Tony and Carlotta decide to try to help.
Based on what I've said so far, it's not surprising when I say that a huge strike against the film are the rich folks. While I am very much a capitalist, these sort of folks are awful and it's hard to care at all about any of them. In fact, I found myself hoping that the murderer would strike a few more times!! I really think the writing was the problem---having the folks get drunk and not know what happened isn't a bad plot device. But having them all be so worthless and hateful is something that SHOULD have been softened in the script.
So is the film watchable despite this serious problem? Well, on the positive side the cast is pretty good and the detective and his sidekick better than usual for a mystery film. And, when they aren't acting like spoiled, um...jerks, Young and Cummings are also pretty good. Plus, the film was directed by a competent director, James Whale of "Frankenstein" fame (which is funny as one of the lines in the film references the Bride of Frankenstein). But the script...well...it isn't terrible but isn't enough to overcome the premise about the spoiled rich brats. At times, it's pretty good--with some snappy dialog. At other times, unfortunately, it's overwrought and silly. As a result, I see it as a film that wastes some talent and should have been better had the characters been at least halfway likable and relateable.
*While this scene might have offended just a few in the theaters in the 1930s, today it's enough to give most modern viewers coronaries! Yes, it IS in very bad taste and yes it IS very racist. While I love the good 'ol days, some things about them weren't so good...and it's a truly cringe-worthy part of the film.