Roman Scandals (1933)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Frank Tuttle

Writers:

George S. Kaufman (story)
William Anthony McGuire (writer)

Release Date:

29 December 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor. |

Plot Keywords:

Emperor | Dance | Senator | Poison | Rescue

Cast

Eddie Cantor	...	Eddie aka Oedipus
Ruth Etting	...	Olga
Gloria Stuart	...	Princess Sylvia
David Manners	...	Josephus
Verree Teasdale	...	Empress Agrippa
Edward Arnold	...	Emperor Valerius
Alan Mowbray	...	Majordomo
Charles C. Wilson	...	Police Chief Charles Pratt
Harry Holman	...	Mayor of West Rome
Jack Rutherford	...	Manius
Willard Robertson	...	Warren Finley Cooper
Lee Kohlmar	...	Storekeeper

Runtime:

USA:93 min (original version) | USA:85 min (edited version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA

Company:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Trivia:

The chorus girls--among them Lucille Ball--chained to the wall in the "No More Love" number are actually nude. The number was filmed during the night, when no studio bosses were around on the lot, with a minimum of technicians involved.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mayor of West Rome: As mayor of West Rome, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you and to introduce our first citizen, Warren Fenwick Cooper!
Warren F. Cooper: Thank you, mayor. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. Heh, heh, you see I know my Roman history.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Turkey in the Straw

Eddie's "Roman"tic Dream

ROMAN SCANDALS (Samuel Goldwyn, 1933), directed by Frank Tuttle, is the fourth of the annual Eddie Cantor/Samuel Goldwyn musicals of the Depression thirties, and one of their comedic best. Inspired by the recent success to Will Rogers's version to Mark Twain's A CONNECTICUT YANKEE (Fox, 1931), this adaptation relies not on classic literature, but on its own original screenplay and comic supplements, compliments of George S. Kaufman and Robert E. Sherwood.

In the basic storyline, Eddie Cantor stars as Eddie (no last name given), a good natured character of West Rome, Oklahoma, liked by many because of his generous deeds by giving food away to the poor and paying back his employer (Lee Kohlmar) by having him take the money out of his salary, which is less than the amount of food given. "Why don't you raise my salary?" he asks his boss. Later when Warren Finley Cooper (Willard Robertson), a corrupt politician, evicts a group of citizens from their homes in favor of building a jail that is not actually needed but only as a pay back a favor to a police chief who helped to get him elected, Eddie talks out of turn to Finley and finds himself being forced to leave town. After being escorted across the border, Eddie, who happens to be an enthusiast about ancient Roman history, falls asleep on the side of the road and dreams himself back to the real Rome where he also encounters corrupt politics headed the evil Emperor Valerius (Edward Arnold). Aside from Dorothy's Technicolored dream in THE WIZARD OF OZ (MGM, 1939), Eddie's dream not only remains in black and white, but becomes a lavish scale production that becomes high on comedy with a couple of dance numbers stretched far apart from one another. While in ancient Rome, Eddie is sold as a slave to Josephus (David Manners), who turns out he would rather have Eddie as a friend than a slave. Eddie quips, "I'm a failure. I can't even keep a job as a slave." On the romantic side, Josephus is in love with the beautiful Princess Sylvia (Gloria Stuart), who becomes prisoner to the Emperor Valerius. Valerius has a wife, Agrippa (Verree Teasdale), who pleasures herself into poisoning her husband's food in hope to someday become a Merry Widow, but the Emperor is ahead of the game by hiring taste testers who drop dead after eating an unhealthy meal. Eddie is later hired for the job, but it would be more worthy for him if he needed to be on a diet. After about an hour or so of ancient Roman dreams, the story reaches its climax with a chariot chase sequence not to be missed. Also seen in Eddie's dream is legendary torch singer Ruth Etting as Olga. In spite of Etting's name appearing under Cantor's in the opening credits, the finished product finds Etting's scenes on a limited scale, highlighted mostly by one production number,"No More Love," which centers around her and her slave girls (noticeably wearing eye lashes, lipstick and facial makeup, but since this Eddie's dream, it really doesn't matter).

With the songs composed by Harry Warren and Al Dubin (on loan from Warner Brothers), the musical program includes: "Build a Little Home" (the score that opens and closes the movie/ as sung by Eddie Cantor); "No More Love" (sung by Ruth Etting, danced by The Goldwyn Girls, solo dance by Grace Poggi); "Keep Young and Beautiful," "Put a Tax on Love" and a reprise of "Build a Little Home" (all sung by Cantor).

With a large cast, only a few are noted in the opening credits. Aside from Alan Mowbray and Lee Kohlmar as the surviving names on the list, the ones receiving no screen credit are Jane Darwell as the beauty saloon manager in Ancient Rome; Charles C. Wilson as a police chief in modern Rome; Stanley Fields as the slave auctioneer; with Paul Porcasi and Harry Holman. Look for midget Billy Barty appearing briefly as the shrunken Eddie in one scene. Among the Goldwyn Girls, there are many, but the one of main interest today is Lucille Ball, in her movie debut. She can be spotted several times during the story. Prior to the "Build a Little Home" number, she plays one of the citizens in the modern story given one line of dialogue. She is seen again in the ancient Rome dream sequence as one of the chained slave girls in the auction gallery, as well as one of the long haired blonde beauties in the "Keep Young and Beautiful" number. Barbara Pepper, another veteran of future TV shows such as her role as Doris Ziffel in GREEN ACRES, being another one of the noted Goldwyn Girls. All the songs presented in this production are lively, with the exception of the ballad, "No More Love," sung by Etting. While the entire movie plays mainly for laughs, this production number, which lasts about five minutes, is actually the only serious moment in the story. It's been said that the chained slave girls appeared completely nude under all that blonde hair covering their front bodies, and since this number was choreographed by Busby Berkeley, I wouldn't doubt it. He is known for such production numbers showing more skin from his girls than any other choreographer. Exposed navels of the slave girls are also evident, something not permissible after the production code of 1934.

For a musical choreographed by Busby Berkeley, the production numbers come off as , or mediocre at best. They not up to the now classic numbers he was doing over at Warner Brothers at the time. Only "No More Love" has the Berkeley trademark, which includes facial closeups of numerous slave beauties. There's a handful of dancing here and there, as well as a plot of sorts following the introduction of the song, but nothing really spectacular, with the exception of the lavish sets and costumes that make this look more like a Cecil B. DeMille epic.

ROMAN SCANDALS at 93 minutes presents Eddie Cantor at his prime, risque dialogue, slapstick comedy, vaudeville-type pratfalls, and a dream sequence only Hollywood could dream up. The movie actually predates Zero Mostel's A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1966), as well as a run-on gag regarding which plate of food is poisoned that echoes the Danny Kaye comedy from THE COURT JESTER (1955).

During the early years of cable television, this, along with other Cantor/Goldwyn collaborations, were featured on the Nostalgia Channel, Turner Network Television (TNT) and last seen on American Movie Classics during the 1993-94 season. Long unseen on any television in recent years, ROMAN SCANDALS has also become one of the few surviving Cantor/Goldwyn musicals of the 1930s to remain available on video cassette (the others being WHOOPEE (1930) and KID MILLIONS (1934)). To date, PALMY DAYS (1931), THE KID FROM SPAIN (1932) and STRIKE ME PINK (1936), have been discontinued.

ROMAN SCANDALS may be of sole interest today mainly for I LOVE LUCY fans to try and spot a very young Lucille Ball as one of the extras. But if not for that, watch it for its broad comedy, which sure has been imitated many times in later years by future film and TV comics, and may continue to do so as long as this movie remains available for viewing and film study.