mark.waltz
Just another excuse to take a famous song title and use it for the name of a movie, this is a comic spoof of the Ma Barker legend. Playing that part is a scene stealer of the greatest kind, yet sadly forgotten other than a handful of films. Jessie Ralph pretty much stole "San Francisco" as the drag herself up to Nob Hill by her boot strings matriarch, and Myrna Loy's domineering aunt in "After the Thin Man". Playing her bank robber son is Broderick Crawford whose lifelong dream to be a song writer comes true when composer Johnny Downs rescues "ma" during one of his robberies. Crawford longs to dedicate a song to his childhood sweetheart, and this leads to a reunion with the lucky "lady" (Gertrude Michael). Another Damon Runyeon style comedy with Crawford as star, this is mire than adequate as a programmer. Peggy Moran plays Downs' worried singer girlfriend, while Warren Hymer and John Sutton are the typical dumb crooks who add atmosphere and several laughs in clichéd parts. Ernest "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison and Jeni Le Gon are fun as the domestics who get to perform Crawford's hideously bad sing, proving that anything can be a hit when it features talented singers. There's a lot of funny bits throughout, particularly the shot of the jukebox that has nothing but Crawford's song on it. Downs, sort of a younger version of Dick Powell, adds spark to this spoof of the songwriting industry. Along with Moran, they parody other famous singers of the time, at one point with Downs sounding uncannily like Crosby. As this began and I scanned the cast list, I said to myself, "I bet that Charles Lane is in this!", and sure enough, he was. Putting out mostly B films that were bottom of the bill, Universal's formula for the most part worked. Fast, funny, filled with rhythm and romance, and not too much to task the brain. Crawford seems to sink every time that Jessie Ralph enters the scene. Whether it was the character's fear of his mom IR Crawford's realization that he was about to lose the scene is unknown, but being the son of another acerbic scene stealer (Helen Broderick), he was more than able to hold his own.
