Nonureva Really Surprised!

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

weezeralfalfa WARNING: A blackface musical number is included. If sensitive to such, best not to view this film, or close your eyes during this portion.The 4th in a series of Eddie Cantor musicomedies produced by Sam Goldwyn from 1930-36, contains my favorite song and musical production in this series ,in "Build a Little House". Within the context of a community having been just evicted from their homes, the idea of setting up the contents of their homes on their lawns and sidewalks is rather bizarre, which adds to the attraction They are expressing their defiance against Mr. Cooper: the 'town boss', who apparently owns their former homes or the mortgages on them, and who wants to build a new jail in place of their homes. At present, Mr. Cooper is leading the dedication ceremony for a Museum of Roman Art, which consists mainly of statues of ancient Roman big wigs and gods, which he previously donated land for. Somehow, Eddie got into the museum ahead of this ceremony, and hung his clothes on various statues, while sleeping. This, along with Eddie's constant correction of his identification of the beings represented by the statues much annoys Mr. Cooper. Eddie complains that he promotes destroying the homes of law-abiding citizens in order to build houses for statues and criminals. The idea of unjust, as well as justified, evictions was especially relevant to Depression audiences. For his embarrassments of Mr. Cooper and the rest of the town big wigs, Eddie is banished from his town of West Rome. During his walk out of town, he imagines he's back in ancient Rome, where hopefully there is less political corruption than in Depression America. However, Eddie finds that corruption and exploitation of the powerless by the powerful was just as pervasive in ancient Rome as in West Rome. He, himself, is sold as a slave, fortunately , to a kind-hearted aristocrat, who sets him free. However, he witnesses the selling of naked beautiful young women(Goldwyn Girls) as slaves. He witnesses the over taxation of the populace to finance construction of new monuments and other public buildings, while the excess is used to finance the exorbitant living expenses of the emperor and his retinue. Eddie is thrown in prison with a captured princess(Sylvia), from which he escapes by having his guards, and even the emperor, inhale a laughing gas from his magic vase. The emperor comes up with a sneaky idea to get rid of Eddie. He orders him to be his new wine and food taster, knowing that the lifespan of recent food tasters has been very short. Seems the empress is determined to hasten the death of her husband by feeding him poisoned food and wine. After the royal crocodile dies from eating poisoned nightingale, the emperor orders Eddie thrown to the lions. However, Eddie escapes and takes over a chariot, with Josephus and Princess Sylvia in a chariot ahead of him, as they are chased by palace guards. As Eddie's chariot is wrecked, he awakens to find himself back on the edge of West Rome. He remembers a check he found on the street from Mr. Cooper to the police chief, for $5000. He thinks this is proof of bribery by Mr. Cooper. Apparently, it stands up in court, and the participants in the bribery are sent to jail. His friends now can move back into their homes, as Eddie reprises "Build a Little Home".I have a problem with the whole business of Mr. Cooper's corruption and Eddie's discovery of it. The nature of Mr. Cooper's corruption is unclear to me. How does he benefit from donating property he owns toward construction of a jail? Tax breaks? Construction profits? Eddie's finding of the $5000. bribery check dropped on the street is highly unlikely, and how could he prove this check was for bribery? Harry Warren and Al Dubin were borrowed from Warner to composed the new songs. It was found that they worked well with choreographer Busby Berkeley. This was Busby's last film for Goldwyn, he moving to Warner where he would again be teamed with Warren and Dubin for a series of very popular musicomedies. Then, both moved to 20th Century Fox, where they collaborated in "The Gang's All Here", with Mack Gordon in place of Al Dubin.Besides the "Build a Little Home" production, in another big production, Eddie puts on blackface and sings "Keep Young and Beautiful" In one portion, a circle of Goldwyn Girls are nude, except for wigs of extra long hair that cover their breasts and privates. This was the year before the new Motion Picture Code went into full effect, when I'm sure, this would not be allowed.

mark.waltz No song and dance man could tickle your funny bone while being suckered more than Eddie Cantor. He always had an angel over his shoulder as he always came out on top over the various bullies, gangsters, con-artists and in this case a Roman Emperor who tangled with him. This film has two settings, starting off in modern times and moving to an era when toga parties were a common occurrence. Cantor scores in the modern set "Build a Little Home", a tribute to those displaced by the depression which has subtle hints of innocent communism in it. Annie Lennox fans will recognize "Keep Young and Beautiful" which Cantor performs in his signature blackface. It may offend some, but you can't deny its shear artistry, especially with the galaxy of Goldwyn Girls. Lucille Ball is totally recognizable as one of them, particularly in the slave market set "No More Love", a torch song performed by Ruth Etting. That number has the chorus girls totally naked with the exception of their long blonde hair covering their flesh. Titanic fans will recognize the name of Gloria Stuart, here the ingénue. Edward Arnold is an imperious Roman Emperor and the luscious Veree Teasdale is his delightfully scheming wife. A climactic chase sequence has elements of the great silent comedies and is sure to have you riveted to your seat.

silverscreen888 What needs to be understood about this entertainment film is that it is a revue. The 'hook" for its use of the time-travel gimmick, forward or in this case backward, which it helped to inspire for years to come is a parallel drawn by the authors between a corrupt West Rome, Oklahoma and the governors of ancient Rome's empire. The bridge between the two is opened in the mind of Eddie, played with verve and charisma by Eddie Cantor. In this the most lavish of his four 1930s musicals, with choreography by Busby Berkeley, Cantor imagines himself back in ancient Rome, where he uncovers corruption similar to his own small town's problems. In this musical comedy enlivened by Berkeley, with story and gags by George S. Kaufman, Nat Perrin and and Robert Emmet Sherwood among others, Eddie first finds bribery going on by a developer who wants to build a new jail, dispossessing many residents in the midst of the great Depression. As a result of his protests, after singing a song, Eddie is thrown out of town by police. He then finds himself inexplicably in ancient Rome, and after insulting the Empress, he is condemned to be sold as a slave. Narrowly escaping the clutches of an amorous hag, he is bought by Josephus, handsome David Manners, who wants him as a friend, not a slave. Meanwhile, the Emperor Valerius's favorite, played by Ruth Etting, is being sold away. This leads to the magnificent "No More Love" number involving naked girls covered only by long tresses chained to huge pillars and a Berkeley dance number involving a symbolic slave-girl dancer who plunges from the top of a huge staircase at the end of the number. Meanwhile, the story continues. The four strands involved are Josephus's love for a Princess (Gloria Stuart), Eddie falling afoul of Roman mores, the Empress Agrippina, Verree Teasdale, trying to poison her philandering husband, played with award-level gusto by Edward Arnold, and Valerius pursuing Sylvia (Stuart). Josephus has renamed Eddie "Oedipus"; an hilarious sequence involves "lava gas" being administered to Eddie, then to the royal torturers and finally the Emperor. The Emperor wants Olga back, but still has time to pursue Sylvia. Josephus tries to free both Eddie and Sylvia when the Emperor takes them but is rebuffed. Sylvia agrees to be taken to the palace--to remain there until she falls in love with Valerius-- if he will leave her people unpunished. Then the imperial food taster dies--Agrippina's work, of course; and Eddie gets the job. By this time he has introduced several U.S. vices including crooked dice into ancient Rome. Agrippina summons Eddie to her couch and tells him she wants to poison Valerius. As a precaution, Valerius banishes his rival Josephus who decides to wait for Sylvia, to be spirited away to him, in his chariot. After some tribulations with the palace's majordomo, Alan Mowbray, Eddie gets the message he's been given to Sylvia. After another song in the women's quarters, Eddie finds out about corruption involving Valerius and two senators--a parallel to the West Rome chicanery. Agrippina then warns Eddie not to eat the night's dinner, which he feeds to the royal crocodile. The Empress puts the blame for the animal's demise onto Josephus and Sylvia; Josephus takes Sylvia away in his chariot, and after being condemned to be thrown to the lions himself, Eddie escapes and tries to catch them, to prevent Josephus's being killed at the port of Ostia. After a memorably and funny chariot chase, Cantor wakes up in the U.S. again; and there is a bribe to the police chief as evidence of the wrongdoing he had claimed in his pocket. The satire ends happily, but not without having raised disturbing parallels between republicans' poisoning of the federal reserve and US corruption and the statism of Rome's authoritarian emperors. The piece is a satire from beginning to end, with elements of comedy, drama, parody and song. it is a difficult sort of film to do well, I assert; and to expect this to be any one sort of offering is to fail to comprehend its purpose. This is a thinking-man's light-entertainment, nothing more and a great deal more than less. Girls in revealing costumes, an escapist look at Roman parallels, some delightful actors, a few songs and several spectacular sequences; this was entertainment in the 1930s and for those willing to enjoy it on its own terms, as pure fun, it still is. Every time-travel comedy made since "A Connecticut Yankee" of 1931 and this film owes a great deal to the inspiration of both, but especially I suggest to "Roman Scandals". Frank Tuttle directed this fast-paced and sumptuous romp. The cinematography was by Ray June and Gregg Toland, with costumes by John W. Harkrider, and difficult art direction was provided by Richard Day. Alfred Newman did the music, Harry Warren the original songs. In the cast, Arnold and Teasdale are wonderful, the young leads are attractive throughout and Alan Mowbray delightful in a comedic turns. There are several important actors in small parts including Jane Darwell, Lucille Ball and Billy Barty. With an updated score, I suggest this seminal musical could be successfully remade; but the hard part would be to remove the Eddie Cantor contribution, which was as much a pattern for future comedic talents such as Lou Costello and Jerry Lewis as it was intrinsic to the fun of the production. This Samuel Goldwyn opus may be a trifle pretentious here and there, but not one moment of it I suggest is ever dull.

thegumbiners I saw "Roman Scandals" as a small child. I loved it.I saw it again as an adult, and it held up beautifully.This is the film I'd recommend to give one a sense of what made Eddie Cantor a great entertainer.My earliest memories of a radio show was his show -- every Sunday. He had Deanna Durbin and Dinah Shore as guests (at different periods) every week long before their heydays.Also, "Roman Scandals" shows Eddie Cantor looking youthful. His stage/screen persona depended on a sense of innocent youth. That's why his later screen efforts didn't work as well.But "Roman Scandals" is a delightful early sound musical comedy.Bill Gumbiner