Don't expect banana-clad Carmen Miranda, polka dot wearing Alice Faye or leg-lifting Charlotte Greenwood. This is not at all related to that blockbuster musical from just a few years hence. This is a racket film where different moods move in and out and make the film fly by extremely fast.
When you start watching the first 10 minutes of this Monogram crime drama, you may be confused with the listing of Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland as the frequently paired co-stars, as their teamings were mostly on the light side. It does move into that direction when they take over the action, determined to unmask the villains behind a sabotaging ring out to discredit a trucking company. The actions of the villains are sinister and deadly but toss in the un-aging Darro and the bug-eyed Moreland, and comedy is sure to erupt.
Marcia Mae Jones, a forgotten teen-aged actress in such films as "These Three" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", is the romantic interest here, and in a scene with her beau (Jackie Moran), she goes through all the women who stood by important men in history, hesitating ironically only once when she mentions Alexander the Great, adding hesitatingly, "Mrs. Alexander the Great". It turns out that the beloved head of the trucking company (Robert Homans) knows more than he's let on, and the motivations behind the hijackings are rather surprising. But don't underestimate Darro and the seemingly scaredy-cat Moreland who is certainly braver than he realizes he is, especially when he takes on another stereotypical black character, a henchman of the villains played by Laurence Criner (given the silly name of "Ham Shanks").
At just an hour's running time, there's a lot to enjoy here, reminding me that sometimes the best gifts come in small packages and you could get them from a Woolworth's rather than a Bloomingdale's.
When you start watching the first 10 minutes of this Monogram crime drama, you may be confused with the listing of Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland as the frequently paired co-stars, as their teamings were mostly on the light side. It does move into that direction when they take over the action, determined to unmask the villains behind a sabotaging ring out to discredit a trucking company. The actions of the villains are sinister and deadly but toss in the un-aging Darro and the bug-eyed Moreland, and comedy is sure to erupt.
Marcia Mae Jones, a forgotten teen-aged actress in such films as "These Three" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", is the romantic interest here, and in a scene with her beau (Jackie Moran), she goes through all the women who stood by important men in history, hesitating ironically only once when she mentions Alexander the Great, adding hesitatingly, "Mrs. Alexander the Great". It turns out that the beloved head of the trucking company (Robert Homans) knows more than he's let on, and the motivations behind the hijackings are rather surprising. But don't underestimate Darro and the seemingly scaredy-cat Moreland who is certainly braver than he realizes he is, especially when he takes on another stereotypical black character, a henchman of the villains played by Laurence Criner (given the silly name of "Ham Shanks").
At just an hour's running time, there's a lot to enjoy here, reminding me that sometimes the best gifts come in small packages and you could get them from a Woolworth's rather than a Bloomingdale's.