Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9041 in VHS
• Released on: 2000-04-04
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Customer Reviews

One of the best musicals of the 1930's
Yes, I'm under 30, and I love this movie. This is Depression-era musical entertainment at its finest: it's got Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, Busby Berkeley directed dance numbers, a chariot race, big sumptuous art deco sets, and truckloads of scantily dressed chorus girls! Although it has its corny moments, it's hardly ever sappy and never slow: a lot of the jokes are still funny, even after 70 years, and the songs are really incredibly catchy, especially "Build a Little Home" and "Keep Young and Beautiful." The plot is whimsical fantasy at its most charming: it's something of a cross between "The Wizard of Oz" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." By '30's standards, "Scandals" was risque, and by today's standards, it's not particularly politically correct. But who cares? It's loads of fun! (Interestingly enough, I once heard "Keep Young and Beautiful" on an episode of "Daria." An instrumental version was playing over the credits. I never would have thought I would have heard a song by Warren & Dubin on MTV...)

"Scandals" Holds Up Well
I'd heard and read about this film since I was a kid in the 60's but never got the chance to see it until recently. I suggest you do the same! It's kinda like "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court", "Brigadoon" and "Wizard Of Oz" wrapped into one.
Cantor is a citizen of the American town, West Rome and suddenly finds himself transported to Ancient Rome. David Manners is a co-star and is much better in this film than in the Universal horror classics (like "Dracula") where he played a somewhat smarmy, prissy hero. He goes from bad guy, to good guy, to romantic guy, to action hero and I actually enjoyed him in this film. Gloria Stuart, who played "Old Rose" in 1997's TITANIC, plays Princess Sylvia, and is she ever a hotsy-totsy! Lucille Ball gets billing on the VHS back cover, but none in the film. She's basically just one of the many "Goldwyn Girls" featured. You can also catch a glimpse of Lucy's best friend at the time, Barbara Pepper, another hot Goldwyn Girl who went on to star as Mrs. Ziffel in the 1960's GREEN ACRES tv show! There's a great Busby Berkeley "slave market" scene with the girls stripped naked (honest!), shackled, with their long, flowing blond hair covering all their major body parts. Need more? Some of the jokes are predictable but I found myself laughing aloud at some of the pratfalls. How did the stuntmen survive some of these scenes without being seriously injured? Especially in the great chariot chase scene at the end with Cantor and Manners running from the bad guys. This is great, classic 1930's stuff and if you enjoy old films, this won't let you down.

THE BEST OF CANTOR
This was Eddie Cantor's most successful movie and it's good fun. He plays Eddie(!) who lives in Rome, Oklahoma. In the early part of the film there's a beautiful young blonde girl who announces to everyone: "Here comes Eddie!" - It's 22 year old Lucille Ball in her very first appearance on film! Eddie dreams he's in Rome of yore and there's hardly a dull part in the whole movie - it's really very funny. Cantor was 41 when he did this but you'd never guess it; the elusive Ruth Etting sings "No More Love" and the Goldwyn Girls get into "Keep Young and Beautiful". Gloria Stuart of "Titanic" fame is young and gorgeous here and Edward Arnold is very modern in his comedy playing. Interestingly enough the film has bookends a la "The Wizard of Oz" (although there is no technicolor)and the theme of the film is "Build a Little Home" One must remember that 1933 was nearly 70 years ago; if you can't stand the corn, get out of the field!