After a promising opening concerning a lightning storm that is loud and becomes even louder when gunshots are heard, this RKO farce turn silly and convoluted as soon as the characters are brought together. The murder story is uninteresting and secondary, although it does bring in the detective Fred Kelsey to try to solve everything. In typical Hollywood tradition, Kelsey is once again typecast as the dumb detective and it is easy to see why that classic cartoons used his image as that characterature. it's also a disappointment for the fans of Thelma Todd who we are used to seeing her as sexy young ladies who were adept at wisecracks or seducing a naive hero. Here, she is so sweet that butter wouldn't even melt in her mouth, and her role even though she gets top female billing, is actually rather boring and limited.
Todd is the fiance of Ben Lyon, and on the night of the murders, they aid a couple of stranded motorists (Walter Catlett and Pert Kelton) who seem to be involved in type some type of insurance scam. But that plot line is dropped after several scenes where they fake injuries while in the same bed (this must have been released just before the code came in) and turns them into a Vaudeville routine showing Kelton join her drunken fan dance and Catlett, obviously using a stand-in, doing some difficult gymnastics.
Lyon and his pal, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of lions wacky aunt, Laura Hope Crews, who for some reason thinks that Kelton is engaged to Lyon, not Todd. Although only stopping in for a brief visit, her stay becomes longer after believing that she is wanted to stay for the wedding. The film is a convoluted mess of some funny hijinx but little plot, and that takes this into an area of ridiculousness that it never recovers from. Kelton gets the best lines, at one point proclaiming that she broken two ribs and 8th Commandments. Obviously the ribs are alive, but the commandments, I definitely believe.
Todd is the fiance of Ben Lyon, and on the night of the murders, they aid a couple of stranded motorists (Walter Catlett and Pert Kelton) who seem to be involved in type some type of insurance scam. But that plot line is dropped after several scenes where they fake injuries while in the same bed (this must have been released just before the code came in) and turns them into a Vaudeville routine showing Kelton join her drunken fan dance and Catlett, obviously using a stand-in, doing some difficult gymnastics.
Lyon and his pal, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of lions wacky aunt, Laura Hope Crews, who for some reason thinks that Kelton is engaged to Lyon, not Todd. Although only stopping in for a brief visit, her stay becomes longer after believing that she is wanted to stay for the wedding. The film is a convoluted mess of some funny hijinx but little plot, and that takes this into an area of ridiculousness that it never recovers from. Kelton gets the best lines, at one point proclaiming that she broken two ribs and 8th Commandments. Obviously the ribs are alive, but the commandments, I definitely believe.