Ethel Merman shouting in a fake jungle is my new favorite thing

If you have fifteen minutes to spare and want to see Ethel Merman scream-sing in a fake jungle, then yes, Be Like Me is absolutely worth your time. Anyone who loves crusty, pre-code shorts with zero budget will have a blast, but if you need things like "plot" or "clear audio," you will probably hate this with a passion.

It is basically a delivery system for Merman's massive voice, wrapped in a sweaty Nicaraguan saloon setting that looks like it was built in about twenty minutes.

The setup is incredibly simple. Word comes that the soldiers are pulling out, meaning everyone has to pack up and head to San Francisco on a boat, but Ethel's boyfriend is ordered to stay behind.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Be Like Me (1931) through its definitive frames.

Honestly, the story does not matter even a little bit. The movie only exists so Ethel can stand there and blast her vocal cords directly into the primitive 1930s microphones.

I love how cheap everything looks. The walls of the saloon look so thin that a strong breeze would probably knock the whole set over into the next studio lot where they were probably filming something like The White Woman.

Sidney Easton shows up and he is easily the best part of the non-singing moments. His comedic timing is so weird and jerky, almost like he is waiting for someone off-camera to hand him his next line.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Be Like Me (1931) through its definitive frames.

There is this one guy in the background who just stands there for like three minutes without blinking. I genuinely started to wonder if he was a cardboard cutout or just very, very tired.

It has that chaotic, unpolished energy you only get from this specific era of filmmaking. If you have seen other early sound era experiments like Flying High, you know exactly how messy this gets.

Some weird details I wrote down:

• The audio has this constant hiss that sounds like someone is frying bacon right next to the microphone.
• Ethel's outfit looks incredibly heavy and uncomfortable for a tropical climate.
• The way the extras move around in the background feels completely un-directed, like they just told them to "look busy."

At one point, Ethel looks directly at the camera lens for a second too long. It is not a cool fourth-wall break, she just looks slightly lost, and I am so glad they did not edit it out.

It is short, loud, and incredibly dusty. Just the way these things should be.