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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you're a fan of those frantic 1930s screwball setups where one lie leads to ten more, sure, give it a whirl. But if you hate movies that feel like they were manufactured in a factory to kill sixty-five minutes, keep walking. You'll likely find the constant shouting and the 'oh no, hide in the closet' bits pretty grating. 🙄
I watched this on a whim because the title sounded like a bad dream. It’s not quite that dramatic, but it is a weird little time capsule. The whole thing feels like a stage play that someone accidentally filmed while the actors were still figuring out their blocking.
Walter Woolf King is doing a lot of work here. Like, way too much work. You can almost see him sweating under the studio lights trying to keep the momentum going when the script starts to dip. There’s this one scene where he’s trying to juggle three different lies to his boss, and the editing is so choppy I thought my player was skipping. Nope, it was just the movie!
Also, shout out to Herman Bing. Every time that man walks into a frame, the movie wakes up for ten seconds. He’s got that frantic energy that makes you realize everyone else is just sleepwalking through their lines.
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s barely a footnote. But there's something honest about how unimportant this movie is. It doesn't want to be in a museum or a textbook. It just wanted to fill a double bill in 1934. Mission accomplished, I guess.
Sometimes you just need a movie that doesn't ask anything of you. This is that movie. It’s a total nothingburger, but it’s a well-dressed nothingburger. 🥪
