Page Miss Glory (1935) Film Review - Marion Davies

Plot Summary - Comedy in which a small-town, innocent girl named Loretta (Marion Davies) - dowdy in unflattering clothing, sensible shoes, little make-up, and a hat the completely covers her hair - arrives in NYC, her first trip to the big city. She gets herself hired on as chambermaid at a fancy hotel, the "Park Regis", and is soon cleaning rooms with her new sidekick, chambermaid Betty (Patsy Kelly). Soon the two are seen cleaning up the rooms of a couple of "floor crashers", con men Click (Pat O'Brien) and Ed (Frank McHugh), who are four weeks past due on their hotel bill and have been asked to vacate. Hearing of a radio beauty contest with a $2,500 cash prize being awarded for a photo of the "most beautiful girl", the two con-men go into their dark room and create a fake "composite" photo to submit. The photo of the girl who only exists in a photo "Dawn Glory" wins the contest. But now they are being chased down by the press, and various advertising sponsors who want to meet Miss Glory. Meanwhile, Loretta has developed a big schoolgirl style crush on world famous aviator, Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell), a rather dizzy (too many loop-the-loops, I guess), but good-looking flyboy. He arrives to stay at the Park Regis and falls in love with Dawn Glory's photo (while Loretta meets her dream man in person and swoons over him). Soon our flyboy has made an on the air proposal of marriage to Miss Glory (silly fellow) and Click and Ed recruit the maid Loretta to accept him over the air. Now here's the weird part - Loretta puts on a dress made to look like Miss Glory's in her poster, gets herself a "Dawn Glory" bob (the latest rage) and looks so much like the fake photo, she is recruited to play the part!

Review - Cute film, lots of silly fun. I love Marion Davies, she's SO funny and charming in this - and she really lets her hair down by appearing on screen for half the film in a maid's outfit, and dumpy appearance. Dick Powell is good in his part as the ditz aviator - they seem like a perfect match, actually. A number of well known character actors from the thirties also appear in this film - - and hey, Mary Astor is also in this, as the two con men's female sidekick/Ed's girl. Quite an amusing romp. Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Three Chumps Ahead (1934) Film Review - Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly

Plot Summary - Hal Roach/MGM Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly short. POSSIBLE SPOILERS - - Thelma is in love - with Archie, a man with millions and yachts or so says he. Invited to the girl's apartment, Thelma dresses up and attempts to entertain Archie - he wants to just stay in (tired out from nightclubs, says he). He relates stories of his world travels while Patsy, who suspects he isn't who he says he is (good to have a gal pal that's bright and looks out for you, isn't it?!), wears her slippers (much to Thelma's distress), loudly cracks nuts, then prepares sandwiches in the kitchen fully loaded up with Limburger cheese. To occupy Patsy and get her out of the way, Archie phones up his brother (home on leave from the Navy and currently gambling in a local bar) and invites him over. Soon Archie sneaks Thelma away to a tavern to try and make his move on her - Patsy is too smart and they end up there too. Then Patsy, realizing the men don't have much cash (the men have secretly agreed with each other to one beer apiece), orders up a whole mess of food hoping the guys get beat up and thrown out by the big, mean, pug-faced waiter. It backfires, and in a scene that reminded me of that "I Love Lucy" where the girls end up washing dishes when the boys won't pay (Lucy and Ethel push for "equal rights" episode) - Thelma and Patsy end up, yeah, washing the dishes!!

Review - Okay, this episode had a touch of not so funny slapstick, but did have some cute interaction between the two gals. The restaurant half of the short I found to be more amusing than the first half. The short features recognizable Hal Roach studios music in the background (same used in "Our Gang" and "Laurel and Hardy" shorts). Okay - why is there always some convenient Limburger around in thirties comedies, readily available for comic shtick (if it smells that bad, why do the people keep it around I always wonder?!) I'm not sure about the meaning behind the title of this short as it relates to the plot!! Rating - 6.5 to 7/10 stars