VividSimon
Simply Perfect
PodBill
Just what I expected
Curt
Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.
gridoon2018
I doubt anyone had ever tried anything like this before - a musical murder mystery - and probably very few tried it afterwards; I did see a film with a similar recipe about a month ago ("Murder In The Blue Room", from 1944), but that one was a low-budget production with only three musical numbers; here, the numbers are many, long and lavish. The songs themselves are not especially memorable, with the exception of "Sweet Marijuana", and the astonishingly titled "The Rape Of The Rhapsody"!! The mystery is complicated enough to make you wonder just what the hell is going on, and the film also captures the hectic backstage atmosphere of the premiere night of a grand-scale theatrical show; there are even some touches of surrealism ("Mildred LaRue! Mildred LaRue!"). Gertrude Michael sinks her teeth into the role of a bad-to-the-bone diva and is more fun to watch than good-girl Kitty Carlisle. Probably considered racy in 1934, the film is rather tame by today's standards, but it's still worth your time. **1/2 out of 4.
GManfred
This one is for fans of old Hollywood movies, Pre-code fans in particular. All the stars, and this type of movie entertainment, are long gone. If you are under the age of, say, 40, this is not your cup of tea.That leaves the rest of us, and for us this is a delightful way to spend 90 minutes. There is a lot to recommend this picture; the stars, among them Jack Oakie, Victor McLaglen, Duke Ellington, Gertrude Michael and a very fine actor in Carl Brisson, who may have been miscast. He has a good singing voice and puts over "Cocktails For Two" pretty well, but he has a distinct accent and seems uncomfortable in his star turn here. For a better look, watch Hitchcock's "The Manxman" (1928) which is a silent but shows his talent off to better advantage.The story itself is a clever mixture of murder, comedy and music. Be warned that the murder mystery part is not taken too seriously, but is a genuine mystery until the murderer becomes very obvious to the viewer. The musical part is uneven with some strange production numbers that are extremely interesting (Sweet Marijuana, Ebony Rhapsody, etc.) wrapped around Cocktails For Two. The costumes - or lack thereof on the chorus girls - are genuinely shocking for 1934. Not for nothing is this labeled a Pre-Code film.Taken separately, the elements of this picture are too lame to stand on their own, but taken as a whole, it works. "Murder At The Vanities" is more than just a curiosity but a look at a form of entertainment whose time was up years ago, but still fun to watch for those of us who can appreciate it.
Peter Fairburn
There are moments in the film that are so dreadful, your teeth ache. But knowing that there were only weeks left before the Code made movies innocuous and bland, Paramount rushed this into production before innuendo and leering went out of style. Vanities is so horrifically anti-female that it's delicious. As Kitty Carlisle sings, women are displayed with price tags that would insult a Bronx hooker. They emerge from clams (nudge,nudge;wink,wink) in postures of absolute submission. Minions of the law, so stupid they cannot find the door, get to look up their skirts and snicker. Bare-breasted chorus girls sit uncomfortably in giant cacti (Could they be a source of hallucinogens, perhaps?) while we listen to "Sweet Marijuana" and watch as blood falls on a chorines's breast.Sure, Carl Brisson learned his lines phonetically and doesn't seem to have a clue what he is saying. But it's all worth it as Norma steals the show while no one is looking.Taking one moment of this fragile fluff seriously is missing the point of the whole exercise. Watch this with a charter member of NOW and prepare to justify the whole Hollywood machismo sch tick between body blows.Toby Wing, by the way, is the icing on the cake. And Duke Ellington doesn't hurt either.A must stroll down Memory Lane.
jbacks3
Financially strapped Paramount pulled out all the stops for this '34 stage adaptation entry: big budget, large cast, extravagant production and Mitch Leisen tagged as the director. What happened? Two things: Busby Berkeley didn't work there and a final draft murder mystery script that didn't deserve to be in the same trash can as the worst Charlie Chan first draft. I have to believe that the cutting was out of Leisen's hands since the great Duke Ellington's number is savagely chopped, but that doesn't mean that it ain't worth a look: the 'Sweet Marihuana' number featuring topless chorus girls is a mind blower, considering the looming production code and it also has the ravishing Toby Wing (unfortunately fed horrible lines and playing the prototype dumb blonde) as a chorus girl hot for an otherwise preoccupied Jack Oakie. Carl Brisson's acting is bland as Melba Toast but he's a competent singer. MacLaglen reaches for new plateaus as a stereotypical dumb detective. And try to spot Lucy in the chorus. This rates a 7.0 as a curiosity. Feb 2010 re-think: I recently gave the film another look and now feel I was wrong to berate the lack of Busby Berkeley production numbers. I can understand Leisen's argument for more realistic production numbers within the context of the plot. I still have enormous issues with the editing however. Paramount, the raciest major studio in town, faced huge issues with the Production Code at the worst possible time in it's history, financially speaking, and pulled out all the stops on this one (also check out 1934's Search for Beauty). A must see for pre-code buffs.
