WIDE OPEN (1930)

Silly, squarely staged Early Talkie from solidly unimaginative contract hack Archie Mayo is, paradoxically, full of modest surprises and real laughs.  It even has a background score, rare for a 1930 comic programmer, and holds to something of a rat-a-tat pace for the dialogue.  Edward Everett Horton, ubiquitous supporting player for decades, usually as ‘the nance,’ the slightly effeminate (or sexually neutral) pal or escort, often used as decoy, but never getting the girl.  Here, playing the lead, he does.  Backup manager at a phonograph company*, he’s doubly frustrated since his best office ideas get shutout by the boss and by having Louise Fazenda’s Plain Jane office clerk in lusty pursuit.  So when Horton is followed home by pretty Patsy Ruth Miller who compromises herself and spends the night, he doesn’t know what to think . . . or what to do!  Even in those Pre-Code days.  Turns out there’s method to her madness and to his future at the company, but not before Horton gets one-on-one comedy time with most of the cast.  Especially delightful with domestic Louise Beavers.  Stereotypical stuff, but with some really sharp dialogue for Beavers when she thinks Horton is proposing.*

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *A little Warner Brothers’ ‘in joke’ has the recording session feature an Eddie Cantor imitator rather than an Al Jolson type.  Cantor being exclusive to Sam Goldwyn while rival Jolson was the big star at Warners in 1930.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *Beavers in excelsis yet staying within Hollywood race guidelines in IMITATION OF LIFE/’34.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/08/imitation-of-life-1934-1959.html