"Say, if he can sue me for what I did to him in the cafe,
they can send me to the chair for what I'll do to him in the ring. Hohohoho. Ahahahaha."
they can send me to the chair for what I'll do to him in the ring. Hohohoho. Ahahahaha."
BE YOURSELF!
a boxing melodrama musical comedy from 1930
directed by Thornton Freeland
A goodhearted and successful nightclub singer volunteers her lawyering younger brother as the boxing manager of her nightclub-regular alcoholic knuckleheaded crush.
The movie is their quest to transform him from the belly-up boozing loser he is today, into the world boxing champion they know he can be tomorrow. The multi-limbed movie throws constant entertainment punches. For example, Fannie Field (Fanny Brice) listens with her gal pals to her beau's bout on the radio at her club,
is pulled away for a musical number,
and returns to the dressing room to hear the end of the boxing match on the radio,
which is intercut with her personal victory in a fight in the dressing room.
The second film from director Thornton Freeland, who went on to direct 24 more movies before retiring in 1949. None of his movies are particularly famous. This is a rare screen presence for Broadway sensation Fanny Brice, who was the subject of the Barbra Streisand movie Funny Girl and its sequel Funny Lady.
The movie's boxing scenes are silly in a regular silly way. Boxing isn't taken very seriously.
The night club performances are silly in an awesome way.
One stand-out sequence involves a devil-on-stilts, a bunch of backup dancers, Fannie behind a towering podium,
and a little movie magic.
F. U. N. "Serious" obstacles, like alcoholism and boy stealing, aren't investigated or developed in a way that leads to revelation or insight; these things are temporary and included to keep things forward traveling and to give the protagonists more victories.
They're punctuations in the story, little cheap thrills meant to seduce an audience. This is around the beginning of the Great Depression. It's commonly accepted that people's lives were horrible and bleak enough off-screen at that time, and gloomy material wasn't necessary on-screen. Like, life was horrible, let it be great in one place: the silver screen. I like these movies not only because people wear sweaters with boats on them,
but also because they offer porthole views into the world of the 30s, their clubs and art,
child entertainers,
One stand-out sequence involves a devil-on-stilts, a bunch of backup dancers, Fannie behind a towering podium,
child entertainers,
and this feeling that everything, all misery and everything else,
can be danced away.
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