Genius college professor Buster Keaton has the knack for getting himself into situations that would get other people either arrested or committed, but here, even unintentionally, he proves that his old stone face routine could be just as funny with dialog as it was without, even though his critics consider this mediocre at best. With butler Jimmy Durante assisting him, Keaton believes he has the money to back a supposed Broadway bound show and ends up stealing it unintentionally as he continuously ends up on stage trying to save it which he seems to do without realizing it. The show within the film itself isn't very good, a typical early sound view of what a Broadway musical should look like, and is often static and lifeless. But when Keaton gets on the stage, all hilarity ensues, and while some of the gags are dated, many of them are equally as funny as some of his classic moments in silent films.
One of the funniest bits has Keaton getting schnockered with gold-digging leading lady Thelma Todd, trying to get her out of his apartment before they are caught together by picking her up in ways that just a few years later the Hays code might have objected to. In his professor guise, he ends up on stage trying to assure the audience that the fiasco they are seeing is going to go on, and in the process, takes over the audience's hearts who really think that his droll manner is a part of the show. (Apparently, they must not have looked in their programs to see that his name isn't listed.) Edgar Kennedy keeps going around looking for his "thing", and stage manager Sidney Toler (pre-Charlie Chan) is having a nervous breakdown. There's a collection agent on site, some wicked fur pulling rivalry between Todd and Ruth Selwyn, and even the presence of future gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as Selwyn's mother. Durante gets a few nice moments too, particularly when he tries to claim one of the great songs of the day as his own. This may not be a particularly great film, but it is filled with a lot of great moments that will be something that you will remember. Heck, I remember it already!
One of the funniest bits has Keaton getting schnockered with gold-digging leading lady Thelma Todd, trying to get her out of his apartment before they are caught together by picking her up in ways that just a few years later the Hays code might have objected to. In his professor guise, he ends up on stage trying to assure the audience that the fiasco they are seeing is going to go on, and in the process, takes over the audience's hearts who really think that his droll manner is a part of the show. (Apparently, they must not have looked in their programs to see that his name isn't listed.) Edgar Kennedy keeps going around looking for his "thing", and stage manager Sidney Toler (pre-Charlie Chan) is having a nervous breakdown. There's a collection agent on site, some wicked fur pulling rivalry between Todd and Ruth Selwyn, and even the presence of future gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as Selwyn's mother. Durante gets a few nice moments too, particularly when he tries to claim one of the great songs of the day as his own. This may not be a particularly great film, but it is filled with a lot of great moments that will be something that you will remember. Heck, I remember it already!