What a Life (1930) User Reviews

Or, The Sing Sing Movietone Follies of 1930

[wmorrow59 · 7/10 · 26 June 2011]

The creators of this entertaining short deserve Brownie points for coming up with such an original premise. Set in a prison, the generically titled What a Life initially seems to be a satire aimed at correctional institute reform, a topic very much in the news after a grisly riot at New York's Auburn Prison in 1929. After touring the facility a delegation of severely dressed, puritanical-looking reformers announce that they are appalled at the conditions there. A stern lady who acts as the group's spokesperson rebukes the warden, telling him that he's crushed the prisoners spirits "instead of making them into good, useful members of society." When she threatens to report her displeasure to the governor the warden pleads for time to upgrade conditions, and is given one month to do so. After the group leaves the official reveals his true feelings, remarking to a guard that, if anything, the inmates are pampered.

So far, although the reformers are portrayed as prissy caricatures it's not entirely clear whether the film is meant to be a comedy, but this uncertainty is quickly dispelled when the delegation returns to the prison a month later. Now the place is bedecked with lace curtains and full of comfy chairs. The men knit, eat ice cream cones and sip tea, while the guards act as servants and address the convicts as "Sir." Most amusingly, there is a stock ticker handy so that the more prosperous-looking inmates can follow returns and place calls to their brokers! (It's significant that the Wall Street Crash occurred barely six months before this film was released.) The reformers are suitably impressed. And then the warden ushers them into the prison's auditorium, at which point the film's true purpose is finally revealed: from here onward, we're watching a Vitaphone vaudeville show.

The show-within-a-show features a blonde tap dancer with feathery cuffs, a pianist who sings "Hello Baby!" while a different blonde taps ballet-style on her toes, and a quartet of male dancers who perform a precision routine in unison. There's an amusing moment when the stern-looking reformer lady attempts to join the show by trilling an operatic number, nearly causing a mass walk-out. This actress, the most prominent player in the short, was Virginia Sale, sister of comedian Chic Sale. Virginia was cursed with a face that caused her to be forever cast as humorless shrews: a glance at her IMDb credits reveals such roles as Hatchet Faced Woman, several Old Maids, and even The Gargoyle. But based on her performance here she doesn't seem so unappealing, in fact I find her kind of cute. And perhaps her face was more a blessing than a curse, because Sale worked prolifically in movies and then TV for almost fifty years.

The most memorable moment in What a Life may come as a surprise to viewers unfamiliar with the freewheeling material that was possible before the Production Code crackdown of 1934. "Pansy" gags were a staple of early talkies, and this short features a real lulu. After the new reforms have been instituted we meet a pair of convicts who seem quite chummy. They're dressed for golf and on their way to the links when one of them, Algy by name, is summoned to the warden's office. When he's informed that his sentence is up and that he's free to go, Algy is deeply upset. But after he accidentally knocks a wastebasket over the warden's head his sentence is extended by ten years, and he's ecstatic. He actually exclaims "Oh goody goody goody," kisses the warden's cheek, and scampers out of the office shouting "I'll tell the boys!" You go, Algy.

A Better Class Of Convicts

[boblipton · 5/10 · 8 April 2021]

Prison reformer Virginia Sale and company threaten the warden that unless methods are changed, she will get him fired, so shortly the convicts are discussing stock trades and being subjected to singing and tap dancing.

It would make me want to get out of prison and lead a life free of the risk of returning, so there's some sense in that it's an excuse to put on a short variety performance. Throughout the 1930s there would be several examples of this, with a 10-minue show being offered in the guise of some theme, like Ed Sullivan eating at a restaurant, or an assortment of acts being offered on television. This one tries to offer some mockery of prison reformers, and the joke -- and acts -- wear thin very quickly.

I've seen hundreds of Vitaphone shorts....and none are quite like "What a Life"!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 8 December 2020]

In the 1920s, the Vitaphone unit of Warner Brothers was responsible for all the company's experiments with the use of sound. And, as the Vitaphone shorts progressed, what the engineers learned about talking pictures was then used by Warner in their full-length pictures. As a result, the studio was way ahead of other studios when it came to sound technology.

Up until recently, however, most of the old Vitaphone shorts were considered lost--mostly because until they improved technology to put sound on the film stock itself, the shorts consisted of two parts--film and a separate record with the sound. It was far from an ideal innovation and over the years the records and films often became separated. Fortunately, with the internet, matching up these missing pieces has bee very successful...so much so that several hundred of these older shorts have been restored. I myself have seen at least 200-400 of them and have enjoyed most. I must say, however, that "What a Life" is the strangest of these films I've seen!

The story begins at a prison. A group of prison reformers have just finished an inspection of the place and they are not happy. But the warden is able to convince him to give him some time and he promises to make the prison a far more human institution. A month later, the same folks return...and find the place is more like a country club run by the inmates than any sort of prison! And, inexplicably, a couple of the reformers then entertain the inmates....and the story ends.

Having singing and dancing in the film isn't surprising. Probably 75% or more of the Vitaphone shorts feature music and/or dancing. But the combination of comedy and dance is unusual...as is the dancing. The dance consists of one of the most difficult sort of tap dances you'll ever see--with the dancer standing on her toes like a ballerina and tapping! The song, by the way, is dreadful...and is meant to be. About the comedy, well it's very clever and funny....and this alone make the film worth seeing. The great dance number just adds to the entertainment value of this odd curio. Overall, one of the best Vitaphone shorts I've seen....and it still holds up amazingly well.