Roman Scandals

 (1933)
Directed by Frank Tuttle
Written by William Anthony McGuire, based on a story by William F. Kaufmann
Starring Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, Gloria Stuart, Edward Arnold, David Manners, Verree Teasdale, Willard Robinson
IMDB Entry

Eddie Cantor was a big film star of the early 1930s, best know for his big eyes.* And one of his biggest hits was Roman Scandals.

Eddie (Eddie Cantor) is a jack-of-all-trades living in the midwest city of  West Rome. Warren Finley Cooper (Willard Robinson) is a millionaire who runs the town by bribery, and who had a fixation on ancient Rome. Eddie stays in one of his museums and becomes an expert on Rome. When he crosses Cooper by stopping his attempt to tear down peoples' homes to build a jail, he is kicked out of town. As he walks away, he suddenly finds himself in ancient Rome. He is sold as a slave to Josephus (David Manners), who frees him and needs his help to rescue Princess Sylvia (Gloria Stuart). Eddie -- now called Oedepus -- runs afoul of the Emperor Valerius (Edward Arnold) and is appointed his food taster, a very risky job, since the Empress Agrippa (Verree Teasdale) keeps trying to poison her husband.

The plot is slight, mostly a vehicle for Cantor's jokes, some dated, others still funny. You can see this as his star turn and he makes the most of it.

One of the best known sequences is the musical number portraying a Roman slave auction. Choreographed by the great Busby Berkeley, it shows a group of woman chained and nude and looking very distressed. Their long blonde wigs keeps things PG rated and the woman -- billed as the Goldwyn Girls -- included future stars Lucille Ball** and Paulette Goddard. Another Berkeley touch was that a woman falls to her death at the end, presaging "Lullaby of Broadway."

Given the time, it's not surprising that there is a blackface number. This one, however, is relatively innocuous other than the makeup itself. Cantor doesn't attempt any of the demeaning mannerisms usually portrayed and it really wouldn't have been any different if he hadn't smeared on the makeup.

Edward Arnold had a long career, often playing heavies, but occasionally the hero. Gloria Stuart, a

The songs were written by the great but underappreciated team of Harry Warren and Al Dubin.

__________________________________________________________________

*He often showed up in Warner Brothers cartoons

**Lucy has recounted that they actually were nude during the scene.