Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

MARIO GAUCI This very funny spoof on Roman-era epics (I had previously watched it one morning some 18 years ago on Italian TV) is considered to be star comedian Eddie Cantor's best vehicle - though I must say that it's the only one I've managed to catch up with myself over the years (but do own his debut film, WHOOPEE! [1930], on VHS).The 'modern man dreaming himself in another era' plot line is a favorite comedy theme - an idea dating back to Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court". The film boasts a remarkable line-up of writers (George S. Kaufman, Robert E. Sherwood, Nat Perrin, Arthur Sheekman and George Oppenheimer), many of whom had worked with contemporaneous comedy acts - notably the Marx Bros.; though the star's personality doesn't lend itself to quite that level of lunacy, the script provides a satisfying balance of sight gags and one-liners (often commenting on the basic difference between the two ages). Alongside the humor are the musical sequences - virtually a requisite of the period - highlighting not only a couple of good tunes for Cantor (one of them sung in blackface!) but also Busby Berkeley's choreography featuring The Goldwyn Girls (among them Lucille Ball), including an outrageous number in which they're chained nude to revolving walls! Typical of Goldwyn's output, the production values are impeccable - with cinematography by the legendary Gregg Toland and the impressive set design of Richard Day.The cast, too, is notable - with Eddie (amusingly dubbed Oedipus while in Ancient Rome) being flanked by the likes of David Manners and Gloria Stuart (supplying the romantic interest), Edward Arnold (the Emperor) and Alan Mowbray (as Cantor's prime foil, a Roman General); Arnold's favorite slave girl is played by Ruth Etting in one of her irregular film appearances: she was the chanteuse/gangster's moll later portrayed by Doris Day in the musical biopic LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1955)! The film's best gags include: Cantor cracking a whip and 'catching' Mowbray; an alligator flipping upside down in reaction to poisoned food given it by Cantor (appointed by Arnold as his personal food-taster); the prison scene in which Arnold and a couple of guards are exposed to laughing gas while torturing Cantor; Eddie demonstrating the correct moves in a fistfight on Mowbray. Incidentally, the wordplay gag involving the poisoned dish was re-used by Danny Kaye for his classic THE COURT JESTER (1955). Still, the undoubted highlight of the film remains the uproarious (and quite spectacular) chariot chase at the climax - supervised by Ralph Cedar.

ccthemovieman-1 This was my first look at Eddie Cantor, whom I subsequently saw in a few other films. I thought he was funny, a very entertaining entertainer - a guy who could sing well and tell jokes and perform slapstick comedy. With all that, he reminded me a bit of the Marx Brothers. He could fit in with those guys, particularly Groucho with his comparable wit and short stature.Even though "Roman Scandals" was only 92 minutes, it would have been even better cut about 10, although I'm not complaining. In between the gags and the sappy Roman days story were at least three songs by Canotr, who was a decent singer and whose songs were pretty good, along with two Busby Berkely numbers with a bunch of scantily-clad ladies. It's corny stuff but it's still good. Lucille Ball is supposed to be in here but I didn't spot her in the two times I've watched this movie. I hardly recognized Gloria Stuart, too.The last part of the movie was similar to the climax of many a silent film comedy with a great chase scene. Cantor, a la Ben-Hur, raced his chariot with four white horses. Instead of an arena, however, Cantor raced through the countryside. There were great stunts and funny bits in that race.It was a great finish to a dated-but-very entertaining film. I wonder why Cantor's films are not available on DVD? I hope that oversight is corrected soon.

MartinHafer This was a cute and relatively decent musical comedy starring Eddie Cantor. In many ways, this film hasn't aged all that well, as I'm sure it was considered a very funny movie back in 1933 when it debuted. While many of Cantor's one-liners seem a bit corny today, he was still such a pleasant personality on the screen that I was able to overlook this. However, the songs Cantor sang weren't all that memorable or funny--something I usually look forward to in his films. Instead, they seemed a little flat.Additionally, while some consider Busby Berkely a genius, I have little interest in the over-the-top and seemingly irrelevant song and dance interludes he choreographed--they just don't age nearly as well as most musicals since his numbers are truly bizarre 1930s kitsch. To me, in many cases it's a case of "if you've seen one you've seen them all". By the mid-40s and through the 50s, the "Ziegfeld Follies"-style production numbers that Berkely was famous for had become passé. Although, for curiosity sake alone, you might want to take a look at the dance numbers. This is particularly true of the VERY racy beauty shop sequence that NEVER would have been allowed just a few years later in Hollywood due to a stricter enforcement of the Hays Code. It abounds with naked and semi-naked women with long tresses strategically situated! So, for me, I tended to ignore the song and dance and focus on the comedy. And, in this sense, it's a diverting and harmless fun romp through the days of Ancient Rome. It won't change your life, but is a pleasant way to kill 90 minutes.FYI--be prepared to see Cantor in black face. He did this a lot in the 1920s and 30s--it was a pretty popular trend of the day. Sure, it will absolutely offend most, but if you take a few deep breaths and anticipate it, it isn't as bad as many minstrel acts I've seen on film.Also FYI--the videotape jacket says the film stars Eddie Cantor and Lucille Ball. Ms. Ball is in the movie for a few seconds only (with very blonde hair) in song and dance numbers, so she doesn't exactly "star" in the film! It's interesting what marketing people will do to sell a film!

lugonian ROMAN SCANDALS (Samuel Goldwyn, 1933), directed by Frank Tuttle, is the fourth of the annual Eddie Cantor/Samuel Goldwyn musicals of the Depression thirties, and one of their comedic best. Inspired by the recent success to Will Rogers's version to Mark Twain's A CONNECTICUT YANKEE (Fox, 1931), this adaptation relies not on classic literature, but on its own original screenplay and comic supplements, compliments of George S. Kaufman and Robert E. Sherwood.In the basic storyline, Eddie Cantor stars as Eddie (no last name given), a good natured character of West Rome, Oklahoma, liked by so many. When Warren Finley Cooper (Willard Robertson), a corrupt politician, evicts a group of citizens from their homes in favor of building a jail, Eddie talks out of turn is forced to leave town. After being escorted across the border, Eddie, who happens to be an enthusiast about ancient Roman history, falls asleep on the side of the road and dreams himself back to the real Rome. While in ancient Rome, he encounters corrupt politicians headed the evil Emperor Valerius (Edward Arnold), and finds himself sold as a slave to Josephus (David Manners), who turns out he's rather have Eddie as a friend than a slave. On the romantic side, Josephus falls in love with the beautiful Princess Sylvia (Gloria Stuart), who becomes prisoner to the Emperor Valerius. Valerius has a wife, Agrippa (Verree Teasdale), who pleasures herself into poisoning her husband's food in hope to someday become a Merry Widow, but the Emperor is ahead of the game by hiring taste testers who drop dead after eating an unhealthy meal. Eddie is later hired for the job, but it would be more worthy for him to go on a starvation diet instead. After about an hour or so of ancient Roman dreams, the story reaches its climax with a hilarious chariot chase sequence.Also seen in Eddie's dream is legendary torch singer Ruth Etting as Olga. In spite of Etting's name billed second in the opening credits,her performance is on a limited scale, highlighted mostly by a song rendition at an auction gallery of slave girls. Aside from Dorothy's Technicolored dream in THE WIZARD OF OZ (MGM, 1939), Eddie's dream not only remains in black and white, but becomes a lavish scale spectacle with high comedy score composed by Harry Warren and Al Dubin (on loan from Warner Brothers), featuring: "Build a Little Home" (the score that opens and closes the movie/ as sung by Eddie Cantor); "No More Love" (sung by Ruth Etting, danced by The Goldwyn Girls, solo dance by Grace Poggi); "Keep Young and Beautiful," "Put a Tax on Love" and a reprise of "Build a Little Home" (all sung by Cantor).With a large cast, only a few are noted in the opening credits. Aside from Alan Mowbray and Lee Kohlmar as the surviving names on the list, the ones receiving no screen credit are Jane Darwell as the beauty saloon manager in Ancient Rome; Charles C. Wilson as a police chief in modern Rome; Stanley Fields as the slave auctioneer; with Paul Porcasi and Harry Holman. Look for midget Billy Barty appearing briefly as the shrunken Eddie in one scene. Among the Goldwyn Girls, there are many, but the one of main interest today is Lucille Ball, in her movie debut. She can be spotted several times throughout the story. While the entire movie plays mostly for laughs, the "No More Love" production number, directed by Busby Berkeley, is actually the only serious moment in the story. For Berkeley's choreography, in this production, they're not up to his usual standards. Only "No More Love" has the Berkeley trademark, facial closeups of dancing slave beauties, though nothing really spectacular, with the exception of the lavish sets and costumes that make this look more like a Cecil B. DeMille epic.ROMAN SCANDALS at 93 minutes presents Eddie Cantor at his prime, risqué dialog, slapstick comedy, vaudeville-type pratfalls, and a dream sequence only Hollywood could dream up. A forerunner to Zero Mostel's A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1966), along with a run-on gag with a plate of poisoned food that echoes the Danny Kaye comedy from THE COURT JESTER (1955).During the early years of cable television, this, along with other Cantor/Goldwyn collaborations, were featured on the Nostalgia Channel, Turner Network Television (TNT) and last seen on American Movie Classics during the 1993-94 season. Long unseen on any television in recent years, ROMAN SCANDALS has also become one of the few surviving Cantor/Goldwyn musicals of the 1930s to remain available on video cassette.ROMAN SCANDALS may be of sole interest today mainly for I LOVE LUCY fans to try and spot a very young Lucille Ball as one of the extras, but if not for that, watch it for its broad comedy, which has been imitated many times in later years by future film and TV comics, and may continue to do so as long as ROMAN SCANDALS remains available for viewing and film study. (***)