LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

jacobs-greenwood Directed by Gregory La Cava, and executive produced by David O. Selznick, this film's writing credits include Corey Ford, David Freedman and Harry Reichenbach (for their book, "The Anatomy of Ballyhoo: Phantom Fame"), the director, and Ben Markson and H. N. Swanson for their story about three carnival persons who make it big in New York. Also noteworthy, Max Steiner appears uncredited as the conductor in the New York show.Jimmy Bates (Lee Tracy, terrific in this role!) is a small time carnival barker with big ideas. Achilles (Eugene Palette) is his assistant of sorts, his partner in crime, who also performs as a strong man or any other required role. The beautiful Teresita (Lupe Velez), aka La Belle Sultana, is the show's only real talent, who is currently playing a belly dancer. Jimmy struggles to convince the carnival's owner, Colonel Munday (Robert McKenzie), that he should be its press agent (replacing a character played by James Donlan, uncredited). To drum up business and extort hush money, Jimmy decides to tell the small crowd that Teresita will reveal the identity of her father, that it's someone from their town and sure to be scandalous, at the end of her next show. Prior to the show, Achilles collects a fortune, from persons who don't want their names mentioned by La Belle Sultana, and then gets drunk. At a packed show, while Teresita dances and the crowd waits impatiently, a drunken Achilles lets slip that it is indeed a hoax to the Sheriff (Charles Dow Clark, uncredited) who stops the proceedings and calls for their arrest. In a madcap melee, Jimmy, Teresita, and Achilles escape to New York.Once in New York, their odd appearance attracts attention. Jimmy seizes upon the opportunity to promote Teresita as Princess Exotica, the next big act for Merle Farrell (Frank Morgan), the famous New York producer he'd been name dropping and claiming to know, though they'd never met. They take a cab to the Savoy where Jimmy continues his bluster such that he convinces hotel clerk Mr. Wilburton (Franklin Pangborn, always great) to provide them a suite. Unbeknownst to Achilles, he signs him in as the Princess's eunuch. Jimmy then proceeds to invade the set of the nervous and excitable Mr. Farrell's current show, where it's being rehearsed, before he is tossed out on his ear. So, he causes the press to clamor to visit the Princess's suite by having her order 20 pounds of raw meat. Prior to their arrival, he arranges for the delivery of a lion act to the hotel room, causing a sensation which appears on the front page of the newspaper along with Jimmy's phoney claims about the Princess being in Merle Farrell's next big show. Jimmy also arranges for an airplane to fly by the producer's window parroting the same before he arrives at Farrell's high floor office with Teresita. Mary Mason plays Farrell's secretary.Now in the door, Jimmy brags that the publicity his efforts have spawned will insure Farrell's next show will be a hit and convinces him to sign the act to a contract. Once in hand, Jimmy admits that Teresita is no Princess but tells Farrell that it doesn't matter because she has talent. However, when she sings a tune, it causes the producer to cover his ears and yell "stop". Stuck with her, and against Jimmy's advice, Farrell returns to his tried and true formula creating a big desert production number for the Princess. Unfortunately, the opening night crowd is bored by the slow, belly dancing act and starts to leave. With help from Achilles, Jimmy takes charge of the stage enabling Teresita to sing the same "catchy" tune that Farrell had rejected. Since it's so different from anything the staid New York audience had ever seen, it charms them and Teresita becomes the toast of the town. She also begins dating Farrell which upsets Jimmy, especially when she gets "too big for her britches" by failing to acknowledge his contributions to her success. He then humorously blackmails Farrell into dropping Teresita for a chambermaid (Shirley Chambers) that Achilles had been courting and grooming for stardom, while she believed him to be a eunuch. He arranges a nudist colony publicity stunt for her. This earns Jimmy a prominent position in the married producer's organization.Achilles gets bored with the New York scene and tells Jimmy that he's bought Colonel Munday's carnival show. He tries to convince Jimmy to return with him, but Jimmy says no. However, shortly thereafter, he receives a telegram from Achilles saying he could use Jimmy's help and, after discussing it with his secretary (Bess Flowers, uncredited) and office boy Tommy, he chucks his job and returns to the more simple (?) life. Once there, Jimmy learns that Teresita is the carnival's lead attraction and the film closes indicating the two of them will be getting back together.

MartinHafer Lee Tracy is a name few would remember today. However, for just a few years in the 1930s, he was a hot commodity--playing in some top films for top studios like RKO, Fox, Warner Brothers and MGM. So what happened to him? Well, he had two huge problems--he was typecast as the same sort of fast- talking sharpie (often a reporter or confidence man) AND he was an idiot. I really hate to be so blunt, but his off-camera behaviors severely alienated him and the studios apparently tired of working with him and apologizing for his actions.In "The Half Naked Truth", Tracy plays a very typical sort of role--the fast-talking showman who lies, tells half-truths and promotes his girlfriend, Lupe Valez, from a cheesy carnival sideshow act to the toast of Broadway. However ridiculous this was (as Valez' character had no discernible talent and the charisma of a case of the clap), the film is entertaining on a basic level. Don't think too much and you can enjoy it. So why did I give it only a 6? Well, it broke absolutely no new ground and Tracy's role is almost exactly like 1472343 others I've seen him do. In other words, it's fun but lacked originality to make it worthy of a higher score.

Spikeopath The Half Naked Truth is directed by Gregory La Cava who also co-writes the screenplay with Corey Ford from a story by Ben Markson and H.N. Swanson. It stars Lupe Velez, Lee Tracy, Eugene Palette and Frank Morgan. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Bert Glennon.A carnival barker and a spunky belly dancer take on the might of Broadway...Based on the book The Anatomy of Ballyhoo: Phantom Fame (David Freedman & Harry Reichenbach), The Half Naked Truth is a smart and near caustic observation on the product of celebrity status. While not in the same league as the best of Preston Sturges, it's a film of many pleasures if you have a bent for rapid fire dialogue and scattergun pacing. What unfolds during the story is basically that an energetic Lee Tracy as Bates pulls stunts galore to bluff the whole of Broadway. The ruse is that Velez's belly dancer is actually a foreign princess and Bates engineers openings to stardom because of it. But of course problems are around the corner.Sharp performances back up the sharp script and some of the stunts pulled by Bates are very funny. It's something of an acquired taste, as comedy - especially the screwball variety - invariably always is, but this is a good pre-code comedy that has more beneath the surface than is first apparent. 7/10

dougdoepke Fast-talking promoter Tracy moves carny dancer Velez from lowly tent act to high-class Broadway using nothing more than wiles and wits.Too bad we can't hook up Tracy and Velez to a generator, because between them they could whip up enough sheer energy to light a city block plus a few darkened bedrooms. Tracy is in overdrive the entire time, while Velez appears stuck in a permanent hip swivel. Her shimmying version of O Mister Carpenter is a charming show-stopper and, in my book, the movie's highlight.Tracy, of course, specialized in these machine-gun roles. Here he's totally convincing, but not very likable, as the high-powered con man never at a loss for words or an under- handed scheme. As an actor, his average looks and lack of leading-man charisma add up to an odd commodity for glamour-obsessed Hollywood. Still, he's such a whirlwind of activity, you hardly notice. As for Velez, if she's an example of Mexican womanhood, then I say let's open the borders.Add such colorful supporting players as Palette, Pangborn, and Morgan, plus lots of pre- Code innuendo, all whipped into a crowd pleasing mix by ace director LaCava, and you've got an amusing dish, even 80 years later. And, oh yes, as to the movie's big mystery—is the rotund Palette actually a harem-guarding eunuch in disguise? Just check out that deep froggy voice for a pre-Code answer.