User reviews

I recently read an account of the creation of Roman Scandals and the miracle is the film got made at all. A whole lot of creative minds butted creative heads.

Sam Goldwyn had it in mind to make a film version of Androcles and the Lion starring Eddie Cantor and I think Cantor would have been perfect in the title role. Unfortunately George Bernard Shaw thought there would be more Cantor than Shaw in the finished product and he nixed that idea with Goldwyn quick.

The idea of a story in ancient Rome had really taken hold with Goldwyn so he then hired George S. Kaufman and Robert Sherwood to write a screenplay. They did come up with the story outline you see on films, but got into problems with Cantor who insisted he wanted the lead role more personalized along with the gags that went with it. Kaufman and Sherwood quit on Goldwyn.

Sam got a few more writers and gave Cantor more creative input into the film and the result is Roman Scandals. Admittedly Roman Scandals is one of the best showcases for the talents of Eddie Cantor.

Eddie plays one of his usual meek little schnooks who turns the tables on those oppressing him. He's the curator of a small museum in West Rome, Oklahoma and uncovers evidence of corruption by the local bigwigs who give him the bum's rush out of town. He soon finds himself walking on a road leading out of ancient Rome and gets involved in the political situation there.

Co-starring with Cantor are Gloria Stuart, David Manners, and as the Emperor Edward Arnold who is playing one of his early villains. Cantor uses both Arnold and his chief henchmen Alan Mowbray to great effect in several gags. My two favorite scenes are his avoiding the Emperor's poisoned food by feeding it to the royal crocodile and Cantor being sold at the slave market with the bidding done by people who want him for all kinds of purposes.

Ruth Etting who co-starred on Broadway with Cantor in Whoopee has a part and a real good torch song number No More Love. Busby Berkeley gave it and other songs sung by Cantor a big production number. Etting of course was the subject of bio film Love Me or Leave Me with Doris Day playing her. Roman Scandals is your opportunity to see the real deal and what a talent she was.

Gloria Stuart who was on loan from Universal could not believe the lavishness of a Sam Goldwyn film, she was used to more cost conscious operations at her home studio. But if you hire Busby Berkeley lavish comes with the territory. Two of Cantor's numbers Build a Little Home and Keep Young and Beautiful got the lavish treatment and they were good.

Eddie Cantor an entertainer of amazing talent should be seen and studied today. I can't think of anything better to start with than Roman Scandals.

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.

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. (***)

This 1933 Samuel Goldwyn production is generally regarded as being Cantor's most successful thirties film. A fascinating depression-flavoured movie, it is a bit reminiscent of THE WIZARD OF OZ in that there are "reality book-ends" the majority of the film being a dreamer's fantasy. Rather than having a Technicolored centre, however, this film benefits from Gregg Toland's famous silvery hued cinematography. The rarely seen in films Ruth Etting had her only movie role of any merit as Olga: fortunately her character's dialogue is kept to a minimum for it's rather poorly delivered. As Emperor Valerius, Edward Arnold does fine in a surprisingly modern-styled comedy performance, and the usually wooden and boring David Manners delivers an refreshingly against-type performance as the sprighty Josephus. As Princess Sylvia, a luminously youthful Gloria Stuart is lovely. The film premiere at Graumann's Chinese Theatre and was broadcasted via radio & the film made a million dollar profit. Contrary to popular belief, this wasn't Lucille Ball's film debut: she had appeared in both BROADWAY THRU A KEYHOLE & BLOOD MONEY in bits priorly. However, the lovely young blonde girl in the film's beginning who enthusiastically informs the locals "Here comes Eddie!" is indeed a 22 year-old native of Jamestown, New York named Lucille Ball.

What needs to be understood about this entertainment film is that it is a revue. The 'hook" for its use of the time-travel gimmick, forward or in this case backward, which it helped to inspire for years to come is a parallel drawn by the authors between a corrupt West Rome, Oklahoma and the governors of ancient Rome's empire. The bridge between the two is opened in the mind of Eddie, played with verve and charisma by Eddie Cantor. In this the most lavish of his four 1930s musicals, with choreography by Busby Berkeley, Cantor imagines himself back in ancient Rome, where he uncovers corruption similar to his own small town's problems. In this musical comedy enlivened by Berkeley, with story and gags by George S. Kaufman, Nat Perrin and and Robert Emmet Sherwood among others, Eddie first finds bribery going on by a developer who wants to build a new jail, dispossessing many residents in the midst of the great Depression. As a result of his protests, after singing a song, Eddie is thrown out of town by police. He then finds himself inexplicably in ancient Rome, and after insulting the Empress, he is condemned to be sold as a slave. Narrowly escaping the clutches of an amorous hag, he is bought by Josephus, handsome David Manners, who wants him as a friend, not a slave. Meanwhile, the Emperor Valerius's favorite, played by Ruth Etting, is being sold away. This leads to the magnificent "No More Love" number involving naked girls covered only by long tresses chained to huge pillars and a Berkeley dance number involving a symbolic slave-girl dancer who plunges from the top of a huge staircase at the end of the number. Meanwhile, the story continues. The four strands involved are Josephus's love for a Princess (Gloria Stuart), Eddie falling afoul of Roman mores, the Empress Agrippina, Verree Teasdale, trying to poison her philandering husband, played with award-level gusto by Edward Arnold, and Valerius pursuing Sylvia (Stuart). Josephus has renamed Eddie "Oedipus"; an hilarious sequence involves "lava gas" being administered to Eddie, then to the royal torturers and finally the Emperor. The Emperor wants Olga back, but still has time to pursue Sylvia. Josephus tries to free both Eddie and Sylvia when the Emperor takes them but is rebuffed. Sylvia agrees to be taken to the palace--to remain there until she falls in love with Valerius-- if he will leave her people unpunished. Then the imperial food taster dies--Agrippina's work, of course; and Eddie gets the job. By this time he has introduced several U.S. vices including crooked dice into ancient Rome. Agrippina summons Eddie to her couch and tells him she wants to poison Valerius. As a precaution, Valerius banishes his rival Josephus who decides to wait for Sylvia, to be spirited away to him, in his chariot. After some tribulations with the palace's majordomo, Alan Mowbray, Eddie gets the message he's been given to Sylvia. After another song in the women's quarters, Eddie finds out about corruption involving Valerius and two senators--a parallel to the West Rome chicanery. Agrippina then warns Eddie not to eat the night's dinner, which he feeds to the royal crocodile. The Empress puts the blame for the animal's demise onto Josephus and Sylvia; Josephus takes Sylvia away in his chariot, and after being condemned to be thrown to the lions himself, Eddie escapes and tries to catch them, to prevent Josephus's being killed at the port of Ostia. After a memorably and funny chariot chase, Cantor wakes up in the U.S. again; and there is a bribe to the police chief as evidence of the wrongdoing he had claimed in his pocket. The satire ends happily, but not without having raised disturbing parallels between republicans' poisoning of the federal reserve and US corruption and the statism of Rome's authoritarian emperors. The piece is a satire from beginning to end, with elements of comedy, drama, parody and song. it is a difficult sort of film to do well, I assert; and to expect this to be any one sort of offering is to fail to comprehend its purpose. This is a thinking-man's light-entertainment, nothing more and a great deal more than less. Girls in revealing costumes, an escapist look at Roman parallels, some delightful actors, a few songs and several spectacular sequences; this was entertainment in the 1930s and for those willing to enjoy it on its own terms, as pure fun, it still is. Every time-travel comedy made since "A Connecticut Yankee" of 1931 and this film owes a great deal to the inspiration of both, but especially I suggest to "Roman Scandals". Frank Tuttle directed this fast-paced and sumptuous romp. The cinematography was by Ray June and Gregg Toland, with costumes by John W. Harkrider, and difficult art direction was provided by Richard Day. Alfred Newman did the music, Harry Warren the original songs. In the cast, Arnold and Teasdale are wonderful, the young leads are attractive throughout and Alan Mowbray delightful in a comedic turns. There are several important actors in small parts including Jane Darwell, Lucille Ball and Billy Barty. With an updated score, I suggest this seminal musical could be successfully remade; but the hard part would be to remove the Eddie Cantor contribution, which was as much a pattern for future comedic talents such as Lou Costello and Jerry Lewis as it was intrinsic to the fun of the production. This Samuel Goldwyn opus may be a trifle pretentious here and there, but not one moment of it I suggest is ever dull.

I recently "discovered" the hilarity that is Eddie Cantor and am taking every opportunity to see him in action. This is a nice little film that seems to have it all: music, comedy (both physical and verbal), a good cast, and a cohesive storyline. The effort that the filmmakers put into some of the smaller touches, like SPQR stamped on everything from the auctioneer's amulet to the metal plate "Oedipus" uses to cover his rear end in fear that his new master will want to beat him, are particularly impressive, because one wonders how many viewers would have noticed them in the first place. (I definitely wouldn't have, except I've done a lot of walking in Rome and I've seen SPQR on hundreds of manhole covers.)

The songs are catchy, particularly "Build A Little Home" which I was still humming two days later. The blackface number, a Cantor trademark, will hopefully be taken as a product of its time and not as a deliberate affront… so far, I think all his pictures except one that I've seen have had this element. Unfortunately, it does make it a little hard to share the film with others whose levels of tolerance for that kind of thing might differ. I can't say as I enjoy it, but I'm not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater either... Cantor is a very talented comedian/song & dance man, and I enjoy the vast majority of what I've seen of his work.

For fans on the lookout for a very young Lucille Ball, here's a tip: don't look for her, LISTEN for her. I'm all but 100% sure I heard her distinctive voice at least once in the beginning sequence out in the street of modern-day West Rome, and again at the end after the dream sequence. I'm sure she was also one of the glamour girls in Ancient Rome as well, but I can't figure out which one.

All in all, an enjoyable movie. I'll definitely be looking for more from Cantor.

A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor.

Based on how few people have rated this film (under 500), I am left with the impression that it must not be purchased, streamed or aired very often. And what a shame, because it is pretty funny, and would be enjoyed by anyone who likes the witty kind of humor the Marx Brothers were doing. (There is even a poison sequence that is not unlike a Danny Kaye skit twenty years later: "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!") I suppose the blackface skit may be one reason the film has fallen out of favor, but this is unfortunate. Whether you consider this racist or not, it is part of film history and should not be simply forgotten or hidden.

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!

Eddie (Cantor) is escorted to the city limits of his home town of Rome (Oklahoma, I think) because of a run in with the city fathers who find his charitable, good nature a hindrance. He falls asleep and wakes up in ancient Rome. If you are a fan of ol' Banjo Eyes, this film is for you. It is pure Cantor, from start to finish, with all the attendant jokes, one liners, comebacks, eye rolling and pratfalls. If you are not a devotee, there is little to recommend this 1933 flicker. George S. Kaufman could have done better by the plot, although anything he might have written would have been over powered by Cantor. Busby Berkley and the Goldwyn Girls provide plenty of eye candy, and the music is among the best of the early musicals, especially "Build a little House" which opens and closes the film. Ruth Etting, although billed along with Gloria Stuart and Veree Teasdale, provides but one song, "No More Love". Teasdale and Stuart will remind you of just how glamorously beautiful the female stars molded by the studio system could be. To boot, they could act. The only actors who come close to matching the presence of Cantor are Edward Arnold, as the Emperor, and Alan Mowbray, as the Major Domo; both could be accomplished scene stealers. The chariot chase is spectacular, although marred by the then common practice of speeding up the action by adjusting the film speed. This is not among the best of the depression era comedies and musicals, but I can think of worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

If you aren't a fan of the Wide-Eyed Wonder already, you should be. He takes the audience of romp after romp from Rome, New York to ancient Rome itself. Cantor was the emperor's food taster in the time of the Roman Empire; what a task! Who else could do it so whimsically? We to go to the movies for fun, right? You will definitely have fun skipping through a loosely written script with the man with the mesmerizing eyes. Considering the time(1930's) and the sad state the entire country was in (the Depression), this had to be the most enjoyable time of a person's week. Absolutely remarkable. And to prove it, this movie made a ton of money! Lucille Ball makes her screen debut in this film and rejoins Eddie a year later in 1934's Kid Millions. Eddie Cantor is said to have commended Lucy for putting "comedy before glamour" in her work on this film.

Eddie cantor has been thrown out of his home town, west rome, and falls asleep. Now he's back in ancient times in... rome. And has adventures as a slave at the market. It's just okay. Very dated material at this point. A couple of song and dance numbers that aren't much fun. That slave girl dance bit just goes on forever, as do so many of busby berkeley's choreographed scenes. One interesting note is that gloria stuart is here as the princess, along with eddie arnold and david manners. Billy barty.... so great in foul play and under the rainbow! Lots of corny jokes, most of which fall flat at this point. Times were simpler back then. This one is interesting mostly for the big names in it, but the story itself is pretty boring. Cantor even does blackface about an hour in, which was all the rage at the time. That naughty beauty shop scene probably woke the audience up.... you can tell this was snuck in just prior to the film code being enforced. Directed by frank tuttle.

One of the underlying themes is slavery —- mostly as satire, but a disturbingly poignant scene at the climax of the slave bazaar number has a girl throwing herself to her death to escape from bondage. This was at a time when Busby Berkeley, the choreographer, was sometimes inserting serious byplay into his numbers (a la "42nd Street"). Boy, is this example a beaut! The Ruth Etting blues solo "No More Love" directly plays on the same theme. Both songs have undercurrents I've never seen suggested in a comedy before or since. These, along with the nutty, racially integrated "Keep Young & Beautiful" routine, add a curiously (yet fascinating) unsavory aspect to the proceedings that is not really easy to characterize.

Oh yeah, what about that lively beer garden drinking song near the beginning and Cantor in black-face! Offensive, absolutely —- but somehow, with Cantor, what's not to love? Politically incorrect? You betcha —- but this is not cruel or demeaning stuff. It's mostly just out-and-out dream-like crazy.

Others have noted the fine production values, and of course the great comic chariot race at the end. Add it all up and what you've got is a nice, unique, big 'ol pastry of a movie musical. If you wanted something to take your mind of things for 93 minutes in 1933, this was just the ticket. If you want something to take your mind off things for 93 minutes in 2007,this is still just the ticket

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.

Never in my life would I have thought I'd like to watch this. For no reason I'd assumed he'd be some irritating 1920s comic whom I'd hate. How wrong was I?

Roman Scandals is a fabulous, fun Busby Berkeley movie. It's got the same look as the more well-known Busby Berkeley Warner Brothers musicals such as 42nd Street. It's even got the same songwriters, Al Dubin and Harry Warren so it even sounds the same.

Because this is from Sam Goldwyn, it's actually visually superior to its WB contemporaries: bigger budget, better quality film, Gregg Tolland on camera, top class writers ....and time. Unlike over at Warners, at Goldwyn's studio they didn't have the infamous time restraints so could take as long as needed to get things just right. The result is spectacular but above all, great fun.

Spectacular is also the best way to describe the Busby Berkeley numbers. They're not quite Gold diggers of 1933 standard yet - but pretty close. The showstopper is the mind-blowing slave market number featuring dozens of gorgeous naked girls with nothing more than long blonde wigs just about covering their modesty. Although this is obviously one of Mr Berkeley's sexual fantasies it's actually quite tasteful. What really makes this so impressive isn't just the naked ladies, like his Broadway Melody, this has depth, it has an insidious darkness to it which, when it strikes you is both genuinely shocking and disturbing. The infectious optimism, the feel-good mood is however immediately and seamlessly restored after that scene thanks to excellent writing and direction. Even though you might not notice because it's so utterly silly, this film has quite a lot depth that makes you think.

Finally to Eddie Cantor. I can't believe it's taken all these years to discover him. He is genuinely funny and instantly likeable. More Marx Brothers than Laurel and Hardy but with a kind and gentle touch. You will instantly warm to him and if you like those early thirties Warner musicals, you should like this - plus there's no Ruby Keeler!

I saw "Roman Scandals" as a small child. I loved it.

I saw it again as an adult, and it held up beautifully.

This is the film I'd recommend to give one a sense of what made Eddie Cantor a great entertainer.

My earliest memories of a radio show was his show -- every Sunday. He had Deanna Durbin and Dinah Shore as guests (at different periods) every week long before their heydays.

Also, "Roman Scandals" shows Eddie Cantor looking youthful. His stage/screen persona depended on a sense of innocent youth. That's why his later screen efforts didn't work as well.

But "Roman Scandals" is a delightful early sound musical comedy.

Bill Gumbiner

Lucille Desiree Ball's beginnings in Hollywood was inauspicious to say the least. Her first appearance in movies, in December 1933's "Roman Scandals" with Eddie Cantor, was brief that came with a major incident, yet it was a start. Fatherless at the age of four, Lucille caught the acting bug in her late teens when she was part of a Shriner's chorus line, receiving praise for her performance she never had growing up. Attending the John Murray Anderson School for Dramatic Arts in New York City with Bette Davis in 1926, she left early because her instructor told her she was too shy. But Ball persisted, and landed a number of small showgirl roles before she hopped on a train to Hollywood.

Lucille Ball made it known she would do anything, including having mud thrown in her face, during the production of "Roman Scandals." She's seen in the film's opening and the closing as an uncredited 'Shantytown resident,' saying her first line on film. During one provocative dancing sequence, she's a chained slave with very long blonde hair with no clothes on. Ball later said of her appearance, "I was classified with the scenery." In the Busby Berkeley number "No More Love," she and the other 'slave girls' are shackled high on a circular platform. To insure there was privacy for the women because of their nakedness, the production was scheduled at night in a closed set with a skeleton film crew. Several takes and retakes under the hot lights while the chorus girls had to stand between each shoot became an ordeal for Lucy, who became faint on the pedestal. Her fake chains broke loose and she fell. An extra playing a slave driver had the strength to catch her before she severely injured herself.

Singer/actor Eddie Cantor was consistently Hollywood's top box office draw since the introduction of talkies. "Roman Scandals" became the number one film for ticket receipts in 1933. One of Winston Churchill's most beloved songs was introduced in this movie, "Keep Young and Beautiful." Film reviewer Derik Winnert's assessment on Cantor's acting was "The star appears at his most engaging, exuberant and typical in a dynamic, winning performance."

Cantor plays Eddie, a delivery boy who stumbles upon members of a city graft operation, discovering residents of an entire neighborhood being kicked out to build a needless jail. Passionate with the history of ancient Rome, Eddie finds himself in that time period after a blow to his head. He soon discovers the emperor of Rome, Valerius (Edward Arnold), is just as crooked as the politicians back home. He spots a captured princess, Sylvia (Gloria Stuart), and sets out to free her. Stuart, who played Old Rose in 1997's "Titanic," received the role of the princess without taking a screen test because producer Samuel Goldwyn personally saw she got the part. Stuart met her future husband, Arthur Sheekman, a dialogue writer for "Roman Scandals," on the set and soon married him. They named their daughter Sylvia for the character Gloria played.

Even though for the next few years Lucille Ball was unable to capitalize on her innate talents, "Roman Scandals" did begin a lifelong friendship between her and Eddie Cantor. The two crossed paths a number of times, including on the radio, in fundraisers and appearing in television skits together. "Roman Scandals" was nominated as one of 500 motion pictures to be considered for the American Film Institute's Top 100 Funniest Movies.

Dates badly and is generally a snore; however the musical numbers directed by Busby Berkeley liven things up, and there is the unusual appearance of singer Ruth Etting who was quite famous at the time. Gregg Toland's very early B&W photography is amazing, and could be more properly called "grey-scale"; what he did was very difficult to pull off given the crude state of the technology of the time.

Roman Scandals (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Eddie (Eddie Cantor) is a dimwitted but good-hearted man from Rome, Oklahoma who is kicked out of town. He ends up falling asleep where he dreams that he is in the actual Rome where he gets involved with a Princess (Gloria Stuart), an Emperor (Edward Arnold) as well as a rebel (David Manners).

ROMAN SCANDALS is a film that really hasn't aged well in a lot of areas but at the same time fans of Pre-Codes will certainly have a field day with some of the naughty parts that show up here. As you can tell, Cantor is the star of the picture and how much you enjoy this film will certainly depend on how much of the actor that you can take. Some have argued that if you've seen one of his films then you've pretty much seen them all because his "act" really didn't change much.

As far as this film goes, I thought Cantor was decent in the role but there's no question that not all of the one-liners work as well as I'm sure the star and studio had hoped. There are a couple funny sequences in the film but I thought Cantor was at his best during the early scenes in Oklahoma including the first song sequence where he leads some locals into building their own homes. The rest of the musical numbers by Busby Berkely were good and did I mention The Goldwyn Girls?

The film benefits from a very good supporting cast with Arnold stealing the picture as the bad guy. I thought he was a lot of fun and added a great bit of entertainment to the picture. I also thought Stuart and Manners were good in their roles as was Ruth Etting. With all of that being said, ROMAN SCANDALS is mainly remembered today for its Pre-Code nature and that includes a lot of sexuality, some dirty jokes and a lot of scenes with beautiful ladies barely wearing anything and only being covered up by the smallest of things.

Overall ROMAN SCANDALS is certainly a flawed picture and one that doesn't work overall but at the same time the supporting cast and the naughty parts makes it worth watching.