Sing and Like It

The Production Code was strengthened in 1934; this racy RKO comedy must have just gotten in under the wire. It's a very funny gangsters-in-the-theater comedy, not unlike "Bullets Over Broadway," in which every player plays exactly what they played in dozens of other movies: ZaSu Pitts flutters and dithers (and at one surprising point tells Nat Pendleton "take me, I'm yours"), Edward Everett Horton does slow burns, Pert Kelton does sassy and grasping, Pendleton flexes muscles and plays dumb hood, Ned Sparks grunts sarcastic asides, and John Qualen does meek- spouse. They're all expert, and they have a rude, funny screenplay that pokes fun at misplaced ambition, theater critics, and the gross sentimentality of mother songs. The production values are first-rate, and the twist ending is hilarious--I totally didn't see it coming.