“ROMAN SCANDALS.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20298, 7 May 1934, Page 3

“ROMAN SCANDALS.”

Eddie Cantor in Lavish Musical Comedy.

A film depicting Eddie Cantor as a comedian, pure and simple, without any lavish settings, would score a great success in any part of the Eng-lish-speaking world, since his clowning has that pantomimic quality which appeals to anyone who can appreciate Ciean humour; but Cantor, plus gorgeous girls, stupendous settings of barbaric splendour and the genius of Samuel Goldwyn as a creator of everything that is grand in moviedom, is the last word in modern light entertainment. “ Roman Scandals,” the super-comedy which opened at the' Plaza and Theatre Royal on Saturday before capacity audiences, is the latest and greatest of the celebrated Cantor annual productions. It eclipses in its pagan pomp and pulse-quickening chariot chases the colourful magnificence of the crowd scenes of “ The Kid from Spain,” though it may lack some of the spontaneity of that big success. In its exotic appeal it outdoes the sophisticated “ Whoopee,” and “ Palmy Days ” lacked the power and sensuous attraction of this cinema caricature of the imperial Roman court. Spectacle is piled on spectacle, and every luxury and refinement of the producer’s imagination and ingenuity is employed in a surfeit of superlative grandeur, till the onlooker begins to wonder whether the richest of the Caesars knew the hall of it. Through all this splendour romps the goggle-eyed Eddie Cantor, ridiculous in the raiment of a Roman slave. Ever}* time he opens his mouth the auditorium is filled with laughter—laughter which is smothered on the instant so that his next Joke may not be missed. The audience sees him being expelled from the corrupt Oklahoma town of West Rome, where, as a simple small-town lad, driving a grocer’s cart, he falls foul of the scheming mayor and the police captain. With this more or less prosaic introduction, Cantor is seen trudging the w*eary miles of the rustic countryside. As the miles pass he walks into one of the early centuries and finds himself on a Roman road, in the sparse garb of the time. Encountering Roman soldiers, he fails to readjust his mental processes quickly enough to avoid their displeasure, and, ere he enters the gates of the Eternal City, he is already a slave, destined for the market, there to be sold to the highest bidder. Events move rapidly till, in consequence of a too democratic protest to the Imperial Caesar, he is cast into the torturer's dungeon. It is a toss-up between white-hot irons and the lions. Cantor, however, succeeds in making Valerius laugh, and is promoted to the impermanency of food-taster to the Emperor. In this amazing series of adventures he has more lives than any cat. But even such an irresponsible clown as Cantor could not expect to keep on living in such circumsttances. “Step on the gas!” he commands a waiting charioteer, and eff he goes on a mad career, pursued by half the horses and chariots of the. enraged Emperor. This final escapade is one of the big thrills of the show*. It is prolonged almost beyond endurance, but flashes of comic adventure make the spectacle a brilliant contrast of intensely dramatic and irresistibly funny appeal. The film has many high-lights, notably Cantor singing and dancing as a coon in the no-man’s land ol the ladies’ lavish bathroom, where he finally submerges under pressure of steam. The ‘ gorgeous Goldwyn girls,” as the world knows them, are a riot of grace in the great slave scene, wher/2 they spin and strut in the market, alabaster bodies gleaming in the moonlight. No less alluring are they in the episode of the bath. Ruth Etting’s song, with slave chorus. “No More Love,” and Cantor in “ Keep Young and Beautiful,” “ Tax on Love ” and ** Build a Little Home,” are the song successes of the film, which is remarkable for its musical qualities. It is everybody’s picture. A surprising number of short films, all of genuine interest, support “Roman Scandals,” even though the big feature is a feast in itself. Outstanding among these is a coloured Silly Symphony, in which the audience is vastly entertained with the nocturnal doings of the plates and platters and the fragile little

folk who stock the shelves of an antique china shop. “ Roman Scandals ” and supporting programme will be screened at the Theatre Royal and Plaza throughout the week.