Review of Top Speed

After Joe E. Brown tangled with Winnie Lightner in "Hold Everything" and "Sit Tight", Warner Brothers decided to try out other wide or loud mouthed ladies to try to out-do him. For several films, it was Laura Lee, who dances "Knock Knees" with Brown in a rousing group number that is the highlight in this early musical film. Jack Whiting is the romantic lead, reminding me of later Warners musical star Gene Nelson. He is an able singer and light comedian, and together with Brown, comes off as Warners' answer to Wheeler and Woolsey over at RKO. The basic plot has them as unpaying guests in a posh hotel and how their antics turn everything upside down, culminating in a fast-moving boat race in the finale. The boat race sequence was repeated in several other Warner Brothers comedies and is the non-musical highlight of the film. Another amusing number is "When You Were a Chambermaid" which is filled with innuendos. This is probably the fastest moving of Brown's early talkie (1929/30) films that would soon have to face the editing pens of the production code. Add on Frank McHugh in one of several appearances he made as a drunk in Joe E. Brown's films, and you're guaranteed plenty of laughs.