Joan Blondell was always surprised to see James Cagney, her friend from Broadway days, become such a movie success but Joan could well have become a big star also if she had made fame her main motivation. As it was she was always happy and willing to do any movie Warners gave her, even starting one before she had finished the last, she just wasn't that choosy!! The public soon fell in love with her sassy character and were rewarded by seeing her in so many movies!!
Even though theatre managers were often encouraged to put on phoney stunts and demonstrations to coincide with new movie releases they wanted to publicize, this movie had so much going for it that the author Ward Morehouse created parties and parades especially for it. Producers of some recent agonizingly boring epics should turn to films like "Central Park" for inspiration - but they probably won't!! There is more action and plot in just under 58 minutes - gangsters, romance, wild animals, all set in Central Park - they even once had a Casino there!!!
Dot (Blondell) is an out of work actress and Rick (Wallace Ford) a rodeo star from Arizona who do a little flirting by a hot dog stand in Central Park. They are both from the vast army of the unemployed but their luck is soon to change. Dot is approached by two men claiming to be policemen, they want her for some mysterious undercover work because of her good looks and Rick, because he was helpful to soon to be retired policeman Charley Cabot (Guy Kibbee) is given the job of washing the police motorcycles (for the princely sum of $2!!). Charley has a secret - he is going blind but because he is desperate to retire with a pension the only person who knows is Eby (Henry B. Walthall, playing with his usual dignity, in a minor role). So when he comes across Robert Smiley, an ex-lion keeper who has just escaped from an insane asylum, all he sees is a blur and he mistakes him for one of the other keepers. Smiley has an insane hatred of people who are cruel to animals and he has come back to see Luke (the usually docile Charles Sellon), a keeper who hates wild animals and takes great delight in teasing them, get his just desserts!!
Meanwhile Dot has been employed as a beauty contest winner who is to help the "police" "look after" the money from a society dinner where guests have paid $100 a ticket - the money is to go towards helping the unemployed. Rick get suspicious when he overhears a conversation and is taken to the gangsters apartment where his skills as a rodeo performer come in handy.
All the action takes place during a single day (and night) and climaxes with the escape of a lion who terrorizes the patrons of the Casino. Blondell does her usual sterling job and Wallace Ford proves, once again, he was a really under rated leading man, excelling at the "working class hero" parts!!
Even though theatre managers were often encouraged to put on phoney stunts and demonstrations to coincide with new movie releases they wanted to publicize, this movie had so much going for it that the author Ward Morehouse created parties and parades especially for it. Producers of some recent agonizingly boring epics should turn to films like "Central Park" for inspiration - but they probably won't!! There is more action and plot in just under 58 minutes - gangsters, romance, wild animals, all set in Central Park - they even once had a Casino there!!!
Dot (Blondell) is an out of work actress and Rick (Wallace Ford) a rodeo star from Arizona who do a little flirting by a hot dog stand in Central Park. They are both from the vast army of the unemployed but their luck is soon to change. Dot is approached by two men claiming to be policemen, they want her for some mysterious undercover work because of her good looks and Rick, because he was helpful to soon to be retired policeman Charley Cabot (Guy Kibbee) is given the job of washing the police motorcycles (for the princely sum of $2!!). Charley has a secret - he is going blind but because he is desperate to retire with a pension the only person who knows is Eby (Henry B. Walthall, playing with his usual dignity, in a minor role). So when he comes across Robert Smiley, an ex-lion keeper who has just escaped from an insane asylum, all he sees is a blur and he mistakes him for one of the other keepers. Smiley has an insane hatred of people who are cruel to animals and he has come back to see Luke (the usually docile Charles Sellon), a keeper who hates wild animals and takes great delight in teasing them, get his just desserts!!
Meanwhile Dot has been employed as a beauty contest winner who is to help the "police" "look after" the money from a society dinner where guests have paid $100 a ticket - the money is to go towards helping the unemployed. Rick get suspicious when he overhears a conversation and is taken to the gangsters apartment where his skills as a rodeo performer come in handy.
All the action takes place during a single day (and night) and climaxes with the escape of a lion who terrorizes the patrons of the Casino. Blondell does her usual sterling job and Wallace Ford proves, once again, he was a really under rated leading man, excelling at the "working class hero" parts!!