The aerial shot of New York City that opens this film is up there with the opening of "West Side Story" as a great way to go back in time and to see how much Manhattan has changed and how much it has stayed the same. Shots of every day doing's in the park also open and close the film, but the body of this giant cake are the outrageous plots that fill out this hour long pre-code drama. It nearly tops "Freaks" for the oddest film of 1932 and deserves quodos for its originality, or at least its imagination.
Central Park zoo security guard Guy Kibbee is about to retire, looking forward to collecting his pension after years of service, but the news of an escaped former zoo employee (from a mental institution!) disturbs his last moments of employment. Kibbee apparently was one of the people behind this crazy man's institutionalizing, so he is on their list of revenge, as is another zoo keeper (Charles Sellon) whom the escaped former employee (John Wray) blames for mistreating the lions. While Kibbee is busy playing with some tiger cubs, Wray locks him in, then sneaks up on Sellon, overpowers him, and tosses him into the lion's den with disastrous results, causing the lion to escape when Kibbee shoots the doorknob off the room he is in. Hysterically, the lion finds a unique hiding place that I need to keep secret so you have the same laugh that I did.
While all this is going on, down on her luck job seeker Joan Blondell meets the equally desperate Wallace Ford in the park for the first time, shares a lunch, and sets a date for later. She is stopped by alleged law officers who offer her the job of stepping in for a beauty contest winner in order to prevent a theft of money collected for the needy at a benefit at the Tavern on the Green, not realizing that these men are part of a racket. The two events collide together as the lion emerges, the crooks make their move, Kibbee goes after them, and other cops question both Blondell and Ford for their involvement in the scam.
The sight of the lion emerging, running through the kitchen and into the dining area of the Tavern on the Green is both frightening and funny, because in the context of the movie, who'd expect a lion to all of a sudden choose one of New York's most well known dining establishments as their means of escaping capture?
Perky Joan Blondell was very busy in her early days in Hollywood, and for those who only know her as the waitress in "Grease" and for Kathy Bates' version of her on TV's "Feud" will be really surprised to see her young and thin and full of pep. In 1932, she appeared in ten movies (probably a record for a leading lady), adding a sparkle to even the most maudlin of movies, and when she is on screen, all eyes are on her. For a while, she was even a bigger star than Bette Davis, who supported HER in the same year's "Three on a Match".
Ford, really looking like the epitome of the forgotten man, is rather grungy in the leading role, but it speaks highly of her character and his class hidden underneath his disheveled look that she'd accept his offer of a date without question, showing a trust rarely seen in any major metropolis, let alone New York City. They would work together again in 1940's "Two Girls on Broadway", but while she was still a lead, he was listed among the supporting players. The heart and soul of the film is the lovable Guy Kibbee, one of the busiest character actors, here playing a rather tragic elderly man who is the type of man who would give his life to save his fellow man. The film is brisk and speedy, and so much happens, that to reveal too much would spoil the fun that occurs in the brief running time. As a film itself, it is bizarre and unbelievable, but it is that strange combination that makes it endearing.
Central Park zoo security guard Guy Kibbee is about to retire, looking forward to collecting his pension after years of service, but the news of an escaped former zoo employee (from a mental institution!) disturbs his last moments of employment. Kibbee apparently was one of the people behind this crazy man's institutionalizing, so he is on their list of revenge, as is another zoo keeper (Charles Sellon) whom the escaped former employee (John Wray) blames for mistreating the lions. While Kibbee is busy playing with some tiger cubs, Wray locks him in, then sneaks up on Sellon, overpowers him, and tosses him into the lion's den with disastrous results, causing the lion to escape when Kibbee shoots the doorknob off the room he is in. Hysterically, the lion finds a unique hiding place that I need to keep secret so you have the same laugh that I did.
While all this is going on, down on her luck job seeker Joan Blondell meets the equally desperate Wallace Ford in the park for the first time, shares a lunch, and sets a date for later. She is stopped by alleged law officers who offer her the job of stepping in for a beauty contest winner in order to prevent a theft of money collected for the needy at a benefit at the Tavern on the Green, not realizing that these men are part of a racket. The two events collide together as the lion emerges, the crooks make their move, Kibbee goes after them, and other cops question both Blondell and Ford for their involvement in the scam.
The sight of the lion emerging, running through the kitchen and into the dining area of the Tavern on the Green is both frightening and funny, because in the context of the movie, who'd expect a lion to all of a sudden choose one of New York's most well known dining establishments as their means of escaping capture?
Perky Joan Blondell was very busy in her early days in Hollywood, and for those who only know her as the waitress in "Grease" and for Kathy Bates' version of her on TV's "Feud" will be really surprised to see her young and thin and full of pep. In 1932, she appeared in ten movies (probably a record for a leading lady), adding a sparkle to even the most maudlin of movies, and when she is on screen, all eyes are on her. For a while, she was even a bigger star than Bette Davis, who supported HER in the same year's "Three on a Match".
Ford, really looking like the epitome of the forgotten man, is rather grungy in the leading role, but it speaks highly of her character and his class hidden underneath his disheveled look that she'd accept his offer of a date without question, showing a trust rarely seen in any major metropolis, let alone New York City. They would work together again in 1940's "Two Girls on Broadway", but while she was still a lead, he was listed among the supporting players. The heart and soul of the film is the lovable Guy Kibbee, one of the busiest character actors, here playing a rather tragic elderly man who is the type of man who would give his life to save his fellow man. The film is brisk and speedy, and so much happens, that to reveal too much would spoil the fun that occurs in the brief running time. As a film itself, it is bizarre and unbelievable, but it is that strange combination that makes it endearing.