Sound quality is TERRIBLE for most of the film, but i guess that can be forgiven since talkies hadn't been around very long. Marion Davies stars as Dulcy Parker, who is hosting a get-together for the big shot "Forbes" coming into town for the big business deal. Keep an eye out for the always-fun Franklin Pangborn as "Leach", who gives the weirdest hand-shake we have ever seen, and Dulcy tells us he has some secret... Raymond Hackett is Dulcy's sarcastic, wise-cracking brother. Hackett had about ten speaking roles, and seven of those were in 1930 alone! One of the funniest roles here is the facial expressions on Perkins the butler - George Davis doesn't have a lot of lines, but his appearance as the guests come and go add a lot to the performance. Elliott Nugent is "Gordy", Dulcy's boyfriend, trying to close the deal. Lots of yackety yack, since this is based on a play. This was a remake of the silent 1923 version, and it would be remade again in 1940 with Ann Sothern and Billie Burke. There are some bad editing cuts here and there, but the conversations are mostly clever and fun, with some sight gags and one-liners by various characters. I think some of the comedy bits, including Pangborn's big scene in the living room, were probably very funny back in the day, but just seem to go on and on by today's standard. Directed by the amazing King Vidor, who had done it all in the early days of Hollywood. Original play written by Kaufman, who had also written "Man Who Came to Dinner" and "You Can't Take it with You", also made into films.
Review of Not So Dumb
