Roman Scandals (1933)

A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor.

Director:

Frank Tuttle

Writers:

George S. Kaufman (original story), Robert E. Sherwood (original story),

Stars:

Eddie Cantor, The Goldwyn Girls, Ruth Etting

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Eddie Cantor	...	Eddie / Oedipus
The Goldwyn Girls	...	Slave Girls
Ruth Etting	...	Olga
Gloria Stuart	...	Princess Sylvia
Edward Arnold	...	Emperor Valerius
David Manners	...	Josephus
Verree Teasdale	...	Empress Agrippa
Alan Mowbray	...	Majordomo
Jack Rutherford	...	Manius (as John Rutherford)
Willard Robertson	...	Warren Finley Cooper
Lee Kohlmar	...	Storekeeper

Storyline

A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor.

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Plot Keywords:

emperor | populism | ancient rome | steam bath | assassination attempt | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 December 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Escândalos Romanos

Filming Locations:

Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 85 min (edited)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Wide Range Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The studio had say over which girls Busby Berkeley could or could not use in his chorus lines and could reject one of them for any reason, though Berkeley usually fought for all of his casting decisions. For this film the studio rejected only two members of the chorus, Barbara Pepper and Lucille Ball.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mayor of West Rome: As mayor of West Rome, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you and to introduce our first citizen, Warren Fenwick Cooper!
Warren F. Cooper: Thank you, mayor. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. Heh, heh, you see I know my Roman history.

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Connections

Spoofed in History of the World: Part I (1981)

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Soundtracks

"No More Love"
(1933) (uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Al Dubin
Sung by Ruth Etting
Danced by chorus

User Reviews

Classic Eddie Cantor!

If you aren't a fan of the Wide-Eyed Wonder already, you should be. He takes the audience of romp after romp from Rome, New York to ancient Rome itself. Cantor was the emperor's food taster in the time of the Roman Empire; what a task! Who else could do it so whimsically? We to go to the movies for fun, right? You will definitely have fun skipping through a loosely written script with the man with the mesmerizing eyes. Considering the time(1930's) and the sad state the entire country was in (the Depression), this had to be the most enjoyable time of a person's week. Absolutely remarkable. And to prove it, this movie made a ton of money! Lucille Ball makes her screen debut in this film and rejoins Eddie a year later in 1934's Kid Millions. Eddie Cantor is said to have commended Lucy for putting "comedy before glamour" in her work on this film.