Take a Chance (1933) User Reviews

Sizzling Lillian Roth is the Show Stopper!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 28 October 2013]

Lillian Roth added so much to early musicals like "Honey" and "The Love Parade" - she was a sparkling brunette with dimples and bright eyes who could really belt out a song. But she was already having problems with temperament and alcohol so when the first wave of musicals ebbed away no-one was there to help her get herself together.

Her singing style was often compared to Ethel Merman's and it was Merman's Broadway role she was given in the film version of "Take a Chance" (the only 1933 musical to look to Broadway for it's source) and her "Eadie Was a Lady" was the big highlight (for me) (Vivian Vance was seen on the stairs and given the final chorus and Marguerita Padula (the old gypsy woman in "The Cuckoos"(1930) sang a verse). When Roth wasn't in the picture the movie was pretty lack lustre, having to get by on the forced comedy of James Dunn and "Ukelele Ike" Edwards. Edwards had been brightening up musicals for years with his cheery tunes and risqué patter and he was given a chance to shine here with two songs - the cheeky fantasy sequence "I Did It With My Little Ukelele" in which he sails away from a South Sea Island peopled with miniature "Ukelele Ikes" and also a nice rendition of "Night Owl".

Dunn and Edwards play Duke and Louie, a carnival duo who come to the Great White Way with star struck Toni (June Knight) hoping to follow in Wanda's (Roth) footsteps. She has run out on the carnival, sick of the boy's shyster ways. She puts Toni onto producer Kenneth Raleigh (Chas. "Buddy" Rogers, oddly, billed last in the opening credits but placed closer up at the end!!) and Kenneth likes what he sees. Hard to believe that Toni could be given the lead in a Broadway show on the strength of a pretty ordinary performance where she tries to imitate Lupe Velez and Greta Garbo. June Knight had been the star of the original Broadway show and was brought to the Astoria studios for the movie but she didn't stand out - only when she sang a chorus of "Night Owl".

The movie starts out promising enough with Roth sizzling as Wanda doing an almost striptease to "Come Up and See Me Sometime" and given all the witty lines such as "All the time you're out of jail, you're away from home"!! Another Lillian - Bond was her name was just gorgeous (I wanted to see more of her) as the sulky star who is eventually replaced by lack lustre Knight.

A real low light of the movie was the staging of "Paper Moon" - it was so odd!! A very peppy tune of the early 1930s, recorded by all the top dance bands and already a big hit, it's staging was completely botched by choreographer Bobby Connelly who staged it as a Romeo and Juliet swashbuckling operetta (I am not joking) where Rogers jumped around like Errol Flynn. Fortunately Dorothy Lee brightened up the movie as a dizzy dame who is keen to share her swivel hips dance (which worked so well for her in "Half Shot at Sunrise" (1930)) with anyone standing still and is the only enjoyable spot in the deadly "Daniel Boone" finale.

See it for Lillian - both of them!!

Lilian Roth Sings "Eadie Was A Lady"

[boblipton · 6/10 · 23 October 2023]

James Dunn and Cliff Edwards leave the carnival life when they are rooked by some clever ladies. Eventually, they are reunited with them when everyone turns up at Charles 'Buddy' Rogers' Broadway revue.

It's largely a revue in itself, with Dunn& Edwards undergoing various comical misadventures as they try to crack the Great White way, with occasional production numbers. Eventually, Rogers' revue opens, Lilian Roth sings "Eadie Was A Lady" backed by three girls including Vivian Vance, while Rogers & June Knight sing "It's Only A Paper Moon" in its screen introduction. It's clearly intended as a big movie, based on a show by Nacio Herb Brown & B. G. De Sylva that originally featured Ethel Merman. It had run more than 240 performances in the 1932 season, a huge hit in a bad year for the legitimate stage. There are three musical numbers by Vincent Youmans, and E. Y. Harburg did the lyrics to several of the songs.

Lillian Roth, Ciff Edwards, James Dunn, Vivian Vance

[drednm · 24 October 2018]

TAKE A CHANCE is a musical comedy that's all over the board. Based on a successful 1932 Broadway production the story starts out in a carny and ends up in a theater production with songs and much knock-about comedy. June Knight reprises her Broadway role for the film. The film introduced the standard "It's Only a Paper Moon" which was not in the Broadway show.

The film has two con men (James Dunn and Cliff Edwards) causing much mayhem on the way to accidentally becoming stage stars, with Knight as their accomplice who falls for a young heir (Buddy Rogers) who produces shows. There's also a very hot Lillian Roth as a sometime girlfriend of Dunn's who starts out a la Mae West singing "Come Up and See Me Sometimes" as a kooch number in a carny. Later on she anchors the big production number of "Eadie Was a Lady" which features Vivian Vance among the singers. Roth's role was played by Ethel Merman in the Broadway production.

Cliff Edwards gets a whole number to himself with "I Did It with My Little Ukulele" which includes some animation in a story about his getting washed up on a desert isle. Dunn and Edwards are certainly a lively comic duo (Jack Haley and Sid Silvers had the stage roles) though some of the comedy falls flat. Rogers gets like sixth billing and seems out of place. Then there's Dorothy Lee who shows up now and then to do a swivel-hips bit.

Another highlight is the "Night Owl" number, which is one of those songs you wake up the next morning with it rattling around in your head.

Certainly worth a look to see Lillian Roth in her prime and to get a glimpse of Vivian Vance long before she played the immortal Ethel Mertz on I LOVE LUCY.

They took the chance, and luck ran out.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 24 November 2016]

She may have cried the day after the premiere when the reviews came out, but the wonderful Lillian Roth comes out the winner in this disappointing film version of one of those fluff Broadway musicals that helped audiences face the depression. It has the slightest of stories about the putting on of a big Broadway show and the struggles the newcomers to the best white way have getting it launched. James Dunn and Cliff Edwards are old pals who manage to get there, with old pal Roth seemingly tossed over for their new discovery, June Knight. When opening night doesn't go exactly as planned, they must act fast to avoid an instant calamity.

Roth, taking over the part played on Broadway by Ethel Merman, gives her all, while Knight gets to reprise her role. The title of the show within the show, "Humpty Dumpty", was the name of the show in its unsuccessful prep Broadway tryout. Only a few songs made the transfer, with a Merman standard, "Eadie was a Lady", managing to make the cut and rocked out of the theater by Roth. "It's Only a Paper Moon", written for the film, became a standard, but suffers here from a wretched staging filled with edits that make no sense. The comedy flops big time too. Dorothy Lee, on a break from her Wheeler and Woolsey features over at RKO, doesn't get to really do much here. It's easy to see why this movie musical, made the same year as "42nd Street" and Astaire and Rogers' first pairing, is forgotten today. The paper moon was covered in metaphorical fog.

June Knight is more than reason enough NOT to watch this film!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 28 September 2021]

I don't think "Take a Chance" would have been a very good film without her, but with June Knight, it's truly godawful! Why? Well, this singing star has no discernable talent and her singing is frequent and terrible! The first number she sings she does impersonations of various singing stars. But they are all terrible...sort of like what you'd expect from a precocious six year-old when they are performing for their family! Perhaps she did this, however, because her regular singing voice is so bad! Regardless, each time she sang, I felt something dying inside me!!

As for the rest of the cast, they are not particularly great....mostly because there's not much plot here. Edwards and James Dunn are on hand to provide comic relief but there isn't much story and their routines seem, well, like routines. A few exceptions occurred, such as Cliff Edwards' cute surreal song about going to sea. Also, Lillian Roth isn't bad....though this is hardly a glowing endorsement.

Overall, this is a bad film....with musical numbers that are sometimes painful to listen to and not a lot of plot to fill in the gaps. Paramount really dropped the ball with this one!

Take a chance and see this movie if you can find a copy.

[yogi-22 · 8/10 · 17 April 2000]

What's to dislike about this movie? Night Owl is a cute tune.Cliff Edwards and James Dunn have a lot of fun. June Knight looks good and Dorothy Lee takes the swivel hip's to a new level.If you can find a copy of this movie you can have an evening of fun.

Lillian Roth is great. Rest of the film stinks.

[Sterling-3 · 31 December 1998]

This is the film version of the Ethel Merman Broadway hit.Not a very good film. Lillian Roth got a second chance to behave and make good in Hollywood with this one and she is the best thing about this dull mess. Good prints are rare because this is a FOX film and they don't give a damn about their past.

Look for young Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz) in the Eadie Was a Lady Number . .. she get a chorus or two standing on the stairs. Very unexpected.

Buddy Rogers is not a very good actor but at least he's still alive!