Strictly average movie

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Blistering performances.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Although the nudity, violence and the bizarre "Sweet Marijuana" song bothered very few people (a few state censors excised a song line referring to "dirty hosannas"), with the tightening of the production code six weeks after it opened things changed. "Murder at the Vanities" would have been impossible to make 6 months after it was released, as it was "Sweet Marijuana" was eventually excised from most prints. It had been a moderately successful Broadway show in 1933 featuring two movie people - Olga Baclanova and Bela Lugosi. The film starred Kitty Carlisle and Carl Brisson. Carl Brisson had been a Danish matinée idol (there is a segment in a Greta Garbo biography where it described her excitement at meeting him backstage when he toured her town) and had also been the star in a couple of Hitchcock silents ("The Ring" and "The Manxman"). Kitty Carlisle was a young, classically trained singer who made her debut in this movie. "Murder at the Vanities" was often compared to "Wonder Bar" in that it had illicit sex and a view that murder was justifiable when it rid the world of a thoroughly horrible person. Unlike "Wonder Bar" it boasted of a big hit song "Cocktails For Two". Earl Carroll's shows were the bawdiest on Broadway and the whole movie is a tribute to him. In a movie that provides more music than thrills, it all takes place during the opening night of his new show. It starts out with a forgettable song "Where Do They Come From, Where Do They Go" but the chorus girls provide a startling tableau - they are lampshades, powder boxes, vanity mirrors - it is an unbelievable sight. Backstage it is all happening - Erik (Brisson), the leading man, is all set to marry Ann (Carlisle) the leading lady but Rita (Gertrude Michael) is all set to spill the dirt about Erik's private life. The little old wardrobe mistress, Mrs. Smith (Maude Eburne) is really Erik's mother and thirty years before as Elsie Singer, a star of the musical stage, she killed a man. Back on the stage after another song "Live and Love Tonight" which seemed to have a lot in common with "Spin a Little Web of Dreams" from "Fashions of 1934", Gertrude Michael sings the surreal "Sweet Marijuana" complete with chorus girls appearing as cactus flowers - "you alone will bring my lover back to me, even though I know it's just a fantasy" before one of the girls finds blood dripping on her arm.The body is of Sadie Evans (Gail Patrick) a private investigator Erik has hired to find out what Rita had taken from his room. Rita, who is a complete cow to everyone, including her little slavey maid (Dorothy Stickney) who she kicks out of the way, gets her comeuppance after "Ebony Rhapsody" that Duke Ellington gives class to. After her murder everyone is a suspect, including Homer (Charles Middleton, no less) who would do anything for nice Mrs. Smith. It is easy to see why Carl Brisson didn't catch on with American audiences. He didn't seem completely comfortable in his role. Kitty Carlisle, while very fetching, didn't seem to click either. There were a few in the cast who did though - cutie Toby Wing may have had her "biggest" part as Nancy who is just raring to do something to Jack (Jack Oakie) - as he risquely puts it at the end "let's go and do it now"!!! Gail Patrick just at the start of her career but already perfecting her "sophisticated bitch"!!! This same year Gertrude Michael found fame as "The Notorious Sophie Lang" but she always remained an under-rated actress in my opinion. And buried in the chorus was Clara Lou Sheridan (soon to be Ann) and I am convinced I saw Dave O'Brien as one of the chorus boys.

Thus sumptuous Paramount art deco musical is almost a definitive pre code extravaganza and is on per with WONDERBAR and FASHIONS OF 1934 and TOP HAT as the glittering perfection of code- cusp risqué showgirl and nightclub sophisticated sexiness. Made at Paramount in late 1933 and clearly designed to outshine the WB Busby Berkeley extravaganzas, this one does it with nude showgirls, drug references, weapons, a slinky killer, murder in the ceiling and dripping blood, and big stage show numbers all crammed over the orchestra pit on the opening night of a big Broadway show. I was reminded of almost every Busby Berkeley film but clearly on a lower budget with the difference being made up by having spectacular costumes. In color this film would be an enduring musical of its time. In gorgeous B&W it still rates but one can see how colorful the costumes are even in monochrome. One startling song SWEET MARIJUANA manages the unparalleled feat of including nudity drugs murder and blood all on screen during the tune. There is a hilarious and nutty island mermaid number and a fantastic and simple art deco staging of COCKTAILS FOR TWO. This film clearly influenced THE GREAT ZIEGFELD made at MGM in 1936.

This murder mystery with musical numbers is long on atmosphere and character but rather short on suspense and plausibility. Based on a stage play by Broadway showman Earl Carroll and others, it combines a whodunit plot with a backstage ambiance (a homicide investigation takes place on opening night at the theatre where a musical revue is being staged).The cast is impressive and varied: tough-goofy Victor McLaglen as the police officer who leads the investigation and never fails to leer idiotically at whatever showgirl happens to be in sight; Jack Oakie (the prewar Jack Lemmon – or was Jack Lemmon the postwar Jack Oakie?) as the harassed director who must coordinate the staged performance as well as the chaos behind the scenes; the ever-homely Jessie Ralph as a wardrobe mistress with deep, dark secrets; Dorothy Stickney, who has a stunning close-up monologue near the end, as the tremulous maid madly in love with the male lead; Carl Brisson, the Danish star, as that very male lead, warbling the classic "Cocktails for Two" not once but twice; Kitty Carlisle, operatically delivering "Where Do They Come from and Where Do They Go" and other Johnston-Coslow songs; the glorious Gertrude Michael, who parted from us too soon, as a mean-spirited showgirl whose love for Brisson is spurned; the usually ridiculous Toby Wing who here at least is the center of a laugh-getting running joke.When the plot complications get out of hand there is always an interesting performer or fun and tuneful musical number to distract the viewer. The film's most celebrated sequence is the "Marahuana" number, led by Michaels, but aside from its controversial history, it's really one of the lesser musical offerings. All of the songs here are staged as if they could actually have fit into a standard proscenium theatre space, as opposed to the cinematic fantasy setup of the Busby Berkeley style.

Despite the lavish production numbers and wonderful costumes this film is a chore to watch. The murder-mystery plot is just a vehicle to mount the musical numbers on but it often brings the proceedings to a staggering halt besides not being very involving. Although there has obviously been a lot of money spent on them the numbers are badly staged and poorly photographed. It's obviously a pre-code film because the girls often wear very little clothing and there's even a song singing the praises of marijuana! The performances are all one-note although it's nice to see Carl Brisson in a musical but when Victor McLaglen, as the police Lieutenent, lurches into view for the umpteenth time on the hunt for clues, you may want to throw in the towel or at least fast-forward to the next number. Pity the patrons who were trapped in the cinema on its release though!