I love this movie so much

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Blistering performances.

Frank Morgan (The Wizard !), Frank Pangborn (all those W.C. Fields movies), and big, bellowing Gene Pallette in one film. It'll take all of them and more to stand up to Teresita (Lupe Velez)! The carnival gets busted by the sheriff, and they all am-scray before the sheriff can haul them away. When they move into a high class joint, Pangborn is the hotel manager. Teresita puts on a show for the Follies producer (Frank Morgan), and suddenly she's back on top again. Kind of a strange turn, where the mexican girl goes on the stage as a turkish princess, then they concoct a story where suddenly she's a jazz dancer, and the audience doesn't mind being tricked. Lee Tracy is "Jimmy", Teresita's manager, who builds her up, but then he gets the boot! Will he get his revenge? It's a fun show biz adventure. The plot is just absurd, but it moves pretty quickly. Directed by Greg LaCava, who had directed some biggies... Stage Door, My Man Godfrey. Died young at 59 of a heart attack.

I would definitely rate the Broadway debut scene, so masterfully enacted by Frank Morgan (of all people!) and Lupe Velez – and also briefly featuring Max Steiner in the second of his only two on-camera appearances – as one of filmdom's Top One Hundred movie scenes. The rest of the movie – filmed at a frenetic pace by Gregory La Cava – is also top-notch viewing with Lee Tracy in fine form as Lupe's Clayton's friend (the friend you have when you're not having a friend). Production values are admirably extensive and once super-popular but now sadly under-rated director, Gregory La Cava, can be seen at the absolute zenith of his form. How can a director, once so super-popular with both critics and moviegoers in his day, be now so undeservedly forgotten? Available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD.

Lee Tracy and Lupe Velez are outstanding as press agent and circus dancer in this wild comedy of ambitious impostors. Tracy is a supremely fast talker….but Velez is probably right when she exclaims repeatedly that he's "Nothing but a four flusher!" A fun supporting cast includes Frank Morgan as big shot Broadway producer Merle Farrell, complete with long cigarette holder that he can't quite handle…and the great Eugene Palette as a circus escape artist who tags along with Tracy to the big city as a sort of assistant schemer.The plot may be somewhat uneven but this picture certainly has its moments. One sensational highlight is Lupe's song-and-dance on Broadway, in which she starts out stumblingly but changes her tune and wins over everyone, including the initially-shocked highbrow producer Morgan.Eugene Palette's scene staging a publicity stunt in a nudist colony is also hilarious. He shushes a companion complaining about the dress code: "You're lucky it ain't winter."Energetic performances and some spicy dialog produce plenty of laughs; Tracy and Velez pull off the rapid-fire love-hate bit superbly. If it's a bit inconsistent, this picture is nevertheless full of goofy surprises that keep us watching. Very entertaining.

I was first attracted to "The Half Naked Truth" by the reputation of Lupe Velez. I had encountered her name linked in a romantic but ultimately tragic way to Gary Cooper. They were both reputed to be promiscuous and she at least to be violently jealous. He was mentioned in connection also in her suicide in that he tried to help her but as a married man who had long moved on but remained friends. Further reading suggested she had a very tough childhood the child of a prostitute who would turn tricks herself. So I checked out the movie out of curiosity about her. As mentioned by other reviewers , Lee Tracy is a driving force in this picture, as the hyper-active scheming cunning press agent, and his pace and presence swept me along in the fun. Yes, his character is a scoundrel. Yet he is an entertaining one that gives a twisted kind of value for his con. That value is delivered by the sexy and always entertaining Velez, she is the payoff that makes most forget that there is a con. However, Jimmy Bates is not just using her he's making her the toast of Broadway. This story, an early screwball comedy, presents us with two true to life screwballs who create a kind of chemistry that makes a molecule out of elements. When they are together fighting or scheming or making love, sparks are in the air. This is because Velez really is a Mexican spitfire and she gives as good as she gets. Just as Bates is ready to propose to her he discovers her making time with the big-time producer. She also plays a fine fake Princess when he asks it of her. They practically drive each other through the scenes with their energy bouncing off each other and this makes the half naked truth quite a romp. The supporting cast provide strong support. Eugene Palette takes the sidekick role even further in that he has his own operation going on with chamber maid Shirley Chambers, and he ultimately moves the story along both in the beginning and the end. This is an underrated gem, a veritable diamond in the rough.