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Great Film overall

Excellent but underrated film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

My primary interest in picking up this film was to get a look at the acclaimed Eddie Cantor, a legendary entertainer in his day who you don't even hear of anymore. The first thing I was impressed with was the 'look' of the movie; filmed in the same year as "King Kong" it looked like the product of perhaps two decades later. The other eye openers had to do with the costuming, or lack thereof on the part of the slave girls in bondage during Olga's (Ruth Etting) "No More Love" number. There's enough skin showing on some of the girls to fuel an over active imagination, perhaps this is the film to inspire the term 'steamy', both literally and figuratively. There's also the risqué dialog, most notably in Cantor's black face routine when he sings - "You'll drive him half insane, in a bathing suit of cellophane". This was the 1930's? Additionally, for anyone obsessed with the emphasis on looks and body image in today's entertainment media, the roots of that trend can be found here. The "Keep Young and Beautiful" number isn't complete without mentioning the next line - "If you want to be loved". I wonder how that message might have been received by Depression era movie goers.Comedy wise, there are a few good bits - the lava gas (laughing gas) and parsley/poison gags come to mind, along with Josephus' (David Manners) naming of Eddie as 'Oedipus', that was clever. Overall though, I found the comedy to be severely dated, more of a curiosity piece than actually being funny, maybe it's just me upon my initial viewing.As another reviewer mentioned, Lucille Ball is credited on the video sleeve as if she were Cantor's co star in the film, but be warned, you're going to have to look for her. By the same token, you can't miss the dynamic presence of Etting and Gloria Stuart, both simply gorgeous. Again, maybe it's just me, but Etting's Olga character reminded me a bit of a slimmed down Dolly Parton.Fortunately, for fans of Cantor and the Busby Berkeley musical, this film looks like it's readily available. I actually found it on a drug store bargain shelf and decided it was too good to pass up for just a buck. Even though a lot of the scenes are dated and come off as politically incorrect today, the movie itself is a neat time capsule reminder of the way life used to be seventy years ago, when just like today, the average person went to the movies for a quick and fun escape.

This was my first look at Eddie Cantor, whom I subsequently saw in a few other films. I thought he was funny, a very entertaining entertainer - a guy who could sing well and tell jokes and perform slapstick comedy. With all that, he reminded me a bit of the Marx Brothers. He could fit in with those guys, particularly Groucho with his comparable wit and short stature.Even though "Roman Scandals" was only 92 minutes, it would have been even better cut about 10, although I'm not complaining. In between the gags and the sappy Roman days story were at least three songs by Canotr, who was a decent singer and whose songs were pretty good, along with two Busby Berkely numbers with a bunch of scantily-clad ladies. It's corny stuff but it's still good. Lucille Ball is supposed to be in here but I didn't spot her in the two times I've watched this movie. I hardly recognized Gloria Stuart, too.The last part of the movie was similar to the climax of many a silent film comedy with a great chase scene. Cantor, a la Ben-Hur, raced his chariot with four white horses. Instead of an arena, however, Cantor raced through the countryside. There were great stunts and funny bits in that race.It was a great finish to a dated-but-very entertaining film. I wonder why Cantor's films are not available on DVD? I hope that oversight is corrected soon.

I saw "Roman Scandals" as a small child. I loved it.I saw it again as an adult, and it held up beautifully.This is the film I'd recommend to give one a sense of what made Eddie Cantor a great entertainer.My earliest memories of a radio show was his show -- every Sunday. He had Deanna Durbin and Dinah Shore as guests (at different periods) every week long before their heydays.Also, "Roman Scandals" shows Eddie Cantor looking youthful. His stage/screen persona depended on a sense of innocent youth. That's why his later screen efforts didn't work as well.But "Roman Scandals" is a delightful early sound musical comedy.Bill Gumbiner

ROMAN SCANDALS (Samuel Goldwyn, 1933), directed by Frank Tuttle, is the fourth of the annual Eddie Cantor/Samuel Goldwyn musicals of the Depression thirties, and one of their comedic best. Inspired by the recent success to Will Rogers's version to Mark Twain's A CONNECTICUT YANKEE (Fox, 1931), this adaptation relies not on classic literature, but on its own original screenplay and comic supplements, compliments of George S. Kaufman and Robert E. Sherwood.In the basic storyline, Eddie Cantor stars as Eddie (no last name given), a good natured character of West Rome, Oklahoma, liked by so many. When Warren Finley Cooper (Willard Robertson), a corrupt politician, evicts a group of citizens from their homes in favor of building a jail, Eddie talks out of turn is forced to leave town. After being escorted across the border, Eddie, who happens to be an enthusiast about ancient Roman history, falls asleep on the side of the road and dreams himself back to the real Rome. While in ancient Rome, he encounters corrupt politicians headed the evil Emperor Valerius (Edward Arnold), and finds himself sold as a slave to Josephus (David Manners), who turns out he's rather have Eddie as a friend than a slave. On the romantic side, Josephus falls in love with the beautiful Princess Sylvia (Gloria Stuart), who becomes prisoner to the Emperor Valerius. Valerius has a wife, Agrippa (Verree Teasdale), who pleasures herself into poisoning her husband's food in hope to someday become a Merry Widow, but the Emperor is ahead of the game by hiring taste testers who drop dead after eating an unhealthy meal. Eddie is later hired for the job, but it would be more worthy for him to go on a starvation diet instead. After about an hour or so of ancient Roman dreams, the story reaches its climax with a hilarious chariot chase sequence.Also seen in Eddie's dream is legendary torch singer Ruth Etting as Olga. In spite of Etting's name billed second in the opening credits,her performance is on a limited scale, highlighted mostly by a song rendition at an auction gallery of slave girls. Aside from Dorothy's Technicolored dream in THE WIZARD OF OZ (MGM, 1939), Eddie's dream not only remains in black and white, but becomes a lavish scale spectacle with high comedy score composed by Harry Warren and Al Dubin (on loan from Warner Brothers), featuring: "Build a Little Home" (the score that opens and closes the movie/ as sung by Eddie Cantor); "No More Love" (sung by Ruth Etting, danced by The Goldwyn Girls, solo dance by Grace Poggi); "Keep Young and Beautiful," "Put a Tax on Love" and a reprise of "Build a Little Home" (all sung by Cantor).With a large cast, only a few are noted in the opening credits. Aside from Alan Mowbray and Lee Kohlmar as the surviving names on the list, the ones receiving no screen credit are Jane Darwell as the beauty saloon manager in Ancient Rome; Charles C. Wilson as a police chief in modern Rome; Stanley Fields as the slave auctioneer; with Paul Porcasi and Harry Holman. Look for midget Billy Barty appearing briefly as the shrunken Eddie in one scene. Among the Goldwyn Girls, there are many, but the one of main interest today is Lucille Ball, in her movie debut. She can be spotted several times throughout the story. While the entire movie plays mostly for laughs, the "No More Love" production number, directed by Busby Berkeley, is actually the only serious moment in the story. For Berkeley's choreography, in this production, they're not up to his usual standards. Only "No More Love" has the Berkeley trademark, facial closeups of dancing slave beauties, though nothing really spectacular, with the exception of the lavish sets and costumes that make this look more like a Cecil B. DeMille epic.ROMAN SCANDALS at 93 minutes presents Eddie Cantor at his prime, risqué dialog, slapstick comedy, vaudeville-type pratfalls, and a dream sequence only Hollywood could dream up. A forerunner to Zero Mostel's A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1966), along with a run-on gag with a plate of poisoned food that echoes the Danny Kaye comedy from THE COURT JESTER (1955).During the early years of cable television, this, along with other Cantor/Goldwyn collaborations, were featured on the Nostalgia Channel, Turner Network Television (TNT) and last seen on American Movie Classics during the 1993-94 season. Long unseen on any television in recent years, ROMAN SCANDALS has also become one of the few surviving Cantor/Goldwyn musicals of the 1930s to remain available on video cassette.ROMAN SCANDALS may be of sole interest today mainly for I LOVE LUCY fans to try and spot a very young Lucille Ball as one of the extras, but if not for that, watch it for its broad comedy, which has been imitated many times in later years by future film and TV comics, and may continue to do so as long as ROMAN SCANDALS remains available for viewing and film study. (***)