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Powerful

Good concept, poorly executed.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Every once in awhile I discover an actor that is a revelation. I've seen him or her in other roles but wasn't impressed enough to notice. Watching Ross Alexander I saw a likable, energetic, impressive singer. He puts Dick Powell to shame. After reading his bio I see why he never became a star. What a pity. When he and Edward Everett Horton do their patter songs it's impossible not to smile, stop the DVD and replay them. It was also nice to see Sazu Pitts in a glamor role. At 41 she could play frumps and spinsters 'til the cows come home. This one let her look her best. (If you've never seen her in a Von Stroheim film you don't know how good she could look when properly photographed.) The story is nothing. But the interaction of the characters is extremely well done. If you love 1930s character actors as I do, be sure to catch this film the next time it's on TCM.

Guy Kibbee and Zasu Pitts are a social climbing middle aged couple on Long Island, who having made their fortune, now want to be a part of New York's upper crust. Kibbee convinces a young waitress (June Martel) to pose as their daughter so they can throw a coming out party for her in order to enter society. They are assisted by Edward Everett Horton and Nella Walker in their quest, while a young singer (Ross Alexander) takes a shine to Martel after accidentally breaking the heel off her shoe which has gotten stuck in a 5th Avenue sewer cap (and later in the backyard of Kibbee's Long Island mansion). Martel's past comes back to haunt her, threatening to blow Kibbee's and Pitt's dream out of the social register. But then the script looses interest in Kibbee and Pitts, and focuses more on how to get Martel and Alexander together. The result---everything that happens in the first 3/4 ends up pointless and the film finishes on a disappointing note.Warner Brothers during the 1930's could either be socially edgy or groundbreaking and technical. Where it wasn't successful was doing society comedy like Paramount, RKO and MGM did, even if they did have a top drawer art department. Prior to the production code, WB could churn out acceptable society comedies as long as they were utilizing things the code forced them to get rid of. In the case of "Going Highbrow", the results of this poor script that remains amazingly unfunny in spite of its comic leads are mediocre. June Martel made only a few more films at Warner Brothers before moving onto the poverty row studios and disappeared altogether. She's alright here, but nothing amazing considering the slew of leading ladies they already had at Warners.

ZaSu Pitts and Guy Kibee are Kansans with money. We meet them as they've gotten off a ship in New York. Pitts wants publicity for their wealth. She wants a place in New York society, too.Enter Edward Everett Horton. He has a plan to get them recognized. He will have a female acquaintance sponsor them -- for a price.This is a comedy with few surprises, but I won't give any of them away.Suffice it to say you haven't heard anything till you've heard Horton sing a love duet from "rigoletto" with Ross Alexander! Alexander plays the rich woman's freewheeling son.The script is filled with gay double-entendres. These are both spoken (or sung!) and visual: At one point, Alexander is lifted in the air and appears in a very position position -- legs in the air. (Watch it and see for yourself.) The great Judy Canova is in it too. And can you believe it? She doesn't sing a note!

I was really full of anticipation before i viewed this film.What a great cast,full of great comedy actors from the 30s.I was about to uncover a forgotten masterpiece.How wrong i was.This was an extremely lame comedy,of the sort spawned by production requirements that one film a week be shipped out to the theatres.It just goes to show that you can have great talents but if you do not have a good script there is no likelihood that you will have a good film.Guy Kibee as usual plays a business man flirting with a younger woman,Zasu Pitts as so often plays the fretful wife and Edward Everett Horton plays Edward Everett Horton.Ross Alexander sings,if that is his own voice,a rather pleasant song.So the best that you can say about this film is that at 66 minutes it doesn't linger around too long.