Kattiera Nana 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.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

kidboots 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.

lugonian Earl Carroll's MURDER AT THE VANITIES (Paramount, 1934), directed by Mitchell Leisen, from the stage work by Earl Carroll and Rufus King, marked the studio's contribution to the stage musical of the precode era. Almost in the league as Warner Brothers' WONDER BAR (1934), with plot set in a single night revolving around an handful of sinful characters, VANITIES contains its own assortment of odd characters, great interplay between Jack Oakie and Victor McLaglen, risqué dialog and semi-nude chorines listed in the opening credits as "The Most Beautiful Girls in the World," makes this particular production something to consider. Producer Earl Carroll is ill and unable to attend the opening night of his Vanities, which leaves Jack Ellery (Jack Oakie), former reporter turned stage director, in charge. Eric Lander (Carl Brisson) and Anne Ward (Kitty Carlisle), the show's leading couple, plan on getting married after the performance, much to the dismay of temperamental blues singer, Rita Ross (Gertrude Michael), who wants Eric for herself and will stop at nothing to get him. Before the curtain goes up, Anne finds her life being threatened by falling props and sandbags that nearly miss her, causing Ellery to notify his friendly rival, Police Lieutenant Bill Murdock (Victor McLaglen) to investigate. Sadie Evans (Gail Patrick), a female investigator hired by Eric, arrives to return valuable information stolen from him by Rita. Because Miss Evans has learned more than she should, her life is threatened by Helene Smith (Jessie Ralph), a wardrobe woman with a mysterious past of her own. During a performance, blood is felt dripping upon a chorus girl, causing her to scream and Murdock to trace the dripping blood to the body of Sadie Evans, stabbed by a large pin. When Rita threatens to expose what she knows about Eric in Vienna, she, too is murdered by a mysterious bullet. The show goes on as Ellery and Murdock work together in hope of rounding up the usual suspects.Other members of the cast include Charles Middleton as Shakespearean actor Homer Boothby; Donald Meek as Doctor J.T. Saunders; and Barbara Fritchie as Viven. Notable performances go out to the comic-strip appearance of Dorothy Stickney as Norma Watson, Rita's abused maid; and Toby Wing as Nancy, the giggly blonde wanting desperately some time alone with Jack Ellery, who constantly casts her aside until later. Kitty Carlisle, best known for her role opposite the Marx Brothers in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (MGM, 1935), and as TV's panelist on the 1960-70s quiz show, TO TELL THE TRUTH, performs well in her motion picture debut, especially opposite Carl Brisson who, at times, resembles Carlisle's NIGHT AT THE OPERA love interest, Allan Jones, but minus the Danish accent. A well-crafted murder mystery with an abundance of fine tunes by Arthur Johnson, Sam Coslow and Johnny Burke, include: "Cocktails for Two" (sung by Carl Brisson); "Where Do They Come From and Where Do They Go?" (sung by Kitty Carlisle); "Lovely One" (sung by male chorus); "Where Do They Come From and Where Do They Go?" (concluded by Carlisle); "Live and Love Tonight" (sung by Brisson); "Sweet Marijuana" (sung by Gertrude Michael); "Cradle Me With a Hatcha Lullaby" (instrumentally performed by male dancers); "The Rape of the Rhapsody" (sung by Brisson, orchestrated by Duke Ellington and his Band; reprized by Kitty Carlisle); "Doing the Ebony Rhapsody" (sung by Gertrude Michael); "Cocktails for Two" (sung by Brisson, chorus); and Finale: "Live and Love Tonight," "Sweet Marijuana" and "Cocktails for Two." While "Cocktails for Two" became a song hit that that was later spoofed in the 1940s by band-leader Spike Jones, "Live and Love Tonight" is actually one of the better and nicer tunes helped by its production number treatment set on an island with Brisson as the sole male surrounded by under-dressed island girls (Carlisle included) and others using ostrich feathers as water waves. Gertrude Michael's rendition to "Sweet Marijuana" surrounded by dancing shadows, appears to be the sort of tune 35 years ahead of its time, fitting more into the 1960s hippie generation than 1934. Franz Liszt's "Second Hungarian Rhapsody," the longest of the production numbers, is an interesting attempt turning slow tempo classical composition to upbeat jazzy orchestration with Duke Ellington at the piano. Larry Ceballos and LeRoy Prinz are credited for their impressive (or suggestive) choreography.Rarely televised possibly due to its subject matter that make precode movies all the more worth seeing today, MURDER AT THE VANITIES, having been one of an assortment of rare classic films aired Sunday nights (1974-75) on Hartford, Connecticut's WFSB, Channel 3, did become available on home video in the 1980s (retail price: $59.95) and finally DVD in 2009. Its availability should add to the rediscovery of buried treasures such as this. (***)

drednm A Murder investigation goes on back stage while The Vanities, on its opening night, plays on to an unknowing audience. Odd combination of musical and murder mystery is worth a look for its cast, its terrific production numbers, and the sheer novelty of the film.Gertrude Michael has the showy role of a bitchy actress intent on stopping the marriage between the show's stars, Kitty Carlisle and Carl Brisson, as well as starring in the infamous "Sweet Marijuana" number (which was also on a 70s Bette Midler album). So while the chorus girls shuffle around backstage, bumbling detective Victor McLaglen ogles the girls while he tries to solve the backstage murder of an unknown woman whose body is found on a catwalk above the stage.We quickly learn that the maid (Dorothy Stickney) loves Brisson from afar, that the wardrobe lady (Jessie Ralph) is Brisson's mother, and that the stage manager (Jack Oakie) butts into everything. Lots of plots twists among the musical numbers. The show's best-known song is "Cocktails for Two" sung by Brisson and Carlisle. They also sing "Live and Love Tonight" on a tropical isle surrounded by showgirls waving feather fans to simulate the ocean. Carlisle also sings the haunting "Where Do They Come From?" Gertrude Michael sings the infamous "Sweet Marijuana." And there's a weird rhapsody that erupts into a Harlem specialty number featuring Duke Ellington! Some terrific acting here, especially Gertrude Michael and Dorothy Stickney. Kitty Carlisle is quite good as well. Brisson, Oakie, and McLaglen are all solid.Charles Middleton plays Homer, Toby Wing plays Nancy, Donald Meek plays the doctor, Gail Patrick plays the unknown woman, and see if you can spot Ann Sheridan, Alan Ladd and Lucille Ball among the chorus members.

dbborroughs During the opening night of the Vanties a woman is found dead on the catwalk above the stage. As the show continues the police attempt to piece together who killed who and why before the final curtain.I had always heard that this was a great classic comedy mystery so I was excited to find myself a copy. Unfortunately no one told me about the musical numbers which go on and on and on. While the numbers certainly are the type that Hollywood did in their glory days, they become intrusive because they pretty much stop the movie dead despite attempts to weave action around them. This wouldn't be so bad if the music was half way decent, but its not. There is only one good song. Worse its as if the studio knew they had one song, Cocktails for Two, and we're forced to endure four versions of it: a duet, a big production number, as the Vanities finale and in the background as incidental music. I don't think Spike Jones and His City Slickers ever played it that much. The rest of the movie is pretty good with Victor McLaglen sparring nicely with Jack Oakie. Charles Middleton is very funny is his scenes as an actor in love with the wardrobe mistress.By no mean essential I can recommend this if you think you can get through the musical numbers, or are willing to scan through them. Its a fun movie of the sort they don't make any more.