Rambling 'Round Radio Row #8

Rambling 'Round Radio Row (Second Group) #1 (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Somewhat legendary gossip columnist Eddie Bruce is host for this first entry in the second series of shorts. This time Eddie is sitting at his desk talking on the radio when he introduces the three acts that we're going to see. Tito Guizar plays "Zuni, Zuni", a Mexican sounding number. Shirley Howard performs "Don't Blame Me" and The Men About Town perform "Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore". The setting is certainly different in this group of musical numbers but in the end none of them are really good enough to where you'd want to listen to them more than once. If I had to pick I'd probably go with Guizar as being the best as at least his guitar playing as a catchy tune to it. The Howard songs isn't too bad, lyrics wise, but I can't say her voice thrilled me. The Men About Town sound pretty good but the song itself is pretty bland. Bruce has some nice energy that he pushes across the screen but his jokes fall pretty flat. The highlight of the movie comes at the very end with a comedy sketch where Alan Reed plays a stuttering man who wants to open a bank account but the banker (Gene Lockhart) can't understand what he's saying. Rude humor but it's funny.