Shoot the Works

This Ben Hecht story is a bit uneven but showcases Jack Oakie and Dorothy Dell, so how bad can it be? Oakie plays a showbiz conman, hawking a stuffed whale exhibit on 42nd and doing anything to get noticed. He has stooge Roscoe Karns doing a flagpole sitting bit, while Arline Judge snags the unwary old men. It's all a con. Alison Skipworth sells the tickets.

Oakie runs into Dell in a talent agent's office. He's trying to sell a song. Dell hears the song "With My Eyes Wide Open" and suggests they do an act. That brings Dell into the gang. But Dell is discovered one night singing with Ben Bernie's orchestra. She becomes a star, Oakie becomes a bum. Familiar story.

Oakie is quite good here since Karns gets the goon role. Dell, in her final film, is excellent. It's hard to believe this 19-year-old would be dead within a few months (car crash). Lew Cody, who plays the agent, would also be dead within a month of the film's wrap.

Skipworth, Judge, Cody, Karns, and William Frawley as a Walter Winchell type as all excellent. Cody gets the best catchphrase with his "Goodbye, please!" comment. Worth a look.