Directed by Mitchell Leisen
Leisen keeps things lively in this pre-Code backstage musical mystery in which a hardboiled police inspector investigates a murder at a theater while the show goes on. Songs include “The Rape of the Rhapsody,” featuring Duke Ellington and his orchestra, and a number “(Sweet) Marihuana,” that was cut from the film before its release but which survived in the elements copied for UCLA’s preservation.
Paramount Pictures. Screenwriter: Carey Wilson, Joseph Gollomb, Sam Hellman. Based on the musical play by Earl Carroll and Rufus King. Cinematographer: Leo Tover. Cast: Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle, Duke Ellington.
35mm, b/w, 89 min.
