Having seen this lavish musical comedy years ago, I watched it again for the first time in years, and was amazed by how much Sandler reminds me of a modern day Eddie Cantor. That endearing freneticness, boyish know-it-all ("but I'm still keeping it to myself!") attitude is something they both share, displaying it in each of their movies no matter where the plot takes them. Like Sandler, Eddie Cantor is that total boyish "I'll let you think I'm an idiot, but I'm having the last laugh!" facade. And here, it begins with a 19 (!) year old Ethel Merman making a 25 (!) year old Eddie Cantor think she is his mother (!) so she can get him to sign legal papers turning over his late father's treasure over to her and "Uncle" Louie (Warren Hymer). The scene where they play "Tickle Me" (along with "Leap Frog" and other games they supposedly played "before you were even born", Cantor inquires, is extremely funny, and Merman is at her early brash best. It is ironic that the romantic lead is played by Ann Sothern, who later starred in the movie version of Merman's Broadway hit, "Panama Hattie".
All Eddie wants is enough money "when my ship comes in" so he can build a free Ice Cream factory for his battery of kid friends (he's very much a Pee Wee Herman in this sense) and what an ice cream factory it is. The last five minutes of the film are in a glorious early Technicolor in a musical number that looks straight out of the land of Oz. Goldwyn girls carry giant vats of milk, vanilla, chocolate bars and strawberries, while a chorus of giant cows "moos" along in harmony. Then all of Eddie's kids (many of them veterans of "Our Gang" series) smash in the door for an outrageous finale that is still a treat for young and old. The big minstrel show number (featuring the Nicholas Brothers) is another highlight; Young Faynard is adorable! The racist overtones (Cantor in black-face) may offend some, and the jokes are corny, but overall it is relatively harmless. Irving Berlin's "Mandy" and "I Want to Be a Minstrel Man" are both very catchy tunes, but the love duet between Sothern and George Murphy is a snorer. But for the Nicholas Brothers, Cantor and Merman, the film is truly a must for classic movie fans. Sothern would have to wait for feistier roles at RKO and the Maisie series at MGM to become more exciting.
All Eddie wants is enough money "when my ship comes in" so he can build a free Ice Cream factory for his battery of kid friends (he's very much a Pee Wee Herman in this sense) and what an ice cream factory it is. The last five minutes of the film are in a glorious early Technicolor in a musical number that looks straight out of the land of Oz. Goldwyn girls carry giant vats of milk, vanilla, chocolate bars and strawberries, while a chorus of giant cows "moos" along in harmony. Then all of Eddie's kids (many of them veterans of "Our Gang" series) smash in the door for an outrageous finale that is still a treat for young and old. The big minstrel show number (featuring the Nicholas Brothers) is another highlight; Young Faynard is adorable! The racist overtones (Cantor in black-face) may offend some, and the jokes are corny, but overall it is relatively harmless. Irving Berlin's "Mandy" and "I Want to Be a Minstrel Man" are both very catchy tunes, but the love duet between Sothern and George Murphy is a snorer. But for the Nicholas Brothers, Cantor and Merman, the film is truly a must for classic movie fans. Sothern would have to wait for feistier roles at RKO and the Maisie series at MGM to become more exciting.