Copyright 1 January 1933 by Samuel Goldwyn. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Palace: 17 November 1932. London opening at roadshow prices: 8 April 1933. U.K. general release: 14 October 1933. Although the running time in most reference books is quoted at 118 minutes, this seems incorrect. The 1998 video copy runs 91 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: The admirably daffy script has Cantor, an innocent fugitive, wanted for his part in a bank robbery, forced to take refuge in Mexico where the first person he runs across is none other than his old college chum from south of the border, Robert Young, of all people! Young successfully passes Cantor off to his prospective father-in-law, Noah Beery (who doesn't want Young to marry his daughter anyway), as the son of a famous bullfighter.
NOTES: With a rentals gross of $2.6 million, number one at U.S./Canadian ticket windows for 1932. The picture wasn't quite so popular in England or Australia, in both countries rating fourth for 1933. [(In the U.K. Cavalcade was first, followed by The Good Companions. I think Tell Me Tonight was third). Negative cost: $1,400,000. Film debut of Jane Wyman.
COMMENT: Such superlative entertainment, it's difficult to review the film without lapsing into endless encomiums. From its very opening shot of young Betty Grable to its delightful fade-out on a Cantor-Roberti reprise of "What a Perfect Combination", The Kid from Spain is fun, fun, fun all the way, without so much as a moment's respite. Superbly photographed, set and costumed, with spectacular dance numbers, catchy songs, brilliantly acted by a stand-out cast, directed by a master of stylish, comic timing...
I could go on in this vein for pages. Maybe I'll just jot down (in purely random order) some of the high spots:
(1) Cantor's run-in with the bull. This comic routine has been used so often over the years since 1932, it would have been no surprise to find that Cantor's material had been stolen many times over. But this isn't the case at all. So spectacular are Cantor's brushes here that no other producer could afford to duplicate them. There's some back projection of course, but so tightly edited are some of the shots, you have to run the sequence four or five times to work out how many of the wonderfully comic, daredevil effects were achieved. We love the word used to stop the bull in his tracks. What a classic!
(2) Cantor's run-in with Paul Porcasi. This has to be one of the funniest border encounters on record. I thought it even more droll than the four Marx Brothers famous encounter with a whole tribe of customs officials in A Night at the Opera.
(3) Cantor's run-ins with Lyda Roberti, that most talented and beautiful comedienne who starred in eleven films before her career was cut short by a fatal heart attack at the age of only 28.
(4) Cantor's run-out on Miljan and Naish to sing his blackface routine, "What a Perfect Combination".
(5) Cantor's run-out on would-be bandit assassin, Stanley Fields.
(6) Cantor singing "In the Moonlight" and flittering through a characteristic dance with Toby Wing and the Goldwyn Girls.
(7) Grace Poggi dancing up a storm, the like of which has rarely been equalled in the cinema. (Maybe Anita Ekberg's "Climb Up the Wall" in Zarak runs close).
(8) Busby Berkeley throwing girls into spinning choreography.
(9) Robert Emmett O'Connor, quixotically dead-pan, as he looks forward to Sunday.
(10) Cantor walking "this way" to the firing squad.
SYNOPSIS: The admirably daffy script has Cantor, an innocent fugitive, wanted for his part in a bank robbery, forced to take refuge in Mexico where the first person he runs across is none other than his old college chum from south of the border, Robert Young, of all people! Young successfully passes Cantor off to his prospective father-in-law, Noah Beery (who doesn't want Young to marry his daughter anyway), as the son of a famous bullfighter.
NOTES: With a rentals gross of $2.6 million, number one at U.S./Canadian ticket windows for 1932. The picture wasn't quite so popular in England or Australia, in both countries rating fourth for 1933. [(In the U.K. Cavalcade was first, followed by The Good Companions. I think Tell Me Tonight was third). Negative cost: $1,400,000. Film debut of Jane Wyman.
COMMENT: Such superlative entertainment, it's difficult to review the film without lapsing into endless encomiums. From its very opening shot of young Betty Grable to its delightful fade-out on a Cantor-Roberti reprise of "What a Perfect Combination", The Kid from Spain is fun, fun, fun all the way, without so much as a moment's respite. Superbly photographed, set and costumed, with spectacular dance numbers, catchy songs, brilliantly acted by a stand-out cast, directed by a master of stylish, comic timing...
I could go on in this vein for pages. Maybe I'll just jot down (in purely random order) some of the high spots:
(1) Cantor's run-in with the bull. This comic routine has been used so often over the years since 1932, it would have been no surprise to find that Cantor's material had been stolen many times over. But this isn't the case at all. So spectacular are Cantor's brushes here that no other producer could afford to duplicate them. There's some back projection of course, but so tightly edited are some of the shots, you have to run the sequence four or five times to work out how many of the wonderfully comic, daredevil effects were achieved. We love the word used to stop the bull in his tracks. What a classic!
(2) Cantor's run-in with Paul Porcasi. This has to be one of the funniest border encounters on record. I thought it even more droll than the four Marx Brothers famous encounter with a whole tribe of customs officials in A Night at the Opera.
(3) Cantor's run-ins with Lyda Roberti, that most talented and beautiful comedienne who starred in eleven films before her career was cut short by a fatal heart attack at the age of only 28.
(4) Cantor's run-out on Miljan and Naish to sing his blackface routine, "What a Perfect Combination".
(5) Cantor's run-out on would-be bandit assassin, Stanley Fields.
(6) Cantor singing "In the Moonlight" and flittering through a characteristic dance with Toby Wing and the Goldwyn Girls.
(7) Grace Poggi dancing up a storm, the like of which has rarely been equalled in the cinema. (Maybe Anita Ekberg's "Climb Up the Wall" in Zarak runs close).
(8) Busby Berkeley throwing girls into spinning choreography.
(9) Robert Emmett O'Connor, quixotically dead-pan, as he looks forward to Sunday.
(10) Cantor walking "this way" to the firing squad.