From my Facebook archives, March 1, 2015:
You Said A Mouthful. Warner Bros./First National, 1932.
This is a Joe E. Brown comedy with an early-career Ginger Rogers in a supporting role. It was filmed a few months before 42nd Street, making it the earliest of the 30 films of Ginger's that we've now seen. (There were 11 she made before this one according to the list in the back of her book.)
Brown was a big comedy star in the early '30s. This is the first vehicle of his that we've seen. (He had a supporting role in the 1944 Betty Grable film Pin Up Girl that we saw a few weeks ago.) I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy his style of physical comedy, but this film was hilarious. It is a quick-paced 70 minutes, making it seem even shorter than it was.
To simplify the amusing, convoluted plot a bit, Brown plays an aqua-phobic non-swimmer impersonating a swimming champion so he can impress the wealthy swimming-groupie character played by Ginger Rogers. Brown's character has a recently-adopted young black son, played by Allen Hoskins, who turns into Brown's coach and mentor. An allegedly unsinkable swimming suit also plays a significant role.
Hoskins is most famous as 'Farina' from numerous Our Gang shorts in the '20s and early '30s. By this point in his career, he had grown too old for that role and had been released. This was one of his last film appearances.
Ginger's role as the love interest is relatively modest, but she is always compelling to watch. She disliked her outfits in this film (designed by Orry-Kelly), which I can mostly understand. But the huge hat she wears during the beach scene was quite memorable.
Particularly neat for this former Los Angeles resident was seeing the numerous location shots on Catalina Island.
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