MAD HOLIDAY

US, 1936, 69 minutes, Black and white.
Edmund Lowe, Elissa Landi, Zasu Pitts, Ted Healy, Edmund Gwenn, Edgar Kennedy, Soo Yong, Water Kingsford.
Directed by George B. Seitz.

Mad Holiday is a slight supporting feature from MGM in the mid 1930s. It takes some pokes at the film industry itself, the company making a series of second-rate murder mysteries with a star detective, his being identified with his role by adoring fans, his wanting rest and to get out of the stereotype. He is played in a debonair style by Edmund Lowe.

The film has him going on a cruise, besieged at the wharf by adoring fans and, especially, the comedian, Zasu Pitts, who declares her devotion to him – and, during the film, is seen as putting away quite a number of drinks with the alleged reason that the cherries go to her pet dog.

While the actor is welcomed on board by the captain, there are various mysterious goings on, especially concerning a diamond, some jewel thieves, a Chinese woman who wants to buy the diamond. When a dead body is found in the actor’s cabin, and a mysterious blonde, Elissa Landi, seems to be involved, it is revealed as a stunt for films, the perpetrator being the author of the novels, revealed to be a woman who took her grandfather’s photo and name! Needless to say, this offers the basis for a romance.

Then there are more dead bodies, a reporter and his cameraman intruding at every possible moment – and then the reporter locked in a shower – the authorities on the ship being very wary. And, all the time, there is the very British assistant to the jewel dealer who was murdered and who seems very obliging, especially as played by Edmund Gwenn. The mystery is finally unravelled, with the help of the actor himself and his masked encounter with the murderer, his being disguised as a Chinese – not very convincing for anyone except the man being accosted! The villain is Edmund Gwenn who suddenly bursts into very American intonations, explaining that he was putting on the British accent (however, his British accent is the real one and the American accent seems terribly artificial and strained).

A pleasant time passer in the vein of the 1930s.