The style of "Sit Tight" might surprise folks familiar with the movies of Joe E. Brown. This is because the style of the picture is little like the more famous movies he made for Warner Brothers in the 1930s. This is because "Sit Tight" was intended as a musical*...and the style of such a film is much more episodic than a typical Brown picture. But what also is surprising is that he doesn't even get top billing AND the romantic plot doesn't even involve him!
Winnie (Winnie Lightner) and Jojo (Brown) run a health clinic. Out of the blue, they discover that Tom (Paul Gregory) is a natural wrestler...and so they decide to train him for a career in grappling. As for Tom, he and his girlfriend just broke up and he's wrestling both for the money and to spite Sally. What's next? See the film...and see how insane it all becomes at about 52 minutes into the movie.
So is this any good? Well, Brown is pretty good...but the structure of the film looks more like a play and the comedy seems to play second to everything else. And, the role played by Paul Gregory is the sort usually played by Brown in his later films. It was as if they took a typical Brown script and split it up between two different leading men. Overall, a slightly disappointing film that is still watchable.
*In the very early days of American talking pictures, musicals were a HUGE draw. But after so many, there was a short-lived backlash against them. And so the studio decided to excise all but one of the songs from "Sit Tight"...yet they inexplicably kept the rest of the film without a major re-write.
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