The loud mouthed comic Joe E. Brown is not going to be everybody's taste outside of his final line in the 1959 comedy classic "Some Like It Hot" (or possibly his lovable Captain Andy in 1951's "Show Boat"), but during the 1930's, he was one of Hollywood's most popular comic actors. He is definitely a product of his time, brash and excitable, yet big hearted and a delightfully clumsy oaf. His rather large mouth made him odd looking (yet caused a female inmate in "Ladies They Talk About" to sing a love song to his photo), and when he would open up his mouth and prepare to howl, it often came out as a quick "No!" When he did howl, it was like a siren going off, and I wouldn't be surprised that if he did it in public, people would look around and wonder where the fire was. As a result, Brown often ended up with loud mouthed or brash female comics like Lila Lee, Winnie Lightner, Judy Canova and Martha Raye. But sometimes they'd slip in a feminine young lady like Joan Bennett, Ginger Rogers, Joan Blondell or Alice White. For 7 years, Brown was a box office favorite at Warner Brothers, but left to work for independent producer David Lowe, of which this is the first of several films he did before going onto a short term deal at Columbia.
Brown is a professional fighter (he often played underfed athletes) who has an interest in astrology and is only using his boxing money to finish his degree so he can become a doctor of astrology. He's engaged to the pretty Suzanne Kaaren, the sophisticated daughter of brash nouveau riche Edgar Kennedy and Maude Eburne who have about as much class as Ma and Pa Kettle. Thanks to the dog Zodiac (who seems to adopt Brown as his owner), Brown is kicked out of their home, and takes a job as a horoscope reader at a carnival. This leads him to become involved with some high society types involved in crooked activities where he meets the pretty Marian Marsh. Brown's fame begins to give him unwanted notoriety, and he is reunited with Kaaren and her parents who now seem to want to push their daughter together with him, upsetting his romance with the sweet Marsh. Brown's past as a boxer comes back thanks to his use of astrology in predicting disaster for the pending champion, leading to a slightly funny boxing finale which somehow Kennedy shows up at, having earlier been once again perturbed by Brown's antics.
No Joe E. Brown film would be complete without the obligatory drag sequence, and here, he ends up in chorus girl garb, although not on stage (unfortunately) with chorus girls in the same outfit. There are other amusing sequences as well, obviously those with the terrier Zodiac (who briefly gets to deal with Kennedy's maid, the smart alecky Margaret Hamilton), and another sequence where as a clumsy bus boy he causes havoc in a fine dining establishment. Brown gives his typical performance, no different than the dozens of cheap programmers that he made throughout his long career as a leading comic (1929-1944), but the supporting cast is exceptional, especially Kennedy and Eburne as the slow burning pop and pickle puss/nasally voiced mother of Brown's high society fiancee. This is what is referred to as a passable time filler, one that is amusing for what it is, containing some knee slapping farce yet eye rolling dated verbal humor, so how viewers like it will depend on their tolerance of the types of comedies they actually find funny.
