Review of Gift of Gab

Gift of Gab (1934)
5/10
Gift of Gab is mainly notable for cameos of a couple of horror icons
6 February 2019
Well, months after knowing this was on my YouTube "Liked Videos" list, I finally watched this there as this was another early film appearance of Ethel Waters, here singing "I Ain't Gonna Sin No More". This also marked the only movie appearance of the Beale Street Boys. The sing with both Ethel and by themselves on this song and they also appear a few more times throughout the narrative. I enjoyed them very much. Also of note is a mystery sketch which featured two of the movie's studio's (Universal) biggest stars at the time-horror icons Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff who was still billed just by his last name during this period in his career. They appear separately just minutes of each other. This one was also very enjoyable. There are some other music acts like Ruth Etting and other sketches which are hit-and-miss. The story itself is a little amusing but also for the birds as the narrative goes on. I also feel like citing three men in the beginning appearing at a receptionist's desk singing a part of "Tiger Rag" which is my LSU Tigers football team's theme song. Also, this was directed by Karl Freund, normally a cinematographer who would eventually wrap up his career doing that on the classic TV show "I Love Lucy". So on that note, Gift of Gab is worth a look and nothing more.
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