Michael_Elliott Service with a Smile (1934) *** (out of 4) Leon Errol plays a gas station owner who gets a call in the middle of the night saying his piece of junk station has blown up. Knowing he's going to get the insurance money, he decides to make his status out to be something much better than it actually was. Errol tells a story about a neon lights station being ran by chorus girls. SERVICE WITH A SMILE comes from Vitaphone, features a familiar comic and best of all is in glorious 3-strip Technicolor. There's no question about it but the Technicolor is the reason to check out this two-reeler. Those familiar with these early color films know that the quality of the color is usually very high as long as the materials are good and thankfully they're terrific here. Just check out the sequence in the bedroom with Errol gets the news. The color on his pajamas just jumps right off the screen as do the beautiful looking blankets on the bed. The colors of the room just leap right out at you and this is especially true once we get to the fantasy sequence with all the red neon and the girls. The music numbers are also fairly good and a lot of credit goes to the set designer for making everything look so good. Errol gets a few funny lines here but mostly he's just introducing the music numbers and the girls but hey, there's nothing wrong with that!

theowinthrop I've always had a problem with Leon Errol as a comedian. Although he had a big reputation from his years with the Ziefeld Follies, the payoff somehow never lasted with him as it did with fellow Ziegfeld comics W.C.Fields, Ed Wynn, Fanny Brice, and Will Rogers. He did have an active performing career up until his death in 1951, but there was no single film performance of his that stands apart. Fields (who appeared with Errol in NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK and another earlier film) had at least four film performances that were worth while. Rogers was in a slew of early films directed by John Ford. Wynn was able to switch, in his old age, to a series of fine dramatic performances such as THE GREAT MAN and THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. Brice had less success in film, but she did appear as herself in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD, did a sketch with Hume Cronym and William Frawley in ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, and had stunning success as "Baby Snooks" on radio. Errol did have talents - he had a "rubber leg" dance routine that he used in many films (to the point that it becomes somewhat tiresome after awhile). He also had a long series of shorts, similar to the ones done by Edgar Kennedy. But Kennedy somehow managed to vary the story lines in his shorts, sometimes fighting with his troublesome in-laws, sometimes with his neighbors, sometimes trying to reclaim valuable lost property, and sometimes trying to do some relatively simple chore that is complicated by all kinds of side issues. Errol's shorts constantly stuck to his trying to leave his wife and house to go out on a toot alone or with his friends (a theme occasionally - and I reiterate, "occasionally" - by Laurel and Hardy too). It was like he couldn't think of anything else. Later, when he was co-starred with Lupe Velez in the "Mexican Spitfire" comedies, he added his playing Lord Epping, which disguise makes up the confusions of the plots of those films. One can say that Epping is his star turn, but it is a feeble one for all that.It is with some relief that Errol's appearance in this film is different. As Walter Webb, Errol plays a gas station owner with a sense of humor. He's constantly telling cornball jokes. He leaves his business with his mechanics, and goes home for the day. That night he happens to get a phone call and is told his gas station has burned down. He is desolate, but his wife (Marie Wells) reminds him that they bought a large insurance policy on the business. As a result Errol decides to put in a claim for serious losses that will enable him to build the gas station complex of his dreams.It's quite a place, with dozens of chorus girls as mechanics, and assisting a dating service as well as an attached 19 hole golf course. They serve lunch to waiting customers (one complains at the cost of repairs and lunch - $1.65!). Jalopies are turned into fancy new cars by the staff. There is even a store that sells various gadgets to make car travel better (like a mallet to knock out back-seat driver). The film has a nice rhythm in it's humor and musical numbers, and it's color (this short was an early showing of the three color Technicolor method that was used in the 1930s). By the end of the film, it's all been quite enjoyable. The conclusion is a final, unexpected joke - one that Errol finds hard to laugh at.For being one of the few Leon Errol shorts that was amusing, and for it's production values, I give this short an "8" out of "10".

John Esche With Broadway comedian Leon Erroll having found a tidy following in a series of minor Warner Brothers' comedies on the West Coast, Vitaphone used him in several fast filler items like this lavishly produced short.A great experiment in early three strip Technicolor (seldom have the colors lept off the screen in this kind of rich brilliance even in feature films), the only serious weakness in SERVICE WITH A SMILE is the "book" (a little morality tale/joke on the desirability of honesty in dealing with insurance companies). If stage musicals of the twenties and early thirties were *really* this vacuous - as popular imagination and Hollywood "history" would have it - we'd never have remembered any of them.The unexpected strength in the film however (aside from Errol himself - and he doesn't get to shine with his usual bluster and physical comedy) is the delightfully accessible music of Cliff Hess. It's a minor Hollywood tragedy that Hess didn't follow others who found success on the wrong coast back to stage success in the East. He might be better remembered today (or remembered at all). Hess had cut his teeth (and apparently learned a good deal about melody and lyrics) as a musical secretary to Irving Berlin from 1913 to 1918 and even served a term as chorus member in Berlin's Broadway cast of STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN in 1915! Hess's work on SERVICE WITH A SMILE is a consistently tuneful delight, well delivered by a cast that frequently has more enthusiasm than precision - but that seemed a hallmark of twenties and thirties choreography judging from earlier filmed stage musicals from the Marx Brothers' (and Irving Berlin's) COCOANUTS to Burt Lahr's (and Rodgers' and Hart's) HEADS UP!. Well worth a look and listen, but don't expect a lost masterpiece; just a bit of very enjoyable fluff.

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre "Service with a Smile" (1934) is a deluxe Vitaphone mini-musical filmed in the early 3-strip Technicolor process, and the brilliant colours in this short film are incredible! (Although some of the male performers look ridiculous in bright green shirts that are nearly phosphorescent.) The tunes are catchy, the lyrics are well above average, and the chorus girls are gorgeous. If you've ever wanted to see a line of chorus girls tap-dancing in riding boots and jodhpurs, this movie's your big chance.Australian-born musical-comedy star Leon Errol (a headliner in the Ziegfeld Follies) plays Walter Webb, the owner of a small service garage with only one petrol pump. At 4 a.m., he's home in bed when one of his employees rings him up, telling him the service garage was destroyed in a fire. Fortunately, Webb has insurance. Now he hatches a plan: Webb will tell the insurance adjuster that his cheapjack little filling station was actually a super-colossal extravaganza business with hundreds of employees. The insurance company will have to replace the big fancy business which Webb CLAIMS he lost, not the small-time concern that he actually insured. In the insurance agent's office, Webb starts to describe his jumbo-sized filling station.Now, thanks to some movie-musical magic, we SEE the gas station as Webb is describing it. He's got dozens of beautiful girls (in skimpy boiler suits) working as garage mechanics, gas jockeys, and waitresses. They sell gasoline for nine cents a half-gallon, and they transform a customer's beat-up jalopy into a gorgeous motorcar for $1.65, with a free lunch thrown in. There's even a 19-hole golf course behind the lube rack. Meanwhile, the girls have plenty of time for singing and dancing. If a guy wants a date, Webb's chauffeur will drive out to meet him with a lorry-load of girls dressed like the Stepford Wives, and you can have your pick. Yes, this is a FULL-service garage.There are some very funny gags. One motorist is parking with his girlfriend, until a motorcycle cop comes along and persuades the girl to join him on his motorcycle. No problem; the motorist opens the boot of his car and takes out another girl! "I always carry a spare," he says.SPOILER COMING. After Webb describes the super-colossal gas station he SAYS he owned, the insurance adjuster insists on inspecting the wreckage of the fire. Webb happily drives him out there ... and discovers that his service station (in its original grotty state) is intact. The phone call was an April Fool joke ... and now Webb is guilty of filing a false insurance claim. Oo-er!"Service with a Smile" is a delight from start to finish. I have only one complaint. Leon Errol was famous for doing a hilarious rubber-legged eccentric comedy dance: he did it in the Ziegfeld Follies and in several of his "Mexican Spitfire" films with Lupe Velez. Unfortunately, Leon Errol DOESN'T sing or dance in "Service with a Smile" ... which is a shame, because his comedy dancing would fit right into the gorgeous musical numbers you'll see here. Still, I'll rate "Service with a Smile" 10 points out of 10. They don't make 'em like this any more. Do whatever it takes to see this knockout mini-musical.