Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of Carole Lombard and 21 others. Last night I watched one of Lombard's earliest films that she starred in while under contract to Paramount--the 1931 comedy IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE.
Norman Foster plays Rodney Martin, the fun-loving son of soap magnate Cyrus Martin (Eugene Pallette). Cyrus is so desperate to get his son to take some responsibility, he strikes a deal with his secretary Mary (Carole Lombard). Cyrus will pay Mary a bonus if she can get Rodney to fall for her, then convince him to go to work. In order to win Mary, Rodney and his friend, public relations man Ambrose (Skeets Gallagher) come up with a new soap product, and borrow a bunch of money to advertise it in as many places as possible. Their scheme works too well--the duo have to figure out a way to provide a product that doesn't actually exist, with help from Mary, who actually does fall for Rodney.
IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE was based on a play, and, except for the opening sequence, is very stagy and talky. The basic idea is one that would work still today (just think of all those "trending topics" that wind up having no significance whatsoever). The comic elements are (in my opinion) only mildly amusing.
Even at only an hour long, the movie doesn't have the snappy pace it really needs. Norman Foster (who later left acting to become a film director) is okay as Rodney, but he's too nice and mild-mannered for someone who is trying to con folks in supporting a non-existent product. Actors like James Cagney and Lee Tracy would have been better suited for the role. Skeets Gallagher as the PR man has more of the con artist in him, but he's also very silly as well.
Carole Lombard doesn't get much of a chance to shine here. Her Mary is the practical type, and (as it would so often be throughout Carole's screen career) she has far more sense than her leading man does. Eugene Pallette is always fun to watch, and he and Carole would be reunited as father and daughter in the much more famous MY MAN GODFREY.
The opening sequence of IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE features a car chase and a crash-landing of a plane. Both events are publicity stunts cooked up by Ambrose and Rodney, in order for the star of a stage musical to get attention. The musical star is played by none other than Louise Brooks--this happened to be her first American film role after her European sojourn. This sequence makes the viewers think that they are in for a wild & crazy comedy--which they are not. After the opening Brooks unfortunately does not appear in the rest of the film....but you do get to see her show off her legs.
A movie that has both Carole Lombard and Louise Brooks in it will certainly be of interest to film buffs, but IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE has a lot of early-talkie creakiness to it. If it had been made a couple years later, with a more charismatic leading man, it probably would have been faster and funnier.
I agree with you 100%. The opening sequence was great fun, but everything after is a big letdown. They should have kept the camera on Miss Brooks.
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