TWO FOR TONIGHT is a 1935 comedy-musical from Paramount Pictures, starring Bing Crosby. It is mainly notable for being the last feature film in which Thelma Todd had a significant role. (It was planned for Todd to have a major part in the Laurel & Hardy movie THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, but after her death her footage was cut down to little more than a cameo.)
Bing Crosby plays Gilbert Gordon, an aspiring crooner who through unusual circumstances has to write an entire play in a week for a big-shot Broadway producer (Lynne Overman). The play must also be a showcase for the producer's demanding actress girlfriend Lily (Thelma Todd). Gilbert is more interested in the producer's secretary (Joan Bennett), while fending off the advances of Lily.
TWO FOR TONIGHT tries to be a zany screwball comedy, but Frank Tuttle's direction is uninspired, and the supposed madcap antics don't fit very well with Bing Crosby's laid-back personality. The movie is only an hour long, and there's not much to it. Bing sings five songs--none of them all that memorable--and Joan Bennett (back when she was a blonde) spends most of her time watching Crosby sing.
The attempts at wild humor include Bing sitting in a tree while a plane crashes into it (don't ask how that came about) and a seltzer bottle fight in a nightclub among dozens of patrons. These sequences are more lackluster than laughable. The main screwball antics are provided by Mary Boland as Bing's ditzy mother.
This film does serve as a decent summation of Thelma Todd's feature film roles in general. Thelma has a supporting part, she causes complications for the leading man, and despite not having a lot of screen time she manages to overshadow the leading lady. It's the type of role Thelma did over and over again.
I didn't think much of TWO FOR TONIGHT, but I expect that Bing Crosby fans will have more appreciation for it.
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