Were it not for the clever direction of Lowell Sherman and professional acting by the cast, I should throw up my hands and shout at the scenario writers in Hollywood and ask you to help show the overconfident, overstuffed producers that you are nauseated with their slop by staying away from "Broadway Through A Keyhole." But hysterical ranting is ineffective, and we should be thankful that the rank reality of pedicular dialogue is obviated by some delightful touches by Mr. Sherman.

Joan is a little girl from the Bronx, out of work. Her sister goes to see Frank Rocci, the poultry racketeer with an income of a half million a year, and asks him for old time's sake in the ash cans to get Joan a job in a chorus. Frank is regular, procures a position for the dear 'girl in Texas Kaley's night club and forgets her until he sees her in action: she is too wonderful so the hard boiled gangster loses his grim equanimity and his heart in a gentlemanly fashion. Before niches have found their indisputable positions under Joan's eyelashes, she is the headliner in the Kaley Night Club having displaced Frances Williams.

When Frank is proposing to his charming protege, bullets fly through the windows. Calmly he ships Joan to Miami so that he may dispose of his enemies without endangering her life. An exclusive hotel harbors Joan until she meets an insipid crooner who confesses he is a coward. If a splinter pierces the delicate epithelium on his finger, or if the sun darkens his pure white skin, he has conniptions. Emasculated as he appears on the surface, he faces death with remarkable nonchalance; he is there in the pinch. Maybe this characterization conveys something mystical and beautiful to you. If it does, be sure not to miss this "dynamic movie in which the gangster is depicted as a man not to be despised, quite a noble creature at heart; and crooners are portrayed as they really are, just overgrown children with hearts of gold and never oblivious to the finer things in life,"--blurb.

Notwithstanding the depreciatory comment on the plot, as I have said already, "Broadway Through A Keyhole" has its better points. If you can detach yourself from the story, You will enjoy this film. Frances Williams sings one song and makes you wish that she were given more opportunities to display her talent. Eddie Foy, Jr., and Constance Cummings do a number to a John Reld, Jr. background entitled "when you were the girl on the skooter and I was the boy on the bike." It is one of the best that I have seen in the musical movies. Then there is an annelid formation of beautiful legs to a catchy tune, photographed effectively at an unusual angle. Texas Guinan is a superb hostess as she should be; and a Gregory Rathoff as the dancing teacher, Max, supplies a few very funny lines and a convincing pertrayal. If there has been less plot and a little more song and dance. "Broadway Through a Keyhole" would have been the best movie musical to date.