International House (1933)

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE  (1933)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: A. Edward Sutherland
    W.C. Fields, George Burns, Gracie Allen,
    Bela Lugosi, Franklin Pangborn, Stuart Irwin,
    Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Rudy Vallee, Cab Calloway,
    Sterling Holloway, Lumsden Hare, Baby Rose Marie
Potential buyers from around the world gather at a luxury hotel in Wuhu, China, to bid on a new invention that looks a lot like a prototype of television. That sets up a series of vintage, pre-Code comedy sketches and musical acts. So Franklin Pangborn fusses about, W.C. Fields imbibes, Peggy Hopkins Joyce hunts for a husband, and Gracie Allen drives everybody around her crazy. Meanwhile, Baby Rose Marie belts out a blues number, Cab Calloway sprints through a hopped-up rendition of "Reefer Man", and Sterling Holloway does a loose-limbed dance routine backed by 40 chorus girls. Fields more or less takes over, once he and his beer bottles touch down in Wuhu, but even he has to take a step back when he shares the screen with Gracie.