Be Yourself!
Director: Thornton Freeland
Year Released: 1930
Rating: 1.0
Rare feature length film appearance by singer/'comedienne'/voice talent Fanny Brice, who stars as a nightclub singer that falls for a boxer (Robert Armstrong) and volunteers to be his manager (?) along with the help (??) of her stereotypically nebbish lawyer brother (Harry Green). Though I cannot attest to the quality Brice's work on stage, television or radio, she doesn't seem to have much screen magnetism, and the scenes of her singing a few cornball numbers ("My baby wants bacon / so that's what I'm makin'") are awkwardly juxtaposed with scenes of Armstrong in the ring and Green, as Armstrong's "trainer," failing to provide adequate comedic relief. Brice is obviously not working with a top-tier screenplay or director, but based on this role I suspect film may not be the medium she was born to dominate.
