LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE. RKO Radio, 1934. Ben Lyon, Thelma Todd, Pert Kelton, Walter Catlett, Laura Hope Crews, Richard ‘Skeets’ Gallagher, Chick Chandler. Director: Ben Holmes.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE 1934.

   Sometimes lightning strikes twice. Of all the titles of all the movies in the world, this is the second under this title to be reviewed on this blog. The second was filmed in 1951, a noir movie with Ruth Roman and Richard Todd. There is absolutely no resemblance between that movie and this one.

   I’ve categorized this one as a mystery movie – and that’s exactly how it starts out – but truth be told, as it always should, except for little white lies, this turns rather quickly into a comedy film, a rather silly one, but it was at the silliest parts that I laughed the most.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE 1934.

   Opening scene: the rain is coming down in buckets, a bolt of lightning strikes, and two or three shots ring out. A policeman nearby calls in to headquarters, and he’s felled by a bullet — or so it seems. No body is found, compounding the mystery.

   Meanwhile, or rather the next morning, the two males occupants of the large mansion nearby, long-time buddies (Lyon and Gallagher) and the cook wake up with a hangover, or the long-time buddies do, to find that they have house guests: a pair of vaudeville performers (Pert Kelton and Walter Catlett) from the night before whom, at it turns out, were in an auto accident involving the two long-time buddies and (unbeknownst to the latter) were put up together in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE 1934.

   Problem: the butler is missing, and Steve Brewster’s fiancée (Thelma Todd) is arriving with her father the same day his aunt (Laura Hope Crews) is due in for a visit to meet the newly intended bride. Somehow she confuses the rather risque Pert Kelton for the bride-to-be (don’t ask), Catlett as her father, and the butler is still missing.

   In the meantime, two policemen are futilely (and humourously) wading around in a nearby underground sewer system trying to find their way out. Don’t ask.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE 1934.

   As a leading man, Ben Lyon is fairly inconsequential, and Thelma Todd’s part is rather minimal. If it weren’t for the giddy antics of Pert Kelton and Walter Catlett, I’d have nothing to tell you about. You should see that latter’s attempt, at Steve Brewster’s request (plus $150 in cash), to show that madness lies in his family, allowing the impostering twosome to get out of the house and away from Aunt Jane, who unaccountably finds them adorable. Don’t ask.

   Laugh? Yes, I have to admit that I did, and (somewhat embarrassingly) all alone in a room by myself.

   The leading players were largely unknown faces to me, including even Thelma Todd, although I’ve seen them on the screen many times before. Lacking any scenes from the film, I’ve included photos of the four stars. They’re studio shots only, but all of them were taken around the time the movie was made, give or take a few years. Working their way downward, then, in order: Thelma Todd, Ben Lyon, Walter Catlett, Pert Kelton.