a5c7b9f00b Comedy about a pair of ex-Marines who team up and get involved in a nightclub. Trouble ensues when they both fall in love with a feisty woman and begin fighting over her. Just seven years before, the team of Eund Lowe and Victor MacLaglen scored on the silent hit "What Price Glory?" as the antagonistic buddies Flagg and Quirt. That film co- starred them with Dolores Del Rio, the Mexican beauty who became the biggest Latina star of the golden age of cinema. For "Hot Pepper", they got Del Rio's rival, the genuine Mexican Spitfire herself. Lupe Velez, who made no bones about her detestment of the much softer Dolores.<br/><br/>This shows what happens with Quirt and Flagg when they return to civilian life as Lowe struggles to make ends meet while McLaglen ends up a bootlegger who also owns a string of nightclubs. Velez pops into the picture as a stow away on MacLaglen's booze boat, and ending up as a prop in the one-upmanship between the two men. The hot-tempered Velez has the temper trap a starving tiger and can't help but loose her temper as the situation is as far as from way as Alaska is from Mexico. But don't let her diminutive size fool you; At just 5', she's more than able to slug her way out of any macho man's arms, even the foot taller leading men. Just watch get pick up a huge table with missing legs, only falling backwards because of the lack of weight balance.<br/><br/>Several minor musical sequences choreographed by Sammy Lee (Fox studios answer to Busby Berkley) and one song sung by Velez) as well as a hysterical fight segment straight out of the Keystone Cops are among the highlights of this pre-code comedy where in one sequence, Velez seems to be stripping out of her clothes in order to keep Maclaglen from throwing her out. This is one of the most obvious reasons that the code would come in the following year although it seems rather tame now. I watched this because of Victor McLaglen who I knew best from "the Informer" and "Gunga Din." He was as delightful as was in these movies. I didn't know any of the other actors, but I found a host of wonderful ones here: Edmund Lowe, Lupe Velez, El Brendel, and Lilian Bond.<br/><br/>Edmund Lowe is a wonderful, handsome and witty leading man in the Cary Grant style. He has a great rapport with McLaglen. This was apparently the fifth movie where he played the character of Harry Quirt and McLaglen played the character of Jim Flagg. They make a great comedy team. Both like to insult each other and one-up each other, but underneath, there's a lot of affection. It reminded me of the relationship of Michael Caine and Steve Martin in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," which was a remake of the Marlin Brando-David Niven comedy "Bedtime Story." This movie seems to be a source for the comedy in those two movies. There are a couple of jokes between them that would later be part of Abbott and Costello routines, including the "ever ride a jack-ass,no, well get onto yourself" quip.<br/><br/>Lupe Velez is hilarious as a sexy Mexican woman. She makes lots of references to her irresistible sexuality. She's closest to Mae West in her self knowledge of her sex appeal. El Brendel plays a Swedish character named Olsen that he played throughout his career. He reminds me of Roman Polanski in "The Vampire Killers." He is shy and has a sweet disposition. When Lupe Velez tells him that she will love him until she kills him, he answers simply, "That's fair." Lilian Bond has a smart and sophisticated gold-digger style like Joan Blondell.<br/><br/>This is a smart and sexy pre-code comedy with lots of pretty women in their underwear or less. It is fast paced and delightful. I will have to find the other movies in the series, and look out for more movies with Edmund Lowe, Lupe Velez, El Brendel and Lilian Bond.
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