LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE (1934)

Moderately interesting attempt to mix comedy and mystery that doesn't quite come off. In the convoluted but effective opening, police are called to an apparent murder scene; two policemen go missing (though actually they're stuck in the sewer system) and the story makes headlines, even though no dead bodies are found. The night's events happen in front of the house of rich gadabout Ben Lyon. He and his buddy Skeets Gallagher wake up the next morning (in the same bed) after a drunken night on the town. Once he's up and around, Lyon discovers two houseguests: a fan dancer (Pert Kelton) and her "mamager" (Walter Catlett). Lyon bumped them with his car the night before (a bit of drunken driving humor that certainly would not fly today!) and they fake injuries to see how much they can milk Lyon for. Lyon's fiancee (Thelma Todd) comes visiting with her military father and they mistake Kelton for a picked-up floozy. Soon, Lyon's aunt (Laura Hope Crews) shows up and an unidentified madman darts in and out of the story; mistaken identities and con jobs pile up quickly. Chick Chandler is a wide-eyed reporter who goes around saying, "What a story!" and forgetting that he has a pencil behind his ear. Kelton (Shirley Jones' mother in THE MUSIC MAN) and Crews (Aunt Pittypat in GONE WITH THE WIND) are fun, but Lyon is too wooden, and it's awfully hard to care about the outcome of all the shenanigans. [TCM]