THEIR BIG MOMENT (1934)

Fay lost her wealthy husband Arthur in a plane crash and she hasn't quite recovered from the shock. She has fallen under the spell of Dr. Portman, who claims to be a spiritualist working on contacting Arthur from the great beyond.  Every so often, Fay hears the sound of an airplane (though we know these sounds are coming from an audio device in the house) and Portman has to calm her. Fay's sister Eve, who we know had indulged in a fling with the husband, is worried about Portman's influence--and with good reason, as he is trying to get power of attorney from Fay. With help from Lane, the family lawyer, Eve sets out to hire a magic act, the Great La Salle and his mind reader Madame Marvel, to hold a seance and expose Portman. But La Salle is having his own problems. The young and sexy Marvel (real name Lottie) is trying to use her influence to get rid of Tillie, a sad-sack stage assistant. Lottie causes Tillie to mess up the act one night, but the prank backfires and La Salle fires Lottie instead. Lane goes backstage and hires the group (including Bill, another assistant) to come out to Fay's estate and expose Portman. They rig up a plane accident on the estate so the trio will be invited into the house. La Salle has Tillie act as medium, and the ruse works for a while until Tillie seems to go into a real trance and suggests that Arthur's plane crash was not an accident but murder, probably committed by someone in the house. Is Portman behind the death? Lane? Eve's husband? Or Eve herself?

Zasu Pitts is largely forgotten today but in her time, she was a beloved comic actress, known for her fidgety, flighty persona. I prefer her in supporting roles because when she's a lead, her shtick can get a little grating. But as Tillie, she's fine here, partly because although she is first billed, other actors are focused on almost as much: William Gaxton as La Salle, Slim Summerville as Bill, Bruce Cabot (pictured) as Lane, Ralph Morgan as Portman, and Kay Johnson as Eve all get attention and all are good. I especially liked seeing Gaxton, a well-known vaudeville performer and stage actor who only made a handful of movies. Cabot, best known as Fay Wray's protector in King Kong, is at his handsomest and slickest here. Though some of the plot twists are predictable, some are not, and the mystery overtakes the comedy in the last 15 minutes. Generally quite fun. Best line: when someone asks Summerville what happened to the fired Lottie, he replies, "She's out on her astral plane." [TCM]