classicsoncall I have to laugh. In a prior review of one of these Vitaphone film shorts, I mentioned how often director Roy Mack reached into the same bag of tricks to come up with a story that turned out to be a dream. A few I've seen right in a row include "Twenty Thousand Cheers for the Chain Gang", "Soft Drinks and Sweet Music" and "Good Morning, Eve". So with this one it seemed like he was about to break the routine, but at the very end, the impetus for the story turned out to be an April Fool's Joke! Maybe I'll run into a 'real' story yet! Oh well, it's not so bad. With his Cross Roads Gas Station (presumably) burned to the ground, owner Walter Webb (Leon Errol) turns over the claim to his insurance company to cover a replacement. The tip off that this wasn't the real deal should have been the thoroughly modern enterprise that sprang up to replace the run down garage and filling station destroyed in the fire. Particularly appealing in this Technicolor romp are the snazzy uniforms of the singing female gas attendants, gloriously decked out in brilliant white shorts and the most gorgeous shade of purple you'll ever lay your eyes on. Seriously, I'm not prone to exaggeration.The story then transitions over to a golf course with an equally colorful canvas, and for any antique auto buffs in the audience, feast your eyes on the vintage vehicles offered for your viewing pleasure. Fortunately, before this one's over, we learn with the arrival of one big spender at the filling station that he's willing to pony up for - get this - a half gallon of gas for nine cents! And I don't think that was an April Fool's joke!

MartinHafer While a variety of color processes were developed before this film came out in 1934, they were either experimental and never really used in commercial films or they were primitive two-color processes. The two-color process made for a color-ish film. Since the color strips were orange-red and green-blue, the color tended to be mostly tones of greens and oranges...and many colors in the spectrum simply looked orange or green (or some shades similar to this). However, "Service With a Smile" is a true color film...using the newly developed Three-Color Technicolor...a color process licensed to only a few studios such as Disney (and no other full color cartoons could me made until this contract expired) as well as Warner Brothers/Vitaphone. While the colors are very intense and a tad garish, it does look color and has purples, yellows and other colors not possible with previous processes employed on commercial films. I think much of the garishness is actually NOT the fault of the film but the color choices--and the guy who developed this color process made the studios agree to employ his ex-wife as a color consultant...and she may well be the reason the colors are so intense.As for the film, Leon Errol stars in it as Walter Webb, a guy who owns a service station. It soon burns down and when Errol is asked by his insurance adjuster to describe his old business, he describes it in insanely lavish terms--and you see a HUGE ultra-modern station filled with gorgeous ladies in beautiful uniforms attending to customers. It's ludicrously fancy and deluxe! The overall effect is silly but also mesmerizing due to the color! This is a very important movie historically. While the studio's first Three-Color film, "La Cucharacha" came out first, this short has the distinction of being the second film using this process from Warner. It's also is more entertaining and looks a bit nicer than "La Cucharacha". Well worth seeing...especially for some of the nutty production numbers...especially the eye-popping one near the end with the ladies in bathing suits dancing about the Walter Webb sign!

ptb-8 Absolutely dazzling and delicious, this eye-popping 1934 Technicolor musical short made at Warner Bros is a must-see for any person and friends who love this vintage era of music and film. As with GOOD MORNING EVE made at the same time, this features Leon Errol and his corny vaudeville jokes wrapped around one singular idea, and - yippee! - is filmed in full spectrum Technicolor. What a treat. I insist you also read all the other comments on this site for SERVICE WITH A SMILE because they will say all the wonderful things I could repeat. I am not sure what disc from WB this features on but it is a treat beyond expectation. It makes you realize how sensational the Technicolor of the time was and also how hilarious was the WB style of chorus girl comedy. With snappy songs, snazzy deco design and delicious color, SERVICE WITH A SMILE is set in a roadside car service station run by girls and with facilities as risqué as the pre-code days would allow. Whoever said it is a vintage car lovers delight is also correct. I thank whoever has preserved and reissued this short; SERVICE WITH A SMILE is quite perfect. For technical buffs, it is a treat to see the overlapping color lines where some of the negative has shrunk, thus inadvertently allowing us 75 years later to get a glimpse of the technique used.

theowinthrop I've always had a problem with Leon Errol as a comedian. Although he had a big reputation from his years with the Ziefeld Follies, the payoff somehow never lasted with him as it did with fellow Ziegfeld comics W.C.Fields, Ed Wynn, Fanny Brice, and Will Rogers. He did have an active performing career up until his death in 1951, but there was no single film performance of his that stands apart. Fields (who appeared with Errol in NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK and another earlier film) had at least four film performances that were worth while. Rogers was in a slew of early films directed by John Ford. Wynn was able to switch, in his old age, to a series of fine dramatic performances such as THE GREAT MAN and THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. Brice had less success in film, but she did appear as herself in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD, did a sketch with Hume Cronym and William Frawley in ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, and had stunning success as "Baby Snooks" on radio. Errol did have talents - he had a "rubber leg" dance routine that he used in many films (to the point that it becomes somewhat tiresome after awhile). He also had a long series of shorts, similar to the ones done by Edgar Kennedy. But Kennedy somehow managed to vary the story lines in his shorts, sometimes fighting with his troublesome in-laws, sometimes with his neighbors, sometimes trying to reclaim valuable lost property, and sometimes trying to do some relatively simple chore that is complicated by all kinds of side issues. Errol's shorts constantly stuck to his trying to leave his wife and house to go out on a toot alone or with his friends (a theme occasionally - and I reiterate, "occasionally" - by Laurel and Hardy too). It was like he couldn't think of anything else. Later, when he was co-starred with Lupe Velez in the "Mexican Spitfire" comedies, he added his playing Lord Epping, which disguise makes up the confusions of the plots of those films. One can say that Epping is his star turn, but it is a feeble one for all that.It is with some relief that Errol's appearance in this film is different. As Walter Webb, Errol plays a gas station owner with a sense of humor. He's constantly telling cornball jokes. He leaves his business with his mechanics, and goes home for the day. That night he happens to get a phone call and is told his gas station has burned down. He is desolate, but his wife (Marie Wells) reminds him that they bought a large insurance policy on the business. As a result Errol decides to put in a claim for serious losses that will enable him to build the gas station complex of his dreams.It's quite a place, with dozens of chorus girls as mechanics, and assisting a dating service as well as an attached 19 hole golf course. They serve lunch to waiting customers (one complains at the cost of repairs and lunch - $1.65!). Jalopies are turned into fancy new cars by the staff. There is even a store that sells various gadgets to make car travel better (like a mallet to knock out back-seat driver). The film has a nice rhythm in it's humor and musical numbers, and it's color (this short was an early showing of the three color Technicolor method that was used in the 1930s). By the end of the film, it's all been quite enjoyable. The conclusion is a final, unexpected joke - one that Errol finds hard to laugh at.For being one of the few Leon Errol shorts that was amusing, and for it's production values, I give this short an "8" out of "10".