No, No, Nanette (1930 film)

Plot

Jim Smith (Lucien Littlefield), a millionaire due to his Bible publishing business, is married to the overly frugal Sue (Louise Fazenda). They desire to teach their ward Nanette (Bernice Claire) to be a respectable young lady; she, in turn, has an untapped wild side. Nanette wants to have some fun in Atlantic City, while she is being pursued by Tom Trainor (Alexander Gray).

With so much unspent income at his disposal, Jim decides to become the benefactor for three beautiful women, but soon realizes his good intentions are bound to get him in trouble. He enlists his lawyer friend Bill (Bert Roach) to help him discreetly ease the girls out of his life. Sue and Billy's wife, Lucille (Lilyan Tashman), learn about the women and assume their husbands are having affairs with them.

Eventually, Bill and Jim explain the situation and are forgiven by their wives. Likewise, Nanette and Tom sort out their difficulties and decide to get married.

Cast

Songs

Preservation

No film elements are known to exist. The complete soundtrack survives on Vitaphone disks.

Critical reception

Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote, "No, No, Nannette, proves to be quite a merry affair with tunes that are now well known and players whose activities were rewarded with gusts of laughter from the first-night audience at Warners' Strand. It is a show that stirs up mirth from persons who might desire a more sophisticated type of entertainment, for its comedy of wives discovering the more or less harmless deceit of their husbands is invariably unfailing. The Technicolor sequences are not always as well lighted as one would wish, but the staging of these tinted episodes is wrought with no little imagination, especially the glimpses of an airship with turquoise lights and a variety of colors on the fuselage. It is from this stage contrivance that Bernice Claire as Nanette sings one of her songs. Her partner, Tom Trainor, played by Alexander Gray, is also moved to song. The most effective stretches of this diversion, however, are those in black and white."