Lightning Strikes Twice

It was a dark and stormy night, and a policeman was shot outside 721 Palm Drive. Or was he? In _Lightning Strikes Twice_ mistaken identity is carried to the nth degree, with Pert Kelton and Walter Catlett as a vaudeville act dropped into a society house where ditzy Aunt Jane's (Laura Jane Crews) young nephew, Steve, (Ben Lyon) is preparing to introduce her to his fiancée (Thelma Todd) and her starchy Navy captain father (Jonathan Hale). Wally Richards ("Skeets" Gallagher) is Steve's sidekick, single of course, who tries to keep all the balls in the air as confusion reigns and the butler (John Davidson), who thinks he did it but didn't, hides in closets and looks a lot like Cesare, the somnabulist in _The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari_ minus the eye shadow. Hardly an undiscovered gem, _Lightning Strkes Twice_ has its moments, particularly Pert Kelton's fan dance, though the running gags fall flat after the fourth or fifth time. In contrast, Thelma Todd is saddled with a serious role in the middle of the farce, and that's a pity. She does fine, but it's a waste of her talents as a comic actress. Overall, though, at 63 minutes, you could do much worse. Not available to stream or as an official DVD, TCM screens it from time to time, most recently during a day devoted to Pert Kelton.