Starring Wini Shaw, Lyle Talbot, Allen Jenkins, and Genevieve Tobin
Directed by Frank McDonald
Music by Allie Wrubel; Lyrics by Mort Dixon
In the 30's and 40's, Warners mainly specialized in two types of musicals - backstage extravaganzas like the Busby Berkeley films and small-scale nightclub melodramas with music. This is a typical example of the latter. Wini Shaw, who brightened big numbers in movies like Gold Diggers of 1935, had one of her few starring roles in this tale of a chanteuse who falls for her manager, only to lose him to a socialite. Is this club tale worth the visit? Let's begin as Winnie Wharton (Shaw) arrives at a club in New York in search of her big break and find out...
The Story: Winnie manages to wrangle an audition with the Intime club, thanks to Ted "Lucky" Lorimer (Talbot), who becomes her manager. Thanks to his promotion, she becomes a huge star on the nightclub circuit in New York. She's in love with him, but he claims he's not interested in marriage. He really has his sights set on sophisticated socialite Iris Martin (Tobin), but she's not interested in men without money. Desperate to prove he can make as much money as anyone, Lucky opens a casino. What he didn't realize is Iris' brother Ronnie (Donald Ross) is a major gambler who ends up in hock to him for 30,000. He sells his sister's jewels to pay him back, but cops think Lucky did it. Meanwhile, Winnie's pianist Tommy (Phil Regan) is in love with her, but she regards him as a friend.
The Song and Dance: Decent numbers enliven this familiar tale. I definitely appreciate that Iris isn't the bad guy here. She's a bit of a brat, but she's not really a horrible person, or even someone who would be driven to theft like her brother. It's a nice twist on the usual romantic triangle. Even Winnie realizes this at the end. Allen Jenkins has a few nice moments as Lucky's buddy who falls for the wealthy widow Mrs. Duncan-Griswald-Wembly-Smythe (Spring Byington).
Favorite Number: "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" is the bluesy ballad that puts Winnie over with the Intime club owners. "Playboy of Paree" in the revue towards the end is an attempt at an imitation Busby Berkeley number on a lower budget, with chorus girls appearing as bubbles in a glass of champagne.
Trivia: "Playboy of Paree" was nominated for Best Dance Direction in 1935.
This was director Frank McDonald's first movie.
What I Don't Like: While the clichés are a little bit more interesting than they would be in the somewhat similar B musical Talent Scout two years later, this is still pretty typical stuff. Regan is such a nonentity, you can understand why Shaw wasn't interested until later in the film. Talbot and Shaw do well enough, but they're just not interesting enough to carry even an hour long movie. The complicated plot, especially in the second half, drags and drags, making this short film feel twice as long.
The Big Finale: Only come here if you're a really huge fan of the musicals of the 1930's or if you happen to run into it on TCM during a boring afternoon.
Home Media: Currently DVD-only from the Warner Archives.
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