Starring Rudy Vallee, Rosemary Lane, Allan Jenkins, and Hugh Herbert
Directed by Ray Enright
Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Al Dubin and Johnny Mercer
The Busby Berkeley extravaganzas continued pretty much through the rest of the 30's, but by 1938, they were starting to run their course. Most of the stars who appeared in them had left Warners or moved to other genres, and even Berkeley would be gone by 1940. This would be the last movie in the series Warners made with "Gold Diggers" in the title, and it's telling that, other than Hugh Herbert, it largely has a very different cast from the earlier entries. Warners was starting to dial back the budgets, too - there's only one huge number in this film, and it comes near the end. How does the story of showgirls who end up replacing a ballet company at a Paris dance festival look today? Let's begin with the men who run that festival, including the one charged with finding the entrant for the US, Maurice Giraud (Herbert), and find out...
The Story: Giraud is supposed to bring over the Academy Ballet of America, but he's accidentally brought to the failing Club Balle instead. Although the owners Terry Moore (Vallee) and Duke Dennis (Jenkins) realize there's been a mistake made, they accept the invitation anyway when they realize there's cash prizes involved. They hire ballet teacher Luis Leoni (Fritz Feld) and his student Kay Morrow (Lane) on the boat France to teach ballet to their dancers. Kay falls for Terry, but his ex-wife Mona (Gloria Dickson) is rooming with her.
Trouble is, the head of the actual Academy Ballet of America, Padrinsky (Curt Bois) has figured out by this point what's going on. He cables Giraud on the ship, but the ventriloquist (Mabel Todd) who has been trying to get her big break with Terry and Duke and her "talking dog" convinces him that it's Padrinksy who isn't telling the truth. Trouble is, Padrinsky is already on his way to Paris with his patron, gangster Mike Coogan (Edward Brophy). Duke relates to Coogan when they arrive that they've been having trouble with the representative of the festival, Pierre LeBrec (Mellville Cooper). Coogan agrees to "take care" of the problem, but he "takes care" of Leoni instead of LeBrec. Padrinksy wants the group to be deported, but Mona arranges the order so he and Coogan are shipped out instead...but Kay has found out Terry's deception and is now angry with him, and there's still the fact that the ladies have never really picked up ballet that well...
The Song and Dance: This wound up being a lot more charming than I thought. It's the ladies and the character actors who carry the day here. Lane and Dickson frankly play off each other better than the men. Dickson in particular does well as the ex-wife who does have a softer side. Jenkins and Coogan don't do badly playing up New York and gangster stereotypes, either, while Herbert is slightly less annoying as a Frenchman here than he was as a righteous moral crusader in Dames. There's also The Snicklefritz Band and their wacky numbers adding much-needed musical levity to the first half in particular.
The Numbers: We open with the number at the Club Balle. "I Want to Go Back to Bali" is a romance in the tropics chorus routine with Vallee as a Navy officer among South Seas beauties. (It's also heard briefly in the finale.) The Snicklefritz Band get their own "Colonel Corn" at the club and "Listen to the Mockingbird" later in Paris. Vallee and Lane sing "Dreaming (All Night Long)" on-board ship and "A Stranger In Paree" in Paris. "The Latin Quarter" was the hit song and is the big number in the finale. We get all kinds of artistic types and Parisian stereotypes joining in, along with the return of the Navy uniforms from the first number. We even get everyone dancing under a huge Navy officer's hat at one point.
What I Don't Like: First of all, Vallee has all the charm of a dead fish when he's not singing. He's so dull, it makes you wonder what Kay or Mona see in him. (He would come off far better as a character actor and comedian from the later 40's through the 60's.) Second, it's obvious this one is a bit lower-budgeted than the earlier entries. Of the three big numbers, only the finale goes full-on Berkeley kaleidoscope. "Back to Bali" in particular is a dull chorus number that could appear in any film. The story is piffle and a bit annoying; of the songs, only "Latin Quarter" is even remotely distinguished.
The Big Finale: Mostly for major fans of Vallee or the big Berkeley musicals of the 30's. Everyone else is better off starting with 42nd Street or Gold Diggers of 1933 instead.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.
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