I Dream of Jeanie (1952)

Republic Pictures, 1952

Starring Bill Shirley, Ray Middleton, Muriel Lawrence, and Eileen Christy

Directed by Allan Dwan

Music and Lyrics by Stephan Foster

Our other nostalgic musical this week stays in the Victorian era, but takes us back to 1849 to revisit some of the most beloved music ever created in America. Stephan Foster was the first major American composer, whose songs, such as "Beautiful Dreamer," "Oh Susannah," and the title song, are still sung to this day. Republic Pictures, long a "B" movie outfit, was only just starting to raise the budgets on its own "beautiful dreaming" when they released this take on his life. How well do they do with depicting these songs that continue to resonate in Americana even over 170 years later? Let's begin with Rex Allen (Himself), playing the banjo for a group of children on a steamboat, and find out...

The Story: Stephen Foster (Shirley) is delighted that his "Oh Susannah!" is the biggest hit song in the US right now, but he already gave it up to several music houses free of charge and without credit. His girlfriend Inez McDowell (Lawrence) prefers opera and detests popular music, especially the ubiquitous "Oh Susannah." Her little sister Jeanie (Christy), on the other hand, loves the song and popular music...and has her own crush on Stephen, too, though he can only see Inez. 

Stephen is flabbergasted when not only does the great singer E.P Christy (Middleton) of the Christy Minstrels sings "Oh Susannah," but he argues over how Stephen has let other men perform the song. Inez still wishes Stephan had never written the darn thing to begin with and encourages him to give up writing, even as she's being pursued by Stephen's brother Dunning (Richard Simmons). Jeanie, however, likes Stephen the way he is...and so does Christy, who hires him to write the music for his Christy Minstrels.

The Song and Dance: Not the greatest thing in the universe, but there's some charming bits here. Christy in particular is adorable as the yearning title character. The costumes are lovely for a low-budget film, with pretty lacy gowns for the ladies and tight breeches and ruffled shirts for the men. The songs are also relatively well-presented, particularly when the sisters sing together. The pastel color is a bit softer than Technicolor, giving it the look of a historical storybook. 

The Numbers: We open with Rex Allen briefly singing "Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming" to the kids before we make it to shore. "Oh Susannah" is performed exuberantly by the chorus after Allen's narration...to the frustration of Inez, who can't escape it. Even the kids who were with Allen before dance to a bit of it while playing the harmonica. "Old Dog Tray" is Stephen's duet with his own dog as he works on a song. Stephen and Jeanie have a charming but brief duet to "Camptown' Races," followed by "Jeanie's Home Polka," an sprightly instrumental dance number for the duo, even as he continues to play his flute...at least until a shocked Inez wanders in and ends the song.

Inez does unbend enough to sing Stephen's "Haunting My Dreams at Night"...with Jeanie doing a hilarious imitation of her in another room. Stephen plays the flute for Inez's "Lo, Hear the Gentle Lark" and "On the Wings of Song" at the party, even as Christy nearly drowns her out with "Oh for Louisiana." Christy finally joins the party, introducing Steven as the writer of "Oh Susanna," to Inez' horror, and sings "Nelly Bly" and "My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night." The Christy Minstrels burst in as Inez wants to go see Jenny Lind with "Ring de Banjo," angering Inez yet again. He sings "Beautiful Dreamer" at Inez's window to try to appease her. 

Jeanie wonders how she's fallen in love with Steven with "Lo, Hear the Gentle Lark." The sisters charmingly perform "You Must Wear a Dainty Ribbon In Your Hair" together. Rex Allen is heard on the river near the end as they search for Stephan, briefly singing "Old Black Joe." Christy ends a brawl Stephan starts in a bar with a reprise of "Oh for Louisiana." Romantic Jeanie and Stephen sing "I Can Still See Her In My Dreams" at the docks, then perform "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" with Christy in the finale.

What I Don't Like: This is pure Hollywood malarkey that has not at thing to do with Stephen Foster's real life. Shirley is whiny and dull, not at all suggesting a driven musician. Robust Middleton is far more magnetic than he is with a much smaller role. The costumes are lovely, but sometimes smack more of 1952 than 1849. (And someone at Paramount really needs to take a crack at restoring this. Though the color looks decent on the copy at Tubi, it's also quite a bit scratchy.)

The Big Finale: Charming enough time-waster if you're a fan of 50's musicals or want to hear Foster's songs, but nothing you need to go out of your way for.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and many streaming services, usually for free with commercials.

DVD

Tubi

Ice-Capades (1941)

Republic Pictures, 1941

Starring James Ellison, Dorothy Lewis, Phil Silvers, and Jerry Colonna

Directed by Joseph Santley

Music and Lyrics by various

With many parts of the US expecting snow or cold weather this weekend and early next week, I thought this B-movie rarity from Republic Pictures would be perfect for the first review of 2025. The Ice Capades began in 1940 as a touring skating show for a string of arenas in the northeast. The shows were such tremendous sell-out successes that Hollywood took notice. 

Many of the real Ice Capades skaters at the time, including European skating champs Belita and Vera Hruba, appeared in what was a relatively lavish production for low-budget Republic. How did they manage to concoct a story about a photographer and one of the skaters for what was essentially a revue on ice? Let's begin in a snow-bound New York as Colonna (Colonna) awakens his hungover newsreel cameraman partner Bob Clemens (Ellison) and find out...

The Story: Bob is supposed to be shooting champion Swiss ice queen Karen Vadja (Renie Riano), but he misses his plane and his chance to catch her in action. He assumes one skater is no different from another and films a woman (Lewis) at a rink in New York, claiming she's Vadja. Turns out the lady is Marie Bergin, a fine skater who also happens to be an illegal immigrant on the run from detectives.

 Promoter Larry Herman (Silvers) is enchanted with the woman and wants to make her a star...at least until they figure out that Vadja looks nothing like this lovely creature. Bob first has to find her...then he and Herman have to convince her to come out of hiding and star in the new show that Larry developed for her and other major skaters, Ice-Capades, even if Bob has to marry her to do it. 

The Song and Dance: Not the greatest movie in the universe, but there's some nice bits. Ellison is fairly cute as the devoted bachelor whose indifference to women and to skating ends up causing most of the commotion. Silvers has a few good bits that foreshadow his later con-artist characters in movies and TV, too. Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen have several routines that show why their Professor and Vera Vague characters were huge on the radio in the late 30's and 40's. Some of the skating numbers aren't bad and give us a good idea of what appearing in a big touring ice show like the Ice Capades was like in the early 40's. 

The Numbers: Our first number begins without music, as Colonna and Bob film Marie's routine on the pond across from Bob's apartment in New York. Music is added later when it's shown to a rapturous audience that includes Larry and his assistant Dave (Gus Schilling). Our first professional ice number is from comedians Jackson (Tim Ryan) and Reed (Harry Clark), who give us slapstick shenanigans on skates. Al Surrette is another dancing comedian, this one dressed as a loose-limbed scarecrow. Ice dance team the Benoits get a brief Latin-flavored couples routine next. British figure skater Megan Taylor gives a brief but dynamic solo routine next that shows why she won the World Championships in 1938 and 1939. 

Colonna gets to show off on a ukulele for Allen with his goofy one-man chorus number. During the rehearsal, we get Phil Taylor as a horseman flanked by fellow skating riders in what amounts to a solo routine before giving way to Lois Dworshak and her far jazzier Jitterbugs. Dworshak gets a blusier solo routine. While on a date in Central Park with Bob, Marie dreams of stardom in the Ice Capades, in a romantic solo flanked by young men in top hats and chorus girls in long gown. The Benoits return for a couples routine with the chorus before Marie returns. There's even a few Busby Berkeley overhead shots of skaters at one point.

"Forever and Ever" is the song supposedly written for Marie and performed by a Romani tenor at the restaurant where Bob takes her on a date. Belita opens the finale with a graceful and romantic solo that shows why she was snatched up to be rival B-studio Monogram's big skating queen shortly after the release of this film. The big finale "Legend of the Falls" features Taylor, Lewis, and Vera Hruba putting in lovely performances in rather ridiculous Native American costumes in Hollywood's idea of a folk dance on ice, including chorus girls "playing" tom toms and skaters turning up in cowboy costumes. 

Trivia: Movie debuts of Belita and Vera Hruba (later Vera Hruba Ralston after she married the head of Republic Pictures).

Ice Capades would remain one of the most popular ice skating shows in the world through the 1980's. By the end of the 80's, it began to lose ground to newer shows that focused on families (Disney On Ice) or major figure skating stars (Stars On Ice). After running through a series of owners (including former skating star Dorothy Hamill), it was disbanded in 1997. Attempts to revive it in 2000 and 2008 went nowhere.

What I Don't Like: This is pretty obviously a B-musical from 1941. Though more lavish than the Republic norm for the early 40's, the cardboard sets and claustrophobic direction clearly give away its origins. For all they praise her beauty and skating, Lewis has the appeal of a melting snow cone. She certainly doesn't look or sound like an illegal immigrant on the run from the authorities. There's a reason this would be her only appearance on film. 

The Big Finale: This hard to find movie is only of interest to fans of Colonna, his radio shows, or vintage figure skating. Everyone else will probably be bored between numbers. 

Home Media: It's so rare, the only place you can currently find it is on a copy at the Internet Archive that's likely taken from an 80's or 90's TV broadcast. 

Internet Archive

Murder at the Music Hall

Republic Pictures, 1946

Starring Vera Hruba Ralston, William Marshall, Ann Rutherford, and Helen Walker

Directed by John English

Music and Lyrics by various

Ralston was Republic's answer to Belita at rival B studio Monogram. In fact, her career somewhat paralleled Belita's. She also came over to the US from Europe, in this case what's now the Czech Republic, and had skated in major championships. She also turned up as a Poverty Row studio's version of Sonja Henie, and also spent the majority of her career in action movies. Republic also had a lot in common with Monogram. They too started as a merger between independent studios. In fact, Monogram was one of their units before breaking off on their own. Herbert Yates, the head of Republic, was smitten with Ralston and tried to show her off to best advantage in big-for-Republic films like this relatively lavish thriller. How does the story of love gone wrong at an ice show look today? Let's put our best skate forward and begin with the big show itself and find out...

The Story: Figure skating star Lila Laughton (Ralston) is so shocked when she sees her former producer lover Carl Lang (Edward Norris) in a box, she stops right as she makes her entrance. She does manage to finish the number, but immediately goes to the apartment he's sharing with a friend afterwards. He tries to blackmail her with letters that could tie her to an accidental death at the theater he took the rap for, but she's not buying it. 

She and her conductor boyfriend Don Jordan (Marshall) come back up to get her purse...only to find Lang dead over his piano with a knife in his back. Turns out half the women in the Music Hall worked for him during his producing days...and none of them appreciated his chasing them or his implications in the death of beloved male performer Douglas. There's also the women's glove left in Lang's room that wasn't there when Lila went the first time, and the mysterious blind man selling pencils and shoelaces at the door who is far from what he seems. 

The Song and Dance: This is an entertaining little mystery, and one time where the story is more than just a stop between the numbers. There's enough twists and turns that you really do find yourself trying to figure out whodunnit along with the cast by the end. Great supporting cast here, especially Ann Rutherford as ever-hopeful Grace, the understudy who wishes that just once, she'd get a chance to go on, and William Gargan as tough-guy cop Inspector Wilson. Surprisingly decent costumes and sets for one of Republic's musicals, too, with extravagant chorus numbers with some amazing outfits for Ralston and the skaters. 

Favorite Number: We open as the chorus in flowing ruffles declares Ralston to be "My Wonderful One." She's not feeling so wonderful after she catches sight of Lang in the audience, even as the chorus tosses her around! Our next number is an instrumental baton-twirling routine for the chorus and an unidentified skater, her fingers moving faster than the eye can catch. Ralston returns for "Lead, Kindly Light," a peculiar routine with one skater in a strange silver costume with an electric-like headpiece and Ralston in a brief Greek-style dress. 

The earlier skater returns with a partner for another instrumental routine with the chorus and some impressive spins and lifts. Rutherford finally gets to go for the big finale. She and Ralston, wearing sparkly black outfits with a big heart on the front and surrounded by women carrying torches, hold a figure-skating, choreographed fencing match. Yes, it's strange as it sounds, but the ladies do have some nice moves, especially when they spin with their swords still out!

What I Don't Like: This is a rare time there should have been more story and less musical. The numbers just intrude on the mystery, and they don't really tie into it in any way. I wish they could have done more with them, maybe made them the reason for Lang's death or part of why the women are all so angry at him. Despite Yates' intentions, they don't really show off Ralston to best advantage, either. Two of them don't even feature her. There's also the fact that, no matter what Yates believed, Ralston never did become the best actress and is a bit stiff in the dramatic scenes. 

The Big Finale: Never judge a film by its budget. I ended up enjoying the "imitation" skating vehicles by the B-studios far more than most of the standard romantic comedies 20th Century Fox dumped Sonja Henie into. At least they tried something different. This also makes me wish there were more musical mystery stories, and certainly ones as entertaining as this. For mystery lovers, skating and film noir fans, and fans of Ralston and Rutherford.

Home Media: YouTube seems to be the only place you can find this rare tuner at the moment.

YouTube

Calendar Girl (1947)

Republic Pictures, 1947

Starring Jane Frazee, William Marshall, Kenny Baker, and Gail Patrick

Directed by Allan Dwan

Music by Jimmy McHugh; Lyrics by Harold Adamson

Let's return to New York on a sultry summer's afternoon for our next entry. The major studios weren't the only ones who created nostalgic fantasies of an idealized past in the 40's and early 50's. Republic normally specialized in low-budget westerns and crime and comedy series, but as we saw back in June, they did occasionally put out musicals without singing cowboys. How does the story of two young men seeking their fortunes in Greenwich Village in 1900 fare now? We begin with their arrival in New York and their greeting at Lulu Varden's (Irene Rich) boarding house, and their interest in one of her boarders...

The Story: Penniless composer Johnny Bennett (William Marshall) and wealthy artist Steve Adams (James Ellison) have just arrived in New York from Boston, determined to make their fortunes. The two fall for sweet Patricia O'Neill (Frazee) after seeing her dance on the patio behind their brownstone. Steve manages to convince Patricia to model for a racy calendar portrait he's going to send to a contest. She intends to buy a silver trumpet for her police officer father (Victor McLaglen), but he's more scandalized by the brief artwork. Steve manages to seduce her with a night on the town, but it's the struggling Johnny who really loves her...and Steve has a secret he's not exactly willing to share with Patricia. 

The Song and Dance: I'm impressed with how good this is for a B musical, especially the hummable songs by Hollywood pros McHugh and Adamson and Dwan's imaginative direction. Frazee is a bit less pushy and funnier here than she was in Rosie the Riveter. Rich and McLaglan really ham it up as the tough old lady and the old-fashioned Irish cop who would rather his daughter chose a more respectable way of making a living. The costumes and sets are surprisingly up to the task of representing both the seamier and more traditional sides of New York as the 19th flipped to the 20th century as well. The low-budget production has a sweetly intimate feel that goes along well with the era.

Favorite Number: It's "A Lovely Night to Go Dancing" when Johnny, Steve, and Johnny's singer friend Byron James (Kenny Baker) catch Patricia gliding across the patio in a lovely solo dance and fall for her at first sight. The cast gets to perform the adorable novelty number "At the Fireman's Ball" at said location; Frazee and the (dubbed) Marshall chime in by describing how "New York Is a Nice Place to Visit." We get another fun chorus routine at the local beer hall, "Let's Have Some Pretzels and Beer. Marshall's dubber David Street introduces the ballad "Have I Told You Lately?" at the beer hall with Baker and his girl Janet Martin; Street reprises it solo later after Johnny thinks he's lost Patricia. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Marshall is stiff and dull in the boring love-interest role and was dubbed to boot. He's definitely not up to the rest of the cast in the numbers or the histrionics. Other than his two songs, radio star Baker probably could have been given more to do. The black and white on scratchy copies like the one at Amazon Prime and those intimate sets are a stark reminder of this movie's low-budget origins. 

The Big Finale: If you want to check out a Republic musical that doesn't involve cowboys crooning to their horses, this isn't a bad place to start. Recommended for fans of 40's musicals or those looking for something sweet and smaller-scale.

Home Media: It's in the public domain, so you can find it pretty much anywhere. The copy released on DVD last year is said to have a better print than the barely-watchable one at Amazon Prime. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Rosie the Riveter

Republic, 1944

Starring Jane Frazee, Frank Albertson, Barbara Jo Allen, and Frank Jenks

Directed by Joseph Santley

Music and Lyrics by various

Musicals were an important part of morale during World War II. They boosted people's spirits on the home front and gave the studios a chance to really go all-out with showing off the stars on their lots. Even the "Poverty Row" low-budget studios got in on it, churning out dozens of B-movies about life during wartime and how those still at home coped. How does one of these movies, named for the popular propaganda poster encouraging women to take work at the factories and the novelty song inspired by it, look today? Let's begin as four factory workers try desperately to get one room for rent and find out...

The Story: Rosie Warren (Frazee) and Vera Watson (Allen) end up having to share the last room in town with two fellow defense plant workers, Charlie Doran (Albertson) and Kelly Kennedy (Jenks). Rosie tries to hide the situation from her stuffy fiancée Wayne Calhoun (Frank Fenton), who also happens to be her boss at the plant. 

Meanwhile, Granma Quill (Maude Eburne), the owner of the house, keeps having to kick people out because her daughter Stella (Ellen Lowe) is constantly feuding with her husband Clem (Lloyd Corrigan). Vera and Rosie try to get them back together...and then Rosie gets into trouble when she's photographed half-naked in the rain with Charlie. She tells the cops their married to get them off their backs, and now the whole town knows. Plus, she sold Wayne's engagement ring to get rent money and now has to get it back.

The Song and Dance: Like The Sky's the Limit, this makes interesting use of a familiar situation of the time. With so many workers pouring into factory towns, there wasn't nearly enough room to hold them all. Rooms really were that hard to come by. It gives a feeling of intimacy and realism to a story that's otherwise pretty goofy. Also adding realism are the glimpses of the inside of the factory and the work that went on in these factories. With the low-budget production, it's almost more like a wartime sitcom from a later era than a movie. There's also its encouragement of its female workers. In fact, Rosie puts off her wedding to Wayne to focus more on her work. 

Favorite Number: Rosie tries to explain why "I Don't Want Anyone at All" to Wayne as he drives her home and she attempts to avoid telling him about the ring and her set-up with the room. Rosie and a quartet get to perform "The Friendly Tavern Polka" for dancers jitterbugging up a storm at the local bar. "Rosie the Riveter" is the sole large-scale production number. The plant celebrates in the finale as dancers perform with airplanes on poles and do a faux-Busby Berkley overhead formations shot.

What I Don't Like: Um, did I mention this is a low-budget B musical? Everyone's performances are broad, silly, and/or stiff. There's no fancy trappings like Technicolor or huge set pieces, barely any dancing at all besides the "Rosie the Riveter" finale and the Polka jitterbugs, and not even really that much music. Probably the only actor familiar to most people nowadays would be Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as Granma Quill's mouthy grandson. And obviously, if you don't know anything about the home front and what went on in the US during World War II, you probably won't get most of what's going on.

The Big Finale: It still works for it's intended purpose, which is as a cute and patriotic way to pass an hour and a half if you know anything about World War II and the early 40's. 

Home Media: This isn't on currently on DVD as far as I can tell, but it can be found for streaming on several sites.

Amazon Prime

Vudu