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

Silver Skates

Monogram Pictures, 1943

Starring Belita, Kenny Baker, Patricia Morrison, and Irene Dare

Directed by Leslie Goodwins

Music by Dave Oppenheim; Lyrics by Roy Ingraham

By the early 40's, Sonja Henie was far from the only skater in Hollywood. The "B" studios seemed to have more luck finding their own European ice queens than the majors. This was the first vehicle for British ice skater Belita Jepson-Turner, whom Monogram wanted to build into a star after featuring her in the 1941 film Ice Capades. They also acquired child prodigy skater Irene Dare from RKO and singer Kenny Baker for this bit of backstage fluff about a singer who finds himself caught in a romantic triangle while trying to keep the star from leaving the show. How does all this look today? Let's begin on the ice, with said star Belita front and center, and find out...

The Story: Claire Thomas (Morrison) is the owner of an ice show that may shut down if she can't keep her star attraction Belita (herself) from leaving to get married. The show's singer Danny Donovan (Baker) has been proposing to her for months, but she's always let him down. She finally changes her mind when she needs to be married in order to adopt Katrina (Dare), a Dutch orphan and amazing skater. Trouble is, Danny is also courting Belita, who goes along with it in order to make her fiancee Tom (Henry Wadsworth) jealous. He proposes to Belita to keep her in the show, but he's also still engaged to Claire. Now he has to figure out whether to go with his heart, or what's good for the show.

The Song and Dance: I have to admit, I like Belita a lot more than Henie. She's just as charming off and on the ice and is a somewhat better actress. I don't think Henie could pull off the thrillers Belita appeared in a few years later. I wish she'd continued with these ice skating musicals. This was a lot of fun, with some lovely numbers for Belita and Dare. Frank Faylen also has a few good moments as one of the comics at the show who is in pursuit of skater Lucille (Joyce Compton), and there's European comics Frick and Frack literally kicking the producer Claire invited to see the show out.

Favorite Number: We open with the Beaux Arts Ball number "Lovely Lady." Baker sings the dreamy ballad before skaters in gorgeous gowns glide across the ice. 1941 male skating champion Gene Turner gets a solo in a tux before Belita joins him. Katrina gets a brief but very cute dream in which she skates across a lake in the peasant costumes of her native Holland, with chorus children in equally sweet costumes joining her. Katrina is more taken by boy skater Billy Baxter (Danny Shaw) doing rope tricks and skating under legs in the cowboy chorus number "Cowboy Joe of Carnegie, MO." 

Frick and Frack show off more of their antics with chorus girls in lederhosen as they hear "Calling From the Mountain," and end up sliding down it. Danny reminds Claire that "A Girl Like You, a Boy Like Me" ought to get married in a sweet off-ice ballad in the office that ends with them admiring miniatures of a house and a laundry scene. Katrina and Billy are the cutest couple on the ice in a short instrumental number while Danny is trying to keep Belita in the show. Katrina is also the world's cutest Inuit princess when she's "Dancing On Top of the World" with the chorus in glitter and feathers and a real (and really adorable) little penguin. 

"Love Is a Beautiful Song" begins with Baker crooning the ballad to Belita, but it quickly turns into an elegant Fred-and-Ginger duet on ice when she joins Gene Turner in a tux, and they glide and spin together. Oddly, though they're listed in the playbill we see someone opening, Billy and Katrina don't appear in the big patriotic finale "Sing a Song of the Sea." (I wonder if their sequence was cut for time?) Belita and Turner do get big solos in this sailor-themed number set on a rather claustrophobic battleship that also includes "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean." 

What I Don't Like: Though Monogram spent more money on this than usual for their movies, this is still a fluffy B movie from World War II. The sets frequently look like the cardboard they are, especially that rather silly igloo in Katrina's "Dancing On Top of the World" routine. The plot is piffle, the songs forgettable. Morrison could do a lot more than one number and turn down Baker's proposals. Baker is annoying and not too bright for leading the ladies on when he's not singing. Wish we could have seen more of the kids, too. Other than their numbers, they pretty much disappear during the second half (and as mentioned, don't appear at all in the finale). 

The Big Finale: This and Belita's other big full ice musical Lady, Let's Dance are highly recommended for fans of figure skating, Belita, or 40's musicals.

Home Media: Seems to be streaming only at the moment. Amazon Prime has it for free with a subscription.

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - It's a Pleasure

RKO, 1945

Starring Sonja Henie, Michael O'Shea, Marie McDonald, and Bill Johnson

Directed by William A. Seiter

Music and Lyrics by various

By 1945, Henie was making more off her live ice skating shows than her movies. After her last 20th Century Fox film, Wintertime, was a flop, they let her go. She was picked up by the newly-created International Pictures in 1944. Former Fox head off production William Goetz wanted to make movies with the same high budgets and stars as the studio he left. It's a Pleasure got the royal treatment, including Technicolor, an elaborate production, and two popular stage leading men to play off Henie. How well did he do with this story of a figure skater who marries a down-and-out hockey player? Let's begin at the hockey area, where figure skater Chris Linden (Henie) eagerly watches the star she has a crush on, Don Martin (O'Shea), and find out...

The Story: Don is kicked off the team after he punches a referee during a game. Chris introduces Don to Buzz Fletcher (Johnson), who runs an ice skating revue. He'll take Chris and her troupe, who were skating between hockey rounds, and him too. Don's athletic moves prove to be a big draw for audiences and for Chris, whom he marries. 

Chris adores Don, but she doesn't love his heavy drinking. Buzz's bored wife Gail (McDonald) also has a crush on Don and is furious when he doesn't return her interest. She gets him drunk right before his big solo. Angry and disappointed, Chris goes on a long tour with Buzz's show after he fires Don. It's Gail, however, who finally brings the two together in the end when she locates Don and gets him to the theater for Chris' latest show.

The Song and Dance: One of the reasons Henie left Fox was they wouldn't let her do a movie in color. I'm glad she got her wish here. This movie looks gorgeous, with its glittering, glamorous skating show costumes and dazzling backdrops for the show. Even the copy currently on Amazon is in surprisingly good shape for such a minor title. It almost literally glows. I also give RKO credit for giving Henie a slightly darker plot than the silly romantic comedies Fox dumped Henie in. This snow cone has a little spice in it, with Gail practically throwing herself at Don and Chris' skater friend Wilma (Iris Adrian) snarking about Don's behavior every step of the way. 

Favorite Number: We start out at the hockey game with the chorus, the instrumental "Nobody's Sweetheart." Ladies in green skate for the audience before Sonja arrives in gleaming white to show off her trademark dizzying spins. There isn't another number until midway through the film, when Chris has to go on for her drunk husband. Sonja comes out in brilliant magenta, her hair up in feathers, for a fully solo routine. 

"Summer Dance" at the show in the finale is one of her very rare off-ice numbers. She does a lovely duet with a male dancer, this time with her pink gown nearly floating against a backdrop of emerald trees and a silvery pond. The last number is "Romance," which switches the pond to winter. Henie now glides like a snow queen against a backdrop of white and silver, with the chorus floating around her in scarlet.

What I Don't Like: Other than those big numbers in the finale, this frappe isn't much fun. Neither O'Shea nor Johnson make much of an impression. They're so bland, you have no idea why Chris or Gail would cause so much trouble over them. Henie never was much of an actress; many of the heavier dramatics are way over her head and O'Shea's, rendering their relationship totally unbelievable. There's also the sequence at the skating pond with Chris and Don joking about how spousal abuse is good for a relationship that comes off as far more disturbing today. (Even in the movie, Buzz called them on it.) 

The movie also features a surprising lack of ice skating for one of Henie's films. No one else has a number besides her or the chorus, and the only song with lyrics is heard briefly in the end. Don supposedly became a big skater in Buzz's shows, but we only hear his death-defying routines described. He's never shown doing them. The only time we see him on ice is during the hockey sequence in the opening. 

The Big Finale: It's a Pleasure is no pleasure. It's too bad this slushy nonsense was Henie's only shot at a color movie. It's strictly for her most ardent fans, or fans of 40's and 50's Technicolor musicals.

Home Media: On DVD and streaming, the latter currently free on Amazon Prime with a subscription. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Second Fiddle

20th Century Fox, 1939

Starring Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Edna May Oliver, and Rudy Vallee

Directed by Sidney Lanfield

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

By 1939, Henie's films were among the top box-office draws in the world, but she was hardly the only major story in Hollywood. From the moment it was optioned as a movie to the beginning of filming in 1938, most of the talk at the studios revolved around who would play the coveted role of Scarlet O'Hara in David O. Selznick's epic adaptation of the blockbuster novel Gone With the Wind. Almost every actress in Hollywood practically threw themselves at Selznick for a chance to audition. Given what a big deal this was at the time, it was likely inevitable that at least one musical would send up the chaos. How does the story of how a press agent falls for the Minnesota teacher he discovers look today? Let's begin with the search for an actress to play "The Girl of the North" and find out...

The Story: Consolidated Pictures has tried for months to find the right actress to portray that coveted role. Jimmy Sutton (Power) is sent to Bergen, Minnesota interview candidate 436, elementary school teacher Trudi Hovland (Henie). Trudi's shocked when they claim they want her. Turns out her boyfriend Willie Hogger (Lyle Talbot) sent in her photo and paperwork, thinking she'd be perfect. Jimmy convinces her and her Aunt Phoebe (Oliver) to give the audition a shot.

Trudi aces the audition. Public relations chief George "Whit" Whitney (Alan Dinehart) thinks she's perfect. Now he wants Jimmy to work on the reputation of his newest star, singer Roger Maxwell (Vallee). Jimmy cooks up a fake romance between Roger and Trudi, to the annoyance of Roger's actual girlfriend Jean (Mary Healy). Thanks to all the love letters Jimmy sends that are supposed to be from Roger and the hit song he writes, Trudi thinks Roger really is in love with her. Jimmy, however, is the one who is really in love, and he's the one who needs to bring her back when she returns home after she discovers the deception.

The Song and Dance: Some decent writing and an amusing and then-topical story puts this one far and above Happy Landing. Oliver steals the show as Phoebe's tough aunt, who hits it off with Jimmy as much as her niece does and gets some of the best lines. They have by far the film's funniest scene when they get drunk on champagne together and toss every glass in the hotel room into the fire. Dineheart also has a few good moments as Jimmy's even tougher boss. Some of the Hollywood satire still lands, especially in the first half when they're desperately searching for that elusive "Girl of the North." 

Favorite Number: Oddly, our first number features not Henie, but Vallee, who croons about "An Old-Fashioned Tune" on a giant song sheet while singers in historical costumes sing on the notes under him. We first meet Henie teaching her pupils, including the Brian Sisters, "The Song of the Metronome." She and the kids get an adorable instrumental number on ice as she teaches them how to skate and Jimmy tries to join her. "Back to Back" is a goofy chorus routine sung by Healy as she encourages everyone to dance with their backs to each other. Healy also gets the more typical ballad "I'm Sorry for Myself."

"When Winter Comes" is prompted by Trudi when she admits that she misses snowy Minnesota. Russell sings about the delights of snow and ice, leading Trudi to imagine his pool as an ice rink and her gliding with a handsome partner (Stewart Reburn). "I Poured My Heart Into a Song" is the number Jimmy wrote and said was from Russell, and indeed Vallee does get to perform the charming ballad. Trudi gets one last instrumental solo, skating and spinning on the ice on her own in Minnesota as Jimmy arrives to bring her back.

Trivia: "I Poured My Heart Into a Song" was Oscar-nominated, but lost to "Over the Rainbow." 

What I Don't Like: Power and Henie don't have much more chemistry here than they did in Thin Ice two years earlier. He does better and has more fun with Oliver than with her. As cute as the story is, it's also cliches of the highest order. It gets so bogged down in Trudi's romance, you really don't really get to see them filming "Girl of the North," or much of any filming at all. And while Berlin's songs are lovely, "Poured My Heart Into a Song" aside, they're far from his best.

The Big Finale - The score and cute Hollywood satire makes this one of Henie's better films. Worth checking out if you love Henie, Berlin, or musicals set in Tinseltown.

Home Media: Surprisingly, not currently on legitimate DVD in the US. I ran into a copy on YouTube with Spanish subtitles. 

YouTube

Happy Landing (1938)

20th Century Fox, 1938

Starring Sonja Henie, Caesar Romero, Don Ameche, and Ethel Merman

Directed by Roy Del Ruth

Music by Samuel Pokrass; Lyrics by Jack Yellen

With winter gripping the northern hemisphere, we're returning to champion figure skater Sonja Henie and her extravaganzas on ice. This was her third starring vehicle and her second appearance with Don Ameche after One In a Million. It's also a bit topical, given this is the height of the big band era and the public fascination with the men who led the bands and often wrote the songs. How does the story of how one especially glamorous bandleader gets tangled up with a Norwegian lass look today? Let's begin as bandleader Duke Sargent (Romero) is dodging the complaints and blackmail of his most recent paramour, Flo Kelly (Merman), and find out...

The Story: Sargent and his manager Jimmy Hall (Ameche) fly from New York to Paris to get inspiration for Duke's latest songs. They make an unscheduled stop in Norway, where they stay with local lass Trudi Ericksen (Henie) and her family. Sargent dances twice with her and flirts wildly, thinking nothing of it. Trudi thinks it means they're engaged and ends up following them to New York when they leave. Sargent flirts with every woman he meets and means nothing by it. 

Jimmy takes her skating in Central Park when it turns out Duke is in Florida with Flo, but is so impressed with her skating ability, he convinces a ice show to take her on. Duke comes running back the moment he hears she's now a big skating star. Flo jealously puts a story in the newspaper that claims both men are after her. Now Jimmy and Duke aren't speaking to each other and Trudi is upset with Jimmy. She says she wants to marry Duke, but there's only one man she's really in love with.

The Song and Dance: The ladies. Henie retains the charm that makes you understand why both men fall for her, with her round cupid face and adorable Norwegian accent. Merman's having almost as much fun keeping Duke in line, especially when she's mad at him over Trudi. There's some lovely skating numbers here, too, and terrific costumes and gowns on and off the ice. Norway is almost comically recreated, with fanciful peasant costumes and sweet little wood houses.

Favorite Number: The first real number is an instrumental chorus number in Norway as Duke and Trudi joins in a town festival. We then get Henie's first huge skating routine, as Trudi and the townspeople dance to "A Gypsy Told Me," with Henie sliding in on a sled in a white fur-trimmed outfit and crown that makes her look like a Norwegian princess from a fairy tale. "Gypsy Told Me" turns up again, performed by Leah Ray with Duke's band as he tosses out a load of malarkey about getting the idea for the song from Rome. (He really got it from Trudy.) 

Flo is so thrilled when she manages to snare a European aristocrat, she sings about being "Hot and Happy." Flo also gets "You are the Words to the Music In My Heart" and "You Appeal to Me" later on. Duke also claims he discovered two "Natives" doing "War Dance for Indians." They're really the Condos Brothers doing an elaborate and bizarre tap routine on two drums, dressed in feathers, war paint, and fringe. El Brendel joins Henie at Central Park to explain why his orchestra prefers oompah music to swing in the goofy "Yonny and His Oompah." "Hot and Heavy" returns in instrumental form for the big finale, as Trudi glides to the music in a glittering top half of a tux, surrounded by men in tuxes and flourishing capes.

What I Don't Like: The guys are the problem. Duke is such a jerk and a user, you wonder what either woman sees in him. No wonder Trudi drops him like a stone once she realizes what he's really like. Jimmy's only slightly less of an idiot. And yeah, the story is not only nothing to write home about, real Norwegians may take offense nowadays at how backwards their country is portrayed early-on. There's the Condos Brothers' native dance, too. They look less like natives and more like white hoofers in bad makeup and ridiculous costumes. The music's not terrific, either, with only "A Gypsy Told Me" being even mildly memorable.

The Big Finale: Too abrasive to be one of Henie's better vehicles. This one is mainly for her fans, 30's musical lovers, and figure skating nuts.

Home Media: DVD only from the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives.

DVD

Hit the Ice

Universal, 1943

Starring Lou Costello, Bud Abbott, Ginny Simms, and Patric Knowels

Directed by Charles Lamont

Music by Harry Revel; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

Our last winter musical of the month does have some skating and skiing, but really focuses more on comedy. Abbott and Costello were the top draws at Universal by the early 40's, over even their horror and action films. Their comedies raked in the cash during the darkest days of World War II and directly afterwards, when all people wanted was a good laugh. How does their comedy work in the story of two photographers who get mixed up with bank robbers, a doctor, and a nurse at a ski resort? Let's head to a hospital in LA, where Dr. Bill Barnes (Knowels) is tending to his latest patient, and find out...

The Story: Photographers Tubby McCoy (Costello) and Flash Fulton (Abbott) are friends with Barnes. Barnes knows they're trying to work for the local newspaper and call them on a building fire. When Tubby gets injured, they end up in the hospital where he works. Gangster Silky Fellowsby (Sheldon Leonard) mistakes them for two hit men from Detroit who are supposed to be helping him with a bank robbery he's planning. He's in the hospital to give him an alibi, but his nurse Peggy Osbourne (Elyse Knox) is suspicious. Fellowsby hires Peggy and Barnes to be his nurse and doctor while he "recuperates" at Sun Valley, Idaho. Tubby and Flash flee there too after they're accused of the crime.

Barnes gets the duo jobs as waiters in the resort. They claim to the gangsters that they'll trade photos of the crime for the stolen loot. Fellowsby first sends his ex-girlfriend, singer Marcia Manning (Simms), to seduce Tubby into giving up the photos. When that doesn't work, they kidnap Peggy and lure the guys to a remote cabin. Turns out Flash and Tubby are better at bluffing than they think...

The Song and Dance: Not much song or dance here. The accent is purely on comedy, and Abbott and especially Costello run with it. The first half kicks off with some nice gags involving the duo trying to get photos of that burning building, including how Tubby gets his injury. Things really pick up when they all get to Sun Valley. Tubby thinks Marcia wants to marry him; she's really interested in bandleader Johnny Long (himself). Watching Marcia try to get the photos from him is hysterical, especially since neither really wants to do it. There's also the adorable routine with Costello's attempt to skate with a little girl (Cordelia Campbell), but she's doing rings around him. 

Favorite Number: We don't get our first number until nearly a half-hour into the movie, but it's the jaunty "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water," performed by Long, his orchestra, Simms, and the vocal group the Four Teens...which is a perfect description of how Tubby and Flash feel when they get to Sun Valley. "I'd Like to Set You to Music" is the Orchestra's number by the pool. Tubby claims he can play the piano for Marcia, but his attempts to get his pal to make it look like he's playing only ends with Marcia figuring out the deception. "The Slap Polka" is the big chorus routine, with everyone skating and slapping as the Orchestra performs the lively tune. The movie ends with the entire cast in two sleds, on their way to get married, because it's "Happiness Ahead."

What I Don't Like: This is barely a musical, or an ice skating film, either. The songs and the Sun Valley setting are shoehorned in awkwardly. The gangsters could have kept their loot at any remote location, or even in the city. Though the gangsters do come off as fairly menacing, the doctor is a bore (and how he became friends with these two idiots is beyond me). Knox doesn't do much more than be suspicious. Simms comes off a little bit better as the sharp singer. 

The Big Finale: Mainly for huge fans of Abbott and Costello. For anyone else, it's a harmless hour and a half's worth of amusement if you run into it on DVD or on TCM.

Home Media: Can be found on two Abbott and Costello collections (one of which is on Blu-Ray). 

DVD - The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello: Vol. 2

DVD - Abbott & Costello: Universal Pictures Collection

Blu-Ray - Abbott & Costello: Universal Pictures Collection

Family Fun Saturday - Breaking the Ice

RKO, 1938

Starring Bobby Breen, Dolores Costello, Charlie Ruggles, and Robert Barrat

Directed by Edward F. Cline

Music by Frank Churchill and Victor Young; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

Bobby Breen was another RKO response to Shirley Temple, as well as Deanna Durbin at Universal. Like Durbin, he was a child soprano who could pull off opera and pop songs; like Temple, he was an ultra-cute kid whose vehicles tended towards cheer-up ditties and melodrama. You get a little of both here, along with another cute kid, the child figure skating star Irene Dare. We met Irene earlier this month in Everything's On Ice; how does this story of another child being exploited for their talent compare to hers? Let's begin among the Mennoites religious sect in rural Pennsylvania and find out...

The Story: Tommy (Breen) and Martha (Costello) Martin are hoping to return to Kansas to work on their farm after recovering from her husband's death at the home of her brother William (Barrat) and Annie (Dorothy Peterson) Decker. They'll need $92 to get home. William writes Martha's suitor Henry (John "Dusty" King) against her wishes, but Tommy tears up the letter. He sells old newspapers to Mr. Terwilliger (Ruggles) the antique dealer, but loses 20 dollars in one of the newspapers.

After his uncle punishes him for singing non-religious songs on the farm, Tommy runs away with Mr. Terwilliger to Philadelphia. There, he first gets a job clearing the ice for figure skating marvel Irene Dare's (herself) ice shows. After the owners hear him singing, they promote  him to performing before Irene's shows. Tommy, however, just wants to go home...and he's not thrilled when he figures out what Terwillger's doing with the money. Not to mention, his uncle now believes him to be a thief and thinks he stole the money. Tommy has to corral Terwilliger and figure out what happened to that missing 20 dollars in order to clear his name.

The Song and Dance: I can see why Breen was popular. He was a sweet boy, and he did have charm. Irene's just as adorable here as she was in Everything's On Ice the next year. Her two numbers are highpoints of the film. Ruggles gets some good moments as the old con-man who sees Tommy as his ticket to untold riches. And this is pretty much the only movie I know of to be set among the Mennonite religious sect. That alone makes it a little different.

Favorite Number: The song that gets Tommy into trouble with his uncle is the most innocuous you can imagine - the cheery "Put Your Heart Into a Song." He's "Tellin' My Troubles to a Mule" when he and Terwilliger are on the road. "The Sunny Side of Things" gets him the job at the ice rink when he's cleaning up the ice. He open and closes the movie with the lilting "Happy as a Lark," the finale version done in a montage of him happy on the farm. 

Irene gets two big numbers. She has a simple solo shortly after Tommy starts working at the rink, all spins and leaps. Tommy's "Goodbye, My Dreams, Goodbye" leads into Irene's number with a chorus of clowns. She leaps easily over them, then skates with one who spins and twirls her around. 

What I Don't Like: Almost every adult in this movie is a complete jerk or lets the other adults run over them and the kids. Tommy's uncle jumps way too hard to conclusions about him being a thief without hearing his side of the story, and his mother does nothing to stop or contradict him. Terwilliger only cares about exploiting the boy, much like Irene's uncle did in Everything's On Ice. The sugary songs frankly sound all alike and are pretty dull. Irene's solo isn't bad, but her clown routine is absurd and a little creepy. Not to mention, the Mennonites aren't exactly shown in the best light. 

The Big Finale: Only for major fans of Breen or figure skating. 

Home Media: Not currently on disc, but it can be found for free on Tubi with commercials. 

Tubi

Cult Flops - Iceland

20th Century Fox, 1942

Starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Jack Oakie, and Felix Bressart

Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

After the success of Sun Valley Serenade in 1941, 20th Century Fox ordered more of the same with Henie, Payne, Humberstone, and Glenn Miller. They got three out of four. Miller had joined the army by this point and was replaced by Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra. Like Sun Valley Serenade, this one also plays on real-life events during World War II, in this case the occupation of Iceland by American Marines earlier in 1941. How does this tie into the story of a local girl who thinks a Marine wants to marry her? Let's begin with the Marines landing and their eager reception by the locals and find out...

The Story: Captain James Murfin (Payne) thinks he's just flirting with pretty Katina Jonsdottir (Henie) when the Marines land in Iceland. She, however, takes it as a proposal. She's been telling her family that she has a man in Switzerland, and let's them assume Murfin's him. Murfin, however,  has no desire to marry anyone, but he has no idea how to let sweet Katina off the hook without offending her and her family...and then, after he sees her skate in a local show, he's not sure he wants to.

The Song and Dance: Obviously, with a story that slim, song and dance are the operative words here. Some of Henie's most spectacular numbers were created for this movie, including the only hula ice skating routine I've ever seen. The music's good, too, and while Kaye's not Glenn Miller, he and his band still put them over with relish. Love the spectacular costumes and backdrops, including some nifty native costumes for the Icelandic locals. The supporting cast does the best here, especially Sterling Holloway as Katina's wishy-washy suitor Sverdrup and Felix Bressart as her resolutely old-fashioned father. 

Favorite Number: Our first number comes after the arrival of the Marines, with many of them settling in to listen to Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra at a local club. Their singer Joan Merrill praises how "You Can't Say No to a Soldier." A male quartet insists "Let's Bring New Glory to Old Glory." The standard here is the charming ballad "They'll Never Be Another You." Merrill starts it, but Payne picks it up as he dances with Katina in the club.

Henie gets two huge ice skating routines, one towards the middle of the film at a local carnival, and one near the end. The first one manages to incorporate everything from a Chinese ballet to a Hawaiian hula, complete with Henie tip-toeing on dusty "ice" sand and wearing a skating costume that looks like a hula skirt as she does the hand movements. The second, "I Like a Military Tune," salutes the Armed Services with Henie spinning around men in uniform and dancing to music from all of the Services theme songs in a spectacular beaded uniform of her own.

What I Don't Like: No wonder this ended up being Henie's first flop. The whole film is annoying as heck. Frankly, neither Katina nor James are especially pleasant, and her jumping on him and his trying to back out of his lies is dragged on for way too long. Her family is even more ridiculous, with her sister (Osa Massen) whining about not being able to marry her suitor because Katina won't get married, and her parents jumping on every guy who even looks Katina's way. You start to wish the two would just be honest and admit all the trouble they caused way before the drawn-out ending. They could have been kinder to real-life Icelanders, too. Some Iceland residents protested the plot about an American man stealing away one of their women. 

The Big Finale: Nice big band music aside, this is only for the most ardent fans of Henie, figure skating, or the musicals of the World War II era. 

Home Media: DVD only from the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives. 

DVD

My Lucky Star

20th Century Fox, 1938

Starring Sonja Henie, Richard Greene, Joan Davis, and Cesar Romero

Directed by Roy Del Ruth

Music by Harry Revel; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

We go back to school with Sonja Henie and return to her vehicles with this hit from late 1938. Henie's settings to this point were mostly in her native Norway or typical resorts. Fox at least tries to vary things slightly by first tossing her into a department store, then higher education. How do the two settings fit into one story about a clerk who becomes the belle of a northern college? Let's start at the department store with George Cabot Sr. (George Barbier) as he wonders where his son George Jr. (Romero) is and find out...

The Story: George Junior is a playboy who gets married every other week. His current wife Marcelle (Gypsy Rose Lee) is suing him for divorce. Hoping to make his father's department store more profitable, he suggests they send women out to college campuses as living models and encourage the co-eds to buy their clothes. He suggests sports clerk Krista Nielsen (Henie), who helped him home when he was drunk. They send her to Plymouth College to model winter sportswear.

The girls think she's being stuck-up at first, with her constant changes of clothes, but she wins over handsome student Larry Taylor (Greene). He convinces her to stay when the boys make fun of her clothes horse tendencies at the tryouts for their Winter Carnival, and her amazing performance there does the rest. She doesn't want to leave when George Junior wants her to move to Florida to model swimwear, but ends up being suspended after she's implicated in Marcelle and George Jr.'s divorce. Larry goes with her to convince Marcelle to give up her suit...and then to find a way to make everyone happy, including George Sr. 

The Song and Dance: The college and department store settings at least makes this one stand out slightly, along with a nice supporting cast. Fox borrowed Buddy Ebsen from MGM to play off sarcastic Joan Davis. She's a teacher who wishes the school's sleigh driver would pay less attention to his pregnant horse and more to her. I'm actually glad they don't play Gypsy Rose Lee's role as the villain. She doesn't mean Krista any harm. She just wants her husband to pay attention to her. They really get creative with the ice ballets here, too, especially the nifty Alice In Wonderland Ballet in the finale. Bringing in Roy Del Ruth from Warners, where he did many of their best musicals, helped too. He gives the film a fair pace and a nicely playful tone. 

Favorite Number: The first song in the movie doesn't come until nearly 15 minutes in, but it's our introduction to the Plymouth University students, their "Marching Along." "This May Be the Night," everyone declares as they're driven in Buddy's sleigh to the big skating rally. The boys make fun of Krista's constant clothes changing, dressing in drag to show how "Classy Clothes Chris" looks rather silly to them. Krista's offended, until Larry convinces her to ignore them and give a great performance. She does, wowing them all over with her simple polished solo. The University chorus kicks in again when she leaves with the "Plymouth Farewell Song," performed in the background as Krista's forced to leave the college.

The big one is the Winter Carnival in the finale, held at the remodeled department store. Arthur Jarrett performs the hit "I've Got a Date With a Dream" with the ladies of the chorus and Ebsen and Davis. Henie picks it up with the male chorus on the ice. Ebsen and Davis do some clowning in fancy dress to "Could You Pass In Love?" which is also picked up by Henie and the chorus. "The Alice In Wonderland Ballet" lets Henie in fairy-tale ruffles and bonnet cavort with skaters dressed something like the characters from the famous book. 

What I Don't Like: The setting may be novel, but the story's just plain silly. It's supposed to be college, but you never once see anyone in a classroom or even studying. George Junior's model idea is so ridiculous and unrealistic, no wonder the student body made fun of Krista. Larry has a point that the kids are more likely to be struggling to pay their tuition than buying her fancy clothes. Greene has a charming English accent, but he's mostly dull alongside the adorable Henie, and Ebsen and Gypsy Rose Lee could have more to do. 

The Big Finale: Worth checking out for the skating sequences alone if you're a fan of Henie, ice shows, or Alice In Wonderland adaptations. 

Home Media: DVD only from the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives. 

DVD

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

Lady, Let's Dance!

Monogram Pictures, 1944

Starring Belita, James Ellison, Walter Catlett, and Lucien Littlefield

Directed by Frank Woodruff

Music and Lyrics by various

Lower-budget studios seemed to have more luck finding their own European ice queens. Monogram started out as three B-studios in the late 20's and early 30's, Sono Art-World Wide, Allied, and Rayart. These merged in 1933 to form one of the busiest "minor" studios in Hollywood. They became part of Republic for a while in 1935, but broke off again in 1937. By 1944, they were one of the top "B" studios in Hollywood, mostly specializing in action and comedy series and moody but inexpensive film noir. Belita was a British figure skater who came over to appear in their 1941 Ice Capades musical. By 1944, they were ready to build her up as a major musical star and their answer to Henie. How well does her multi-faceted showcase come off today? Let's begin at a hot springs resort in California and find out...

The Story: Jerry Gibson (Ellison) needs a new dancer for the resort's theater after one of them left to get married. Stuffy manager Mr. Snodgrass (Littlefield) and the resort's robust cowboy-loving owner Timber Applegate (Catlett) find her in Belita (Belita), a refugee waitress who literally stumbles into their office. After learning she was once a champion skater and dancer in Holland, they sign her up as the new partner for dancer Manuelo (Maurice St. Clair). 

She goes over so well there, two producers of an ice show in Chicago spot her and want her to appear in their show. She's not willing to go at first, as she's fallen for Jerry, but he pushes her into going. Her skating routines are such a hit, she's even able to bring over the two chefs from the resort kitchen to fill in as a comic ice skating pair. Snodgrass is angry at Jerry for letting her go and fires him. He looks for work at other resorts, but ends up getting drafted. Belita just wants him back...but it takes intervention from Timber to bring the two together again.

The Song and Dance: This is surprisingly good for a B-level ice skating musical. Belita does have charm, and even pulls off the dramatic moments later in the film well enough. She's also a wonderful skater - check out her big Liberty number in the end, with its impressive jumps and spins. She's so good, it's the one time a figure skating film ended on a solo perfomer, no chorus routines or pageantry, and it really works. European comic ice skating duo Frick and Frack have some decent moments in their numbers towards the end. Catlett and Littlefield also come off fairly well as the western-loving resort owner and snobbish hotel manager. The music's also pretty decent for a B film. "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams" got nominated for an Oscar.

Favorite Number: Oddly, the movie doesn't open with Belita at all, but a series of bathing beauties doing a Busby Berkeley-esque water ballet in the hotel swimming pool. They're actually not bad, a foreshadowing of what Berkeley and others would do with Esther Williams' swimming vehicles starting later in 1944. 

Our first instrumental dance number comes via Henry Busse and His Orchestra. Belita and Manuelo perform a lively rhumba in their street clothes. It goes over so well, it gets her the job. That leads to "Salamente una Vez," the ballroom routine where Belita makes her debut. She and Manuelo do even better here, especially with her swirling floral skirts and his death defying lifts and swinging her around in the end. Once she makes it into the big show, her first number is "The Snow Queen Ballet." She and the dancers perform their leaps and pirouettes in brief ruffly costumes that admittedly say "snow" less than "off-rack at a strip joint costume closet." 

The skating routines are surprisingly lavish for a Poverty Row film. The lovely "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams" is a pair routine for her and a male skater. It's elegant and flowing as the song itself. "Days of the Beau Brummel" is the Currier and Ives 1890's skating routine, with everyone in period dress and Frick and Frack wowing the crowds as an elderly man and a skating instructor. The duo return for an instrumental Swiss-themed number with the chorus, this time playing drunks. The title song is the men-in-tuxes chorus routine, with Belita not only skating with them, but tap-dancing on ice skates, too. As mentioned, the film ends with her genuinely stirring "Victory" solo routine in front of a massive cardboard Statue of Liberty.

What I Don't Like: First of all, Ellison may be handsome, but he lacks Belvita's charm and can often come off as a jerk rather than a well-meaning promoter. The two have absolutely no chemistry, making her search for him feel more like an afterthought. Yeah, the melodramatic plot isn't always the best, either. They're not helped by dialogue that's stiffer than the ice Belita skates on. There's also times when this being a Poverty Row quickie comes to the fore, like that finale with the cardboard Lady Liberty and just Belita skating. Her skating is great, but the set's slightly chintzy. 

The Big Finale: This wound up being a major surprise. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did! Highly recommended for figure skating fans, fans of Belita or Catlett, or those looking for a somewhat lower-key skating fest.

Home Media: DVD only via the Warner Archives.

DVD

Family Fun Saturday - Everything's On Ice (Follies On Ice)

RKO, 1939

Starring Irene Dare, Edgar Kennedy, Roscoe Karns, and Lynne Roberts

Directed by Erle C. Kenton

Music and Lyrics by various

Henie's success inspired other studios to put their own actors on ice, or find European skaters who could replicate her charisma in front of a camera. RKO not only found their own Sonja Henie, but their own Shirley Temple as well. Dare had been in ice shows since she was five. At seven, RKO hired her to appear alongside their popular boy soprano Bobby Breen in Breaking the Ice. That went over well enough for her to get her own showcase. How does the story of a little girl whose uncle wants to use her big talent look today? Let's begin in Brooklyn, where Joe Barton (Kennedy) is listening to another money-making scheme from his brother Felix (Karns) and find out...

The Story: Felix convinces a talent scout to come see Irene. He's so impressed, he books her a gig skating at a club in Florida. On the train to Florida, Irene's older sister Jane (Roberts) meets the sweet but slightly dim Leopold Eddington (Eric Linden). Felix dismisses him when he says he's staying at a cheaper hotel, but Jane likes him. 

Felix proceeds to spend Irene's money fast as it comes in on an expensive hotel and fine clothes and jewelry for himself and Joe's bored wife Elsie (Mary Hart). He discourages Jane from pursuing Leopold and tries to shove her at handsome Harrison Gregg (George Meeker). Felix assumes Harrison has money, but that proves to be far from the case. Meanwhile, after Felix wires Joe for money, he realizes there's something rotten going on in the state of Florida and heads south to figure it out himself. Not to mention, Leopold isn't the rube Felix thinks he is, either. 

The Song and Dance: Too bad there isn't more of Irene. She really is a charmer when you see her, naturally funny and a marvel on the ice. Even Sonja Henie couldn't do the backflips and leaps she did! Kennedy and Karns have some good moments as the blustering head of the family and his oily brother-in-law who thinks the kid is his ticket to unlimited riches. 

Favorite Number: We open with Irene showing off for the crowd in her own clothes in a simple number that gives us an idea of what she can do, including several back flips. The routine that sells the agent on Irene has her costumed as a little Uncle Sam, complete with Statue of Liberty and chorus dressed as a marching band. Her first number at the club is a graceful, if odd, hula routine, with her attempting to wave her hands and look Hawaiian in her too-long grass skirt. 

What I Don't Like: There should be more focus on Irene in her own vehicle. She has nothing to do besides her skating routines. The movie mostly revolves around Felix's oily schemes or the cliche and boring love plot. Meeker's not bad as the smarmy playboy looking for the right patsy to pay his hotel bill, but Roberts and Linden are as dull as their dialogue. 

And no wonder the owner of the club wouldn't finance that last number. It looks ridiculous. Who thought Irene popping out of an egg as a baby penguin and getting tossed around by people in penguin suits was a good idea? Plus all the emphasis on "flying." Penguins do not fly. It's too silly to pass for a number put on by kids goofing off on a frozen pond, let alone a big ice show at a night club.

The Big Finale: Too silly for all but the most ardent figure skating fanatics or fans of Kennedy and Karns, or kids Irene's age who can overlook the dull plot and enjoy one of their own doing some pretty amazing things on the ice.

Home Media: To my knowledge, this rare programmer can only be found on YouTube. 

YouTube

Wintertime

20th Century Fox, 1943

Starring Sonja Henie, Jack Oakie, Cornel Wilde, and Caesar Romero

Directed by John Brahm

Music by Nacio Herb Brown; Lyrics by Leo Robin

By 1943, Henie's ice shows were making more money than her movies. This would be her last hit and her final film at Fox. Glenn Miller wasn't around to provide musical support by this point, either. His band entered the Army in 1942 and were replaced by Woody Herman and His Orchestra. Fox tried to prop her and her ice ballets up with support from Jack Oakie and two up-and-comers, Carole Landis and Cornel Wilde. How well did they succeed? Let's begin at a failing winter resort in Canada that's just losing their furniture and find out...

The Story: The resort's owner Skip Hutton (Oakie) manages to avoid losing his furniture by telling the creditors that wealthy Norwegian businessman Ostgaard (SZ Sakall) and his figure skating champion niece Nora (Henie) will be staying at the resort. He and his partner Freddy Austin (Wilde) convince them they're staying at a posh hotel, but the truth is, they're barely afloat. They get Ostgaard to foot the bills for the remodeling and to highlight Nora's abilities on the ice. 

Turns out Ostagaard doesn't have any money, either. His assets are frozen after Germany invades Norway. Nora decides she can make the money starring in a Broadway ice show, but she has to become an American citizen first. She agrees to marry musician Brad Barton (Romero) in order to gain her entrance visa and make Freddy, who has been spending time with photographer Marion Daly (Helene Reynolds), jealous.

The Song and Dance: Henie by this point had mostly lost her rather charming Norwegian accent, but she otherwise comes off fairly well as the rich man's niece who'll do anything to help her new friends, even marry a man she doesn't really love. It's the supporting cast who really shine here. Landis and Romero get the best lines and have the funniest gags as the musician who thinks he loves Nora, and the lady who really loves him. Sakall has his own fun playing her eccentric uncle, who's signed a few too many bills for this run-down joint. Speaking of, you'd never know it was run down. For a black-and-white production, 20th Century Fox really went all-out with gorgeous costumes for the band and Henie's skating numbers, huge furs, and the lavish resort.

Favorite Number: We open with the ironic "I Like It Here," performed by Landis, Romero, and Woody Herman and His Orchestra...because they don't. The heat is off, and they're all freezing and unpaid. Things pick up with Herman and "Later Tonight" under Henie and Romero's big dance routine. Herman also performs the title song, both with his band and as the film's huge finale. Henie skates in feathers with the chorus as birds. Henie does an earlier Mountie-themed skating number with the chorus, "We Always Get Our Girl," that's lavish and hilarious. She appropriately gets a flower-themed number to "Waltz of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker about mid-way through. 

What I Don't Like: I think it's becoming obvious that the plot of Henie's movies are not their strong suit. Wilde is about as interesting as - and cold as - the ice Sonja glides on. He has absolutely no chemistry with Henie whatsoever. The songs aren't terribly memorable, either, especially compared to the music from several of her previous films. The fact that they had Herman play "Chattanooga Choo Choo" in the background at one point serves to show just how weak the songs are. And I wonder why Fox didn't shoot it in Technicolor, like they originally planned? 

The Big Finale: Once again, best for fans of Henie or figure skating. 

Home Media: DVD only from the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives. 

DVD

Thin Ice (1937)

20th Century Fox, 1937

Starring Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Raymond Walburn, and Arthur Treacher

Directed by Sidney Lanfield 

Music and Lyrics by various

With cold weather gripping much of the world, we're going to spend most of this month covering musicals that revolve around ice skating or skiing. The queen of winter sports musicals is undoubtedly Sonja Henie. This was her second vehicle after the major hit One In a Million. 20th Century Fox was so impressed, they greatly increased the budget and gave her none other than Tyrone Power, their most popular up-and-coming heartthrob, as her leading man. How does this ice-bound romantic comedy about a prince who falls for a skating instructor look nowadays? Let's begin in Switzerland, at a ski resort about to begin the winter season, and find out...

The Story: Lili Heiser (Henie) is a skating instructor at the resort, but she's about to lose her job due to the lack of snow. The fussy manager Krantz (Melville Cooper) keeps insisting he can't use her if there's no snow. All that turns around quickly when Nottingham (Treacher), the secretary of Prince Rudolph (Power), orders expensive rooms for a political conference. The Prince, however, will not be staying in them. He takes rooms at a local inn, hoping to avoid the conference and have a quiet place for skiing. 

He encounters Lili while on the slopes, and they hit it off. Lili, however, has no idea that the man she met on the Alps is actually royalty. When her would-be sweetheart Alex (George Givot) drives her home in the prince's car, thanks to his chauffeur cousin, everyone in town thinks she's the Prince's newest conquest. Her conniving uncle (Walburn) takes advantage of this to get Lili a big contract and show at the resort, but Lili has no idea her "Rudy" is really royalty. She's not happy when she does figure it out, but Rudy convinces her to play along, at least until he can reveal his true identity for once and for all. 

The Song and Dance: Henie's skating routines and a funny supporting cast are the big draws here. Henie never did become a great actress, but she does have plenty of charm and a sweet presence that somewhat makes up for it. Walburn and Cooper have the best moments as the conniving uncle and the snooty manager who take every possible advantage of Lili's notoriety. Even Power seems to be having a slightly good time, especially with his disguise at the end!

Favorite Number: Joan Davis, as the leader of the all-female orchestra at the resort, gets two funny slapstick numbers that lead into the skating routines. "I'm Olga from the Volga" is her idea of Russian royalty, while "My Swiss Hilly Billy" has her attempting a pantomimed mountain climb and mostly ending up on the floor. The singer with her band performs "My Secret Love Affair" for an empty ballroom when there's no snow. 

Of course, the big ones are Henie's two skating numbers, and they don't disappoint. "The Russian Ice Ballet" uses themes from Borodin's "Polovetsian Dances," complete with Sonia wearing a glittery black dress that makes her look like a Russian princess and men in balloon pants gliding around her. "The Blue Danube Waltz" is daintier and more extensive. It begins with skaters in tuxes and long floaty gowns. Sonja's lovely spins are particularly in evidence here, swirling in her long floral gown before changing to something shorter. 

What I Don't Like: The plot's skimpy, even by the standards of Henie's films. I can't believe Lili didn't pick up on who Rudy was or her uncle's scheming long before the last ten minutes of the movie. The songs and Davis' comedy routines are really shoehorned into what's otherwise a snow-bound romantic comedy. Despite Henie and Power dating briefly during filming, they really don't have much chemistry, either. 

The Big Finale: Cute enough if you're a fan of Henie, Power, or figure skating for the two big numbers alone. 

Home Media: DVD only from the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives.

DVD

One In a Million (1936)

20th Century Fox, 1936

Starring Sonja Henie, Adolph Menjou, Jean Hersholt, and Don Ameche

Directed by Sidney Lanfield

Music by Sidney D. Mitchell; Lyrics by Lew Pollack

We're doing this one in honor of the Winter Olympic games beginning in Beijing tomorrow. Sonja Henie was one of the first major stars of the Winter Olympics, winning three gold medals for figure skating from 1927 to 1936. 20th Century Fox signed her shortly after the Winter Olympics ended for a series of musicals surrounding her skating talents. How does the first one of these look today? Let's start on the road in Switzerland with producer Thaddeus Spencer (Menjou) and his all-girl orchestra and find out...

The Story: Thaddeus, his wife Billie (Arline Judge), the orchestra, The Ritz Brothers (themselves), and his harmonica-playing discovery (Borrah Minnevich) find themselves stranded in the Swiss Alps when the hotel they had a gig at burns down. They end up at a small inn run by former skating champ Henrich Muller (Hersholt) and his daughter Greta (Henie). Thaddeus is so taken by Greta's beautiful skating ability, he immediately creates a revue in St. Moritz around it. 

Also arriving at the inn are reporter Bob Harris (Don Ameche) and photographer Danny Simpson (Ned Sparks). Bob's also taken with Greta, but it's not her skating that interests him. After he learns her father lost his medals from the 1908 Winter Olympics when he accepted money as a gift, he rushes to St. Moritz and reminds Greta that appearing in the Olympics provides far greater glory. She leaves with him. Thaddeus and his group follows them, just in time to perform for the Olympics crowds. Greta does win the gold medal, but her one performance as a professional may come back to haunt her...

The Song and Dance:  Henie makes an appealing debut. She's no actor, but she does have charm, especially when dealing with Bob's advances. Ameche is also pretty cute as the ambitious reporter who takes a shine to Greta and has a nice singing voice, too. Some great lines from Sparks as Bob's dour co-worker, Menjou as the producer whose great ideas often freeze in his face, and Judge as his wife who is more than happy to point out his failures. Special kudos for Fox's use of actual footage from the 1936 Winter Olympics for added authenticity. 

Favorite Number: We hear the title song at least three times. Judge and the all-girl orchestra do a nice performance of it in the opening sequence, as we get various shots showing how frozen they are as they perform. Borrah Minovich and His Harmonica Rascals reprise it at the Olympics, along with their supremely goofy rendition of "Limehouse Blues." Henie finally skates to it in a fantasy sequence when Menjou sees her on the ice behind the inn and imagines a big-time show built around her talents. 

Everyone's saying "We're Back In Circulation Again" on the sleigh ride to St. Moritz. Ameche performs the appealing ballad "Who's Afraid of Love?" with singer Leah Ray at the Inn. Henie's second big number in St. Moritz, "The Lady In White," is enough to convince spectators and Ameche that she has what it takes to be a real champ. The Ritz Brothers imitate Boris Karloff (as Frankenstein), Charles Laughton (as Captain Bligh), and Peter Lorre, then the "Horror Boys of Hollywood," before the Olympics start. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, it's pretty obvious this was Henie's first movie. Feels like Fox grabbed whomever was laying around the lot and tossed them into a slight comedy set around the Olympics. The Ritz Brothers were really big at Fox in the mid-late 30's, but their noisy, slapstick-oriented schtick doesn't fly as well today. Their two numbers are pretty much padding, and they otherwise don't have much to do. Likewise, Borrah Minnovich doesn't do much besides not talk and play his harmonica. Second, it's not as expensive and elaborate as some of her other vehicles. Her skating ballets are fancy as it gets. 

The Big Finale: Charming enough for fans of Henie and figure skating, but she'd do better movies later in the 30's and early 40's. 

Home Media: DVD only via the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives.

DVD

Sun Valley Serenade

20th Century Fox, 1941

Starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Lynn Bari, and Glenn Miller and His Orchestra

Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

Our last review of 2021 takes us to Sun Valley, Idaho to hit the slopes with a genuine champ. Sonja Henie began skating at age 10 and won her first major championship at 14. By 1936, she won three Olympic gold medals and six consecutive European championships. Later that year, 20th Century Fox signed her on to what became a series of profitable musicals. By 1941, she was one of Hollywood's top stars. Fox paired her with another top favorite at the time, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, for this smash souffle about a refugee who falls for a pianist at the famous resort. We start out in New York, where Phil Corey (Miller) and His Orchestra have a gig, and find out how palatable this confection is today...

The Story: Publicity manager Jerome "Nifty" Allen (Milton Berle) convinces Corey and his pianist Ted Scott (Payne) that sponsoring a refugee from Europe would be terrific press for the band. They're a lot less crazy about the idea when the "tyke" turns out to be Karen Benson (Henie), a young woman from Norway who lost her home when the Nazis invaded. Karen falls hard for Ted almost immediately, but he's already dating the band's singer Vivian Dawn (Bari). She's so smitten with him, she convinces Berle to take her to their Christmas gig in Sun Valley and pursues him on skis and at the Lodge. Ted's annoyed at first, but when they end up stranded together at a small ski cabin, he finds himself changing his mind about the charming Scandinavian. 

The Song and Dance: Berle has some funny moments, especially when Karen convinces him to take her to Sun Valley and while on skis, and he also gets a few amusing bits playing off Joan Davis as a woman collecting for charity. Payne is neither a skater nor a skier, but he works well enough with Henie and Bari and even gets to show off his piano skills with Miller. Some of the skiing sequences are amazing, with a lot of fast-paced chases and intricate moves. Sonja's stand-in for these sequences was another later Olympic gold medalist Gretchen Fraser, and she shows why she won that gold with her great run under Payne's legs. Glenn Miller and his band really heat up some of their best numbers, including the smash "Chattanooga Choo Choo."

I can see why this went over well with European audiences and many real-life refugees. The angle of Karen being a refugee is fairly original and interesting, and it does make sense for her to come into the US that way at this time. Karen is also refreshingly straightforward about her rather sad story and the death of her father. 

Favorite Number: We kick off with two of Miller's biggest hits, "Moonlight Serenade" and "In the Mood." The first full-scale number is "It Happened In Sun Valley," as Berle, Henie, and the Orchestra throw snowballs at each other and have a great time on their way to the lodge. "The Kiss Polka" has chorus dancers in Scandinavian costume doing kisses in time to adorable polka moves. It's so cute, Henie and Payne get in on it towards the end, to the annoyance of a jealous Bari. Later in the ski lodge, the two have another, slower dance to Payne's solo "I Know Why (and So Do You)." 

The movie is best known for it's major hit song and two big numbers. "Chattanooga Choo Choo" starts off with the Modenaires singing the initial vocals, but it really takes off when Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers emerge from that streamlined wooden choo-choo and show off their signature fancy tap moves. It ends with a gorgeously-shot skating number, with Henie whirling in a snow-white tutu on dyed black ice and the chorus waltzing around her. The headaches they went through to make that ice black was worth it. The wet ink under her skates makes her look like she's gliding across a pond on midnight, like she can skate across water. 

Trivia: There were to have been three more songs. "At Last" can be heard performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra after "In the Mood" and is used as underscoring in the skating finale, but the vocals didn't appear until Orchestra Wives. "The World Is Waiting to Waltz Again" for Payne and "I'm Lena the Ballerina" for Davis were recorded but not filmed. 

That skating number on black ice took three days to shoot. Humberstone wanted to reshoot the end after Henie fell and got covered in black dye, but studio head Darryl F. Zanuck said no. 

"Chattanooga Choo Choo" was nominated for an Oscar. The movie also got nominations for Black and White Cinematography and musical scoring.

Bari was dubbed by Pat Friday (and would be later in Orchestra Wives).  

What I Don't Like: Hoo boy. The story is straight piffle, and a little dull beyond the skiing and musical numbers. Neither leading lady come off especially well. Karen's utter determination to break up a man's relationship is more creepy than cute, and Bari is shrill and obnoxious. Bit surprised they don't make more use of Davis beyond her short gags with Berle, too. I kind of wish Henie sprang for the third skating number they planned, but didn't use. For one of her vehicles, the movie seems strangely lacking in trips to the ice beyond a short routine with her trying to show off for Ted and the big finale. I'm not entirely sure where the cinematography nomination came from, either, considering a big chunk of the film consists of actors pretending to ski in front of glaring rear projection. 

The Big Finale: Worth seeing for the terrific numbers alone if you're a fan of figure skating, Henie, Miller and his band, or big band music. 

Home Media: Not sure why this has never been released on disc in the US. It is easily found on streaming, including Google Play, Vudu, and Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime

Google Play

Vudu

Cult Flops - The Ice Follies of 1939

MGM, 1939

Starring Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayres, and Lewis Stone

Directed by Reinhold Schunzel

Music and Lyrics by various

As the US plunges into winter, we're bringing this year to a close with our first musicals with ice skating routines. The popularity of champion figure skater Sonja Henie at 20th Century Fox prompted other studios to create their own skating extravaganzas. Crawford hadn't appeared in a musical since Dancing Lady in 1933. MGM hoped to bolster her career by turning her into their own Henie, but...well, let's begin at a bottom-basement skating show as Larry Hall (Stewart), his partner Eddie Burgess (Ayres), and his girl Mary McKay (Crawford) and find out how far this one skids off the ice. 

The Story: Larry's crazy about Mary, actually marrying her after the show one night. Truth be told, Mary is a terrible skater. She keeps getting them fired. Larry won't leave her behind, though. He has this big idea for an "Ice Follies" skating revue, but no one will hear it. 

Hoping to earn some money and get her husband's ideas heard, Mary goes right to studio owner Douglas Toliver Jr. (Stone) and convinces him to hire her. She becomes a huge star, but thanks to her hastily-signed contract, has to keep her marriage secret. He finally takes off, tired of living in her shadow. Thanks to shady producer Mort Hodges (Lionel Stander) he does get the Follies off the ground...but it keeps taking him away from his wife. Mary's ready to give up show business to be with him, until she comes up with a solution that makes everyone happy, including Toliver.

The Song and Dance: At the very least, this doesn't fall into the trap of Crawford's other vehicles and make both men fall for her. In fact, Eddie's not really fond of Mary and points out that she's taking away from their act. Stewart, Crawford, and especially an energetic Ayers do the best with the material handed them. Crawford also gets her only chance to be seen in three-strip Technicolor in the dazzling fairy-tale finale. She looks radiant, and the frothy pastels are gorgeous in the restored copy at TCM.

Favorite Number: It's all about the Ice Follies here. We don't see them until almost ten minutes in, but when we do, it's a lavish circus routine. The guy in drag and his partner skating to an instrumental "While Strolling Through the Park" were especially funny. After Larry gets the show going near the middle, we get a nifty precision dance routine with the Ice Folliettes in kilts skating to "The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lamond." As per Larry's promise of "stories told through skating and dance," we also get a more serious (and stereotypical) Indian duet with two skaters doing a lyrical routine while costumed as Natives.

The big one here is the color finale. MGM pulled out all the stops. Crawford is Cinderella, there's an adorable Little Red Riding Hood who gets an energetic solo, and Ayers even turns up as Cinderella's dull prince. The big finale to Crawford's "It's All So New to Me" is beautifully skated and romantic.

Trivia: The Ice Follies is a touring skating company founded by Eddie and Roy Shipstead and Oscar Johnson. They merged with Holiday On Ice in 1980 and are now mainly known for producing the Disney On Ice shows. 

What I Don't Like: Everything else. No matter how hard Crawford, Stewart, and Ayres try, they are not skaters and don't belong in this film. I have no idea what MGM was thinking. Couldn't they have gone back to the Dancing Lady well if they wanted to bolster Crawford's career with a musical? Or, if they had to do a skating musical, found actual skaters to appear in at least the female lead? Crawford is such a terrible skater, it's a joke in the finale. Also, while her vocals have improved since Dancing Lady, they're still not that great. The dialogue is corny, forced, and badly written, and the plot is cliches of the  dullest sort. 

The Big Finale: No wonder Crawford bought out her MGM contract a few years later and wouldn't do another musical until 1953. Only the biggest fans of Stewart, Crawford, or figure skating need to see this. All others would be better off staying away or looking up that Technicolor finale. 

Home Media: It's out of print on Warner Archives DVD; your best best is streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - Snow White and the Three Stooges

20th Century Fox, 1961
Starring Carol Heiss, The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita), Edson Stroll, and Patricia Medina
Directed by Walter Lang
Music and Lyrics by Harry Harris and Earl K. Brent

The Three Stooges and musical fairy tales. Those are not words you expect to see together in the same sentence. The famous knockabout comedians did make one musical fantasy after their careers saw a resurgence in the early 60's. Originally intended as a showcase for Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater Carol Heiss, it was inflated into a huge extravaganza, with elaborate sets and costumes and big skating numbers for Heiss and the chorus. How do the Stooges fit into a wintry adaptation of the famous Brother's Grimm story? Let's take a horse-drawn gypsy cart to the Kingdom of Fortunia and find out...

The Story: A king and queen give birth to a child who is white as snow and red as blood, whom they name Snow White. The queen passes away, and the king weds another woman who is beautiful but cold as ice. The new queen (Medina) is vain and selfish, and she's jealous of her stepdaughter's own loveliness and popularity with the people. After the king dies, she locks Snow White (Heiss) away in a tower before sending her out into the woods with her huntsman (Michael David). He's supposed to kill her, but she's so sweet and pretty, he releases her instead.

Meanwhile, the Three Stooges are minstrels and con-men who are house-sitting for the Seven Dwarfs with their adopted son Quatro (Stroll). They come upon Snow White sleeping in the house and are all immediately taken by her beauty and kindness. Quatro falls hard for her, but fears they'll never be together, as she is a princess and he is a mere commoner. As it turns out, Quatro isn't what he seems. Snow White's original intended Prince Charming was kidnapped as a child and is also missing. The Queen will stop at nothing to make sure these two lovers and their comedian friends never end up on the throne...even becoming a hag and giving Snow White that poisoned apple...

The Song and Dance: The Stooges have some good routines here, especially while selling a phony cure-all tonic in a flashback sequence and during their brief tenures as chefs after they sneak into the castle. This is a rare chance to hear Mel Blanc in live-action as the voice of Quinto, Quatro's cheeky ventriloquist dummy. Medina and Guy Rolfe as her henchman Count Olga are wonderful villians, perfectly playing their roles to the absolute menacing hilt. The widescreen cinematography nicely shows off the elaborate Technicolor fairy-tale costumes and sets, including two ice ballets for Heiss.

Favorite Number: Heiss' ice ballets are a real treat, especially for skating fans. We get one in the opening with her and the chorus, "Once In a Million Years," and a darker dream ballet towards the end of the film when a grieving Snow White believes that Quatro has been killed. Blanc's little ditty for Quinto, "I'm In Love," is also cute.

What I Don't Like: Heiss and Stroll are stiff as boards as the fairy tale lovers, and were dubbed to boot. While it's nice to see the Stooges, there isn't nearly enough of them to justify their placement in the title of the film, and they're a bit subdued for them when they do appear. The Stooges' brand of knockabout comedy clashes badly with the romantic fantasy, and works even less well with the genuinely frightening villains. Considering that Heiss' ice-skating is the reason this movie exists, I'm surprised there's only two ice ballet numbers. I guess the writer's couldn't justify Snow White constantly skating.

The Big Finale: Intended as a children's attraction for the summer of 1961, it couldn't get enough families or Stooge fans into theaters and wound up as a fair-sized flop. Most major Stooge fans really hate this one, and the Stooges themselves weren't big fans.

I'm going to disagree with both. While it has its flaws, I mostly find this to be charming and fun, with some great ice-skating routines, two enjoyably hammy villains, and some of the better later-day Stooge routines. If you have princess-crazy little girls, are a figure-skating fan, or are a fan of the Stooges who is willing to try something a little different with the guys, this is worth checking out.

Home Media: This is another one with a cult following that makes it easily available on DVD and Amazon Prime. The DVD features a restored print with glorious color and the widescreen version on a flip-disc.

DVD
Amazon Prime