Starring Bing Crosby, Joan Bennett, Mary Boland, and Lynne Overmann
Directed by Frank Tuttle
Music by Harry Revel; Lyrics by Mack Gordon
Bing was at the height of his early success as a crooner when he made this short movie for Paramount. By this point, Paramount was beginning to codify just what Bing's movies were all about. They needed a goofy supporting cast, a girl for Bing to sing to (whether he actually gets her in the end or not), and some good songs that would make it on the hit parade. This was pretty much the prototype for Bing's vehicles during the 1930's. This may be the most typical of them. Just how does this confection about a songwriter who has to write a show for a demanding star in just a few days look now? Let's begin with Mrs. Smythe (Boland) as she tries to chase off a census-taker at her door and find out...
The Story: Mrs. Smythe has three sons by three different husbands, and they're trying to make ends meet by selling their songs. One day, as the eldest Gilbert Gordon (Crosby) is trying to perform a number for producer Alexander Myles (Maurice Cass) when a plane hits the tree he was singing next to. Gilbert ends up in the hospital, leading his mother to claim he was working on a musical and get $50,000 from the pilot.
Turns out the pilot's a woman, Bobbie Lockwood (Bennett), who can pay them 15 a week...but can also get them in to see her boss Harry Kling (Overmann), a Broadway producer. Kling's having a hard time finding a suitable musical for his actress girlfriend Lily Bianco (Thelma Todd) and thinks Gilbert's show would be perfect. Trouble is, Gilbert never wrote a show, but Kling thinks that the plane incident is the plot. He asks the butler Homps (Ernest Cossart) for ideas, and even starts a riot to get arrested. Even after he gets out, he gets into trouble with Bobbie and Kling when rehearsing a love scene with Lily and Kling walks out. It looks like the show won't go on, until his mother convinces a most unlikely backer to step forward.
The Song and Dance: For a movie lasting a little over an hour, this almost has more plot than Wicked: For Good! There's a lot going on here, including some genuinely good songs. Bing is charming as the eldest son who gets caught up in the lunacy, while Mary Boland is hilarious as his much-married mother who will do anything to get money for her boys. In fact, this has a bit more comedy than usual for one of Bing's movies, including that goofy sequence with the airplane drowning Bing out and how the riot in the nightclub gets started.
The Numbers: We open with Bing performing the title song over the credits. The brothers compose "Takes Two to Make a Bargain" as their mother deals with the census man. It includes several lines that are either spoofs of other songs, or referring to the piano being repossessed even as they work. Gilbert reprises it on the tree that gets drowned out by first a bee, then the airplane. He sings "From the Top of Your Head" to Bobbie while trying to come up with ideas for the play. The lovely ballad "Without a Word of Warning" is Gilbert's attempt to woo Bobbie, but she thinks he's interested in Lily. He performs "I Wish I Was Aladdin" with the prisoners while in jail in the film's only large-scale chorus number. Gilbert reprises "Word of Warning" near the end to win Bobbie back.
What I Don't Like: Um, yeah, for all the crazy stuff that happens, this is about as fluffy as you can get, even by the standards of 30's musicals. Bennett makes slightly more of an impression as strong-willed Bobbie than Todd as Lily, who doesn't have that much to do. The second half is far less interesting as the attempt to put on the show takes a backseat to Gilbert chasing Bobbie while Lily chases him.
The Big Finale: Harmless hour's worth of fun if you're a fan of Bing or Joan Bennett or want to check out a smaller-scale 30's musical.
Home Media: Maybe it's just as well that the only place you can currently find this one is on YouTube with Portuguese subtitles.
No comments:
Post a Comment