Saluting Our Veterans - Buck Privates

Universal, 1941

Starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Jane Frazee, and Lee Bowman

Directed by Arthur Lubin

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's rejoin Abbott and Costello for the next two weeks to check out one of their most popular movies and its post-war sequel. This was the duo's second movie, coming off their well-received work as second bananas in One Night In the Tropics. Universal saw their success there and decided they were ready for their close-ups. They gave them no less than one of the hottest singing groups in the country in 1940, the Andrews Sisters, in support, along with popular singer Frazee. How do they come off in this story of two tie salesmen who accidentally join the Army and get a lot more craziness than they bargained for, including getting involved with a love triangle? Let's begin with our salesmen, Slicker Smith (Abbott) and Herbie Brown (Costello), fleeing police officer Michael Collins (Nat Pendleton) and find out...

The Story: Slicker and Herbie accidentally enlist when they hide in a movie theater that's now being used as a recruitment office and think they're signing for door prizes. They're not the only ones who aren't happy about being in the services. Playboy Randolph Parker (Bowman) thinks his influential father will get him out of duty. His former valet, Bob Martin (Alan Curtis), takes his service far more seriously. 

They both end up falling for camp hostess Judy Gray (Frazee). Judy is disgusted by Randolph after he blows off a camp shooting contest to spend time with her, and the men in his unit are even angrier. Meanwhile, Slicker and Herbie are horrified to discover their sergeant is the very cop who chased them before! Needless to say, he doesn't make it easy for either of them, especially well-meaning Herbie. It takes Raymond's strategy in an army training battle and a big boxing match between Herbie and the camp boxing champ to prove to Judy and their sergeant that they all have what it takes to be real fighting men. 

The Song and Dance: No wonder this movie cemented Abbott and Costello's stardom. It's hilarious. Some of their funniest routines can be found here, including an expanded version of the drill sequence that Abbott and Costello had been performing for two years at that point. Lou in the ring is a riot, too. Frazee is pretty funny herself as the sarcastic hostess who doesn't think much of Randolph, and Pendleton nearly matches Bud and Lou as the police officer-turned-sergeant they're terrified of. It also has a pretty decent score for something Universal considered to be a B picture. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time" were such huge hits, they're still associated with the era and the Andrews Sisters to this day.

The Numbers: We open with a marching band playing "You're In the Army Now" at the recruiting office. Our first actual number brings in the Andrews Sisters with "You're a Lucky Fellow Mr. Smith" as the Camp Hostesses hand around apples and cigarettes to the recruits. The Sisters' high-energy "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" at the camp is a highlight of the movie. Judy tells recruits writing home to say "I Wish You Were There." Bob wishes she'd do more than just sing a letter. 

Herbie is joined by the kitchen staff, including the fussy Chef (Shemp Howard), to boast about what will happen "When Private Brown Becomes a Captain." "I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time" shows the Sisters in a more romantic mood. Their jaunty "Bounce Me Brother With a Solid Four" is our second big chorus number, this one showing off some genuinely amazing swing dancing. That marching band reprises "You're a Lucky Fellow" in the stirring finale. 

Trivia: Universal released this as a standard B musical and didn't have a lot of faith in it. They were totally flabbergasted when it took in over $4 million, the biggest hit of 1940 and one of the biggest hits ever at the studio. From then on, Universal knew what they had and promoted Abbott and Costello as two of their biggest attractions.

What I Don't Like: The storyline is pretty flimsy, even for Bud and Lou's movies. Bowman is supposed to be a roguish playboy, but he and Curtis are pretty much interchangeable (other than Bowman's mustache). They're so colorless and incidental to the plot, the romance is never resolved. They all just move on to officer training together, even Judy. To tell the truth, the movie was originally supposed to revolve around them, which is why Bud and Lou's routines occasionally feel a tad shoehorned into the plot.

The Big Finale: A must-see for fans of Abbott and Costello, the Andrews Sisters, or the big-band hits of the 1940's. 

Home Media: As one of Abbott and Costello's most popular vehicles, you can pretty easily find this on any format of your choosing.

DVD

Blu-Ray

DVD - The Best of Abbott & Costello Vol 1 

Amazon Prime

Election Day Special - Thanks a Million

20th Century Fox, 1935

Starring Dick Powell, Ann Dvorak, Fred Allen, and Patsy Kelly

Directed by Roy Del Ruth

Music by Arthur Johnston, Lyrics by Gus Kahn

While you wait for the election results to finish coming in, here's a really fun political fable to check out. With the super-charged political landscape of the 1930's, they did occasionally slip into musicals of the time. The very political Of Thee I Sing was such a hit, it won the Pulitzer. After that, politics became a slightly more common subject in musicals...but almost always played for comedy, as it is here. With Fox trying to find it's own musical footing in 1935, it borrowed a lot of Warners people, including Powell and Dvorak, for this tale of a crooner who finds himself tossing his hat into the ring and discover that corruption is nothing new. How does this look now, when show business people are a lot more common in politics? Let's start with a traveling show on a rainy night and find out...

The Story: Eric Land (Powell) and his girlfriend Sally Mason (Dvorak) are members of a musical troupe who are stranded in a small town on a rainy night. After their manager Ned Allen (Allen) sees local political candidate Judge Culliman (Raymond Walburn) struggling to retain an audience with his deadly boring speech. He suggests hiring his group to punch up his rallies. It works too well. The audience is more interested in the show and Eric's singing than Culliman's blathering about how long he's been in office. Eric is fired...until Culliman gets drunk and Eric has to go on for him. 

Eric is such a hit with the audience, Culliman's bosses ask him to take his place as their candidate. He does it to get the exposure for his singing career on radio and the stage, but his being constantly busy puts a strain on his relationship with Sally. She's not happy about him trying to butter up the wife of one of his handlers (Margaret Irving), either. He finally realizes just how deep he is into the ring when the members of his party try to make him appoint them to offices that would lead to easy graft and Sally thinks he's more interested in Mrs. Kruger and walks out. He finally uses his radio popularity to tell the public what those men are really doing, and get Sally back too.

The Song and Dance: This is almost kind of dark for the era. It's played for comedy, but Eric's punishing schedule is no joke. It's also surprisingly musical for the era. There are songs played at the rally and on the radio, yes, but there are also numbers that move the plot or characterization along. Powell is so charmingly unpretentious that you can understand why the public embraced him so quickly. Dvorak was normally a dramatic actress, and it gives her a bit of an edge most love interests in 30's musicals lack. Allen gets to take his radio wiseguy host schitck to film and has a lot of fun with Patsy Kelly as Sally's dance partner. 

The Numbers: We open with the Yacht Club Boys performing the title number in the tour bus as almost everyone else but Eric is passed out or doing something else. We even get a violin instrumental version. Allen leads the Calliman and the politicians in a rousing "Happy Days are Here Again" (which had been used by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his successful campaign in 1932). Kelly and Dvorak do a tap routine to a brief instrumental number. Eric's first big solo is the upbeat "I've Got a Pocketful of Sunshine." 

The politicians sing about their "Square Deal Party" backstage after the rally. Kelly and Dvorak sing about their "Sugar Plum" in sailor outfits while Culliman gets drunk at the next rally. The Yacht Club Boys join Eric for "Sittin' On the Hilltop" during his own campaign rally on the radio. The King's Men introduce Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra and pianist Ramona's bluesy number about "The Belle of New Orleans." Eric reprises "Thanks a Million" with Whiteman's Orchestra at the rally where he exposes his party. Everyone reprises "Square Deal Party" in the finale with the local cops accompanying them. 

What I Don't Like: If you're expecting a typical Busby Berkeley backstage romp with huge numbers and tons and tons of pretty girls, this isn't your show. The Whiteman numbers are as big as it gets. Other than "Pocketful of Sunshine," the music isn't all that memorable, either. Allen generally tended to come off better on TV and radio than on the big screen, where he can seem a bit abrasive. The very idea of a singer joining the political ring may have seemed novel in 1935...but nowadays, with an actor having even been president of the US, it now may be a bit too on the nose for some audiences.

The Big Finale: Fans of Powell, Allen, or small-scale 30's musicals will find much to enjoy in this unique mix of backstage and political shenanigans.

Home Media: Alas, this can only be found at press time on YouTube. 

YouTube

Happy Halloween! - I Kissed a Vampire

Monterey Media, 2010

Starring Lucas Grabeel, Adrian Slade, Drew Seely, and Amy Paffrath

Directed by Chris Nolan

Music by Frankie Blue; Lyrics by Frankie Blue and Chris Nolan

Let's celebrate the spookiest night of the year with a teen horror musical that's so bad, it's scary. Apparently, this began as a three-part iTunes webseries of the same title in 2009. That went over so well, it was expanded into full-on musical form in 2010 and was released briefly into theaters in 2012. It was dumped onto streaming and disc shortly afterwards. I'll be honest, I never even heard of this until I started digging around for horror musicals to review for Halloween this year. Is it a diamond in the rough, or should this blood sucker be defanged? Let's begin as Dylan Knight (Grabeel) explains how he was turned into a vampire to "para-psychologist" Dr. Lori Light (Lori Lively) and find out...

The Story: Dylan's not sure how to deal with any of this, and he doesn't like what it's doing to his relationship with his sweet girlfriend Sarah Lane (Slade). He's terrified that he might lose control and hurt her. She's not sure what to think, especially since he won't tell her what's going on. He's taken under the wing of vampire rock star Trey Sylvania (Seely), who has his own harem of groupies who are addicted to him. Dylan doesn't really want to have anything to do with him, his women, or being a vampire, but he keeps insisting on showing him a good time. It's even worse when Trey brings Sarah and Dylan to his own demonic club. He manages to place Sarah under his control and turn her into a vampire too.

Dylan is so horrified with how his beloved Sarah is changing into someone he doesn't know, he takes Dr. Light's advice and brings her to Dr. Dan Helsing (Chris Coppola). Helsing doesn't know about vampires, but he does know about venom and being bitten by things you don't want sinking their fangs into you. He agrees to make a potion that will change them back into ordinary humans, if he can get a drop of their blood. Trey, however, still has her in his power. He brings both of them to his home to turn her completely to his side. His head groupie Luna Dark (Paffrath) would rather turn her into a frog, but she still agrees to make her over. The groupies have less luck seducing Dylan, who just wants Sarah and his life back. He'll have to embrace his inner vampire and confront Trey on his terms if he's ever going to bring back his girlfriend.

The Song and Dance: I do give them credit for going a little scarier than Disney ever attempted in their ZOMBIES series. This isn't a bunch of monsters dancing around and having star-crossed romances. There's real blood and gore here, and we actually see the kids being turned into vampires. 

The Numbers: We open with Trey and his band telling Dylan "Welcome to the Underworld" in his nightmare. Sarah sings about how she feels like her boyfriend has become a "Forbidden Planet" as people dance around her at the fair grounds after a date goes badly. Dylan just wants Trey to get "Outta My Head." He and Luna sing about how "Love's In Vein" at the club. All Dylan needs is just a "Little Peck" to get Sarah out of Trey's arms. Sarah explains how she needs "Just a Drop" of red to a horrified Dylan as they dance in a local steak house, and the diners dance along. "Be the Bite," says Trey. Sarah encourages Dylan to just give Dr. Helsing and his crazy potions a "Try." 

"Poison Is My Passion," Helsing explains to the kids when they ask him to make them human again. Those vampires are "Out for Blood," and all they need is a drop for that potion. They need to do it quick, because Trey can still "Feel U" and still has Sarah in his power. "I'd Kill for U," Trey tells Luna, even though they can't die. He encourages Luna and the groupies to make Sarah into a "Shiny New Vampire." Dylan is less thrilled to "Dance With Darkness" when Desiree Damned (Emily Morris) makes a play for him. Trey sings his "Forbidden Ballad" with Sarah as he pulls her further and further into his thrall. Helsing tells Dylan he has to "Dig Down Deep" to really feel Sarah. The movie ends as Sarah and Dylan live "Happily Afterlife" and embrace their vampirism in the finale under the closing credits.

What I Don't Like: This is almost more of a cheap B movie than Up In the Air. At least that made sense. There's plot holes galore here, especially if, like me, you haven't seen the web series this is based on. They barely explain how Dylan became a vampire in the first place. The dancing is terrible, with people barely moving in formation, and the filming is worse. Nolan tends to focus on the singer and not the group, which means we frequently don't get to see what half the dancers are doing. Grabeel's whiny Dylan loses any charm points he might have picked up in the High School Musical films and is too sweet to be a brooding vampire. Luna hints about Trey being the "Prince of Darkness," but they don't really go further into it. Trey's a flat-out jerk, to the point where you wonder how all those groupies can stand to be around him, and Slade is blank and has little to do even when she's not in a vampire's thrall. The music is silly, bland, and not at all memorable. 

The Big Finale: Only for the most ardent 13-15-year-old horror or High School Musical enthusiasts. Anyone else can pass this blood sucker by without another thought. There are better ways to spend your Halloween.

Home Media: Can be found all over streaming. Tubi currently has it for free with commercials. The DVD isn't that cheap at press time.

DVD

Tubi

Up In the Air (1940)

Monogram Pictures, 1940

Starring Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland, Marjorie Reynolds, and Gordon Jones

Directed by Howard Bretherton

Music and Lyrics by various

Our first Halloween musical takes us back into B-territory for this radio-set thriller. We saw the funny side of the big radio business with Wake Up and Live, but this one gives us another common radio genre - the mystery. Whether private eye yarns like I Love a Mystery or Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar or thriller anthologies like Lights Out or Inner Sanctum, radio probably did mysteries better than any other genre save soap operas. Darro had been bouncing around the studios since he was a child actor in the early 30's, but he found his niche at Monogram in the late 30's and 40's playing wise guys and tough youngsters. Here, he and popular black comedian Moreland play two comedians whose chance at radio stardom may end up being compromised by a murderer loose at the station. Let's start at the building that houses Amalgamated Broadcasting Company in Los Angeles and see how all of this plays out...

The Story: Frankie Ryan (Darro) is smitten with the station's receptionist Anne Mason (Reynolds), to the point where he even sets up a fake audition so the manager B.J Hastings (Dick Elliot) can hear hear sing. He's just a page right now, but he and his porter buddy Jeff Jefferson (Moreland) really want to be comedians with their own show. Hastings has his own problems. The station's diva singer and top draw, Rita Wilson (Lorna Gray), was killed when the lights went out during a rehearsal of her show. Detective Lieutenant Marty Philips (Clyde Dilson) first thinks country singer Tex Barton (Jones) did the dirty deed. When he too is killed, Frankie and Jeff break into his room and discover evidence that seemingly incriminates Anne. The two have to find out who really did it, before Anne's career in show business ends even more abruptly than Rita's, and they all end up dead or in jail.

The Song and Dance: Moreland and Darro are really the ones who carry this hilarious and occasionally twisty mystery. Dilson does have some good moments as the cop who wishes Frankie would pipe down and let him do his job. Ralph Peters may be even funnier as his dim-witted partner Detective Delany. Jones is charming and sings well enough in his brief number to make you regret when he's taken out half-way through the movie. 

The Numbers: We start off with that fake audition, the jaunty "By the Looks of Things" for Anne. "Doin' the Conga" is heard twice. Rita starts singing it at the rehearsal, but is cut off when the lights go out. Anne finally gets through the whole song in the finale. Jeff gets a brief but very cute soft-shoe dance to an instrumental number about half-way through as he and Frankie discuss their act. Barton auditions with the traditional "Bury Me Not In the Lone Prairie." Anne's other big solo is her actual audition, the ballad "Somehow or Other."

What I Don't Like: On one hand, just a black man and a white man doing a routine together as equal partners is a surprise for 1940. Jeff even protests doing a stereotypical accent at one point. However, their routine is pretty stereotypical, and it's even worse when Frankie ends up in blackface at one point. For all Frankie's affection for her, Anne doesn't have much to do besides her numbers. While I do appreciate the twist in the end, I kind of wish it didn't feel so last-moment. You probably won't guess who the killer is from the clues given. Even Frankie admitted he didn't. 

The Big Finale: If you can deal with some of the dated humor and content, this isn't a bad way to spend an hour for fans of vintage mysteries or small-scale 40's musicals.

Home Media: Easy to find pretty much anywhere online, usually for free with commercials.

Tubi

Those Redheads from Seattle

Paramount/Pine-Thomas Productions, 1953

Starring Rhonda Fleming, Gene Barry, Teresa Brewer, and Agnes Moorehead

Directed by Lewis R. Foster

Music and Lyrics by various

This is another lesser-known film with a lot of history behind it. It was the only musical made by Paramount's B-movie unit Pine-Thomas, and one of their most lavish productions up to that point. Along with the Technicolor, it reflected another major trend of the time. Movie makers had experimented with 3-D films - that is, making a film look like it had three dimensions and could jump off the screen - since the dawn of cinema, but it really took off after innovations in the 50's made the images easier to watch, even in the cardboard-and-plastic glasses required for the effect. 

Leading lady Fleming had become known both for 3-D and Technicolor by the time Pine-Thomas put together what would become the screen's first 3-D musical, beating MGM's Kiss Me Kate to theaters by a month. Brewer, who was one of the most popular singers in the country in the early 50's, was snapped up after Arlene Dahl fell through. How do they and Barry fit into the story of the redheads of the title who make their way in the gold-rush Alaska of 1898? Let's begin in Alaska as a man is killed and find out...

The Story: That man is Vance Edmonds (Frank Wilcox), the owner of the newspaper in Fairbanks. His wife (Moorehead) and their four daughters come down from Seattle to live with him, only to find he's dead and they have no money. Oldest daughter Katherine (Fleming) takes over her father's position as the head of the paper. Middle daughter Patricia (Brewer) is determined to sing on the stage. Connie (Cynthia Bell) nurses the men hurt in gunfights. Youngest Nell (Kay Bell) is more interested in taking care of her many kittens than a career. 

Katherine is convinced that shady Johnny Kisko (Barry), the owner of the Fairbanks saloon, killed her father. She fills her newspaper with articles speaking out against him and corruption in general. Her mother is shocked with Pat, desperate for a singing career, takes a job at the saloon. Katherine agrees to marry the kindly Reverend Louis Petrie (William Pullen), despite her not really loving him. Pat, despite being shunned by her family, knows who is really responsible for their father's death. Katherine ends up pursuing Johnny across the snow-covered Alaskan landscape to save him from being attacked by his partner Joe Keenan (Guy Mitchell), who isn't as innocent as his clear-as-a bell singing voice.

The Song and Dance: This wound up being a real surprise. It's a robust, enjoyable north-western with a strong plot and a great cast. Fleming is as fiery as her hair as the crusading journalist who is determined to take down her father's murderer, even if she doesn't check all the facts first. Barry oozes smarmy charm as Johnny. Brewer, in her only movie, isn't at their level, but is funny enough, especially in her numbers. The brilliant color and gorgeous costumes leap off the screen even without the 3-D gimmick. 

The Numbers: Our first song isn't until nearly 10 minutes into the movie, but it's Pat singing "Mr. Banjo Man" in her blue petticoat and undergarments. Connie and Katie are shocked at first, but Pat eventually has them joining in, wearing rouge and doing can-cans too. Connie and Nell perform a spoof of old-time melodrama at a family party, "Take Back Your Gold." We don't get another number until almost mid-way though the movie, but it's our first chorus routine at the saloon, Joe's lively "Chick-a-Boom." Brewer ended up having a hit with the second saloon chorus number. "Baby, Baby, Baby" is more unique, with Pat stepping out of a curtain lined with lovely lady arms and legs clad in sherbet-colored gloves and stockings. Despite the romantic backdrop and Joe handing her a bouquet, Pat's not really feeling "I Guess It Was You All the Time" after her family shuns her.

Trivia: This was Paramount's first wide-screen movie. 

There was to have been a duet for Barry and Fleming at the campfire during the sled trip, "Once More," but it was cut from the film for time.

This would be Brewer's only movie, and the first of two movies for the Bell Sisters. 

What I Don't Like: It's the backdrops that reveal this movie's B-origins all too plainly. The "Alaskan snow fields" are frequently projected backgrounds and look as fake as they are, especially on modern TVs and computers. Despite this being 3-D, you'd never know it from how flat this all is. Frankly, the ending seems way too sudden. Katie's about-face on Johnny comes too little, too late. She goes from wanting to see him hanged to chasing after him almost in the blink of an eye. Despite the popularity of "Baby, Baby, Baby," the music is no great shakes...and I really wish this could have been even more of a musical, with more numbers for the sisters together and "Once More" restored to show just when Katie started to have feelings for Johnny. 

The Big Finale: A surprising gem with a lot to offer for fans of Brewer, Fleming, or the rousing Technicolor westerns and historical musicals of the 1950's. 

Home Media: Kino Lorber restored the 3-D version on disc in 2017, though DVD and Blu-Ray are both on currently on the pricey side. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

Bright Lights (1930)

First National/Warner Bros, 1930

Starring Dorothy Mackaill, Frank Fay, Noah Beery, and Frank McHugh

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Music and Lyrics by various

I know I said two weeks ago that I would cover The Magic of Lassie, but I thought a cozy family film felt more suitable for next month. We're bumping that in favor of something slightly darker from the early talkie era. Dorothy Mackaill started out dancing in the chorus in her native England and in Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic revue before moving to Hollywood. By 1930, she was one of the top stars at First National, having made a smooth transition to sound the year before in The Barker. Warners was also still trying to push veteran master of ceremonies Frank Fay as a leading man after their revue Show of Shows. How well do he and Mackaill do with this unique blend of backstage numbers and murder mystery? Let's begin on opening night of the Broadway show Bright Lights outside of the Savoy Theater and find out...

The Story: Louanne (Mackaill) is on the verge of marrying wealthy Emerson Fairchild ( instead of the man she really loves, her co-star in the show Wally Dean (Fay). She tells all the reporters there to interview her, including very drunk Fish (McHugh), the story of her life...or claims she does. In reality, she started out as a singer and dancer in a low-class cafe until Portuguese smuggler Miguel Parada (Beery) attacked her. Wally manages to save her from a riot. He gives her a job dancing the hula in his side show act and once again saves her life. 

Miguel turns up at the theater, still leering at her and claiming he has "unfinished business." Wally turns up, pretending to have a gun. Trouble is, Manuel has a real one, and he's not messing around. Wally's friend Connie (James Murray) is supposed to watch him, but Manuel turns the gun on him instead. When he's killed in the ensuing brawl, Wally, Louanne, Connie, and Fish have to do some quick thinking in order to convince the police that Miguel's death was nothing more than the suicide of a criminal.

The Song and Dance: For all the song and dance, this is actually a fairly dark story for the early talkie era. It's definitely one of the more original early backstage tales. Mackaill shows why she was able to transition easily into talkies with her decent dancing and charming slightly British accent (even if her singing isn't the best). McHugh has some good moments as the reporter who questions her story and may not be quite as drunk as he appears at first. There's at least one good song, too, Fay's jaunty ballad "Nobody Cares If I'm Blue." 

The Numbers: We see the audience arriving for the big opener "Wall Street." In some ways, this almost seems like a run-up to the finale of "42nd Street" a few years later. Inez Courtney taps, fake money flies through the air, and we even get some overhead dance formations at one point. Louanne tells the reporters that she was interested in "wildlife" as a child...and then we see the wildlife that really interested her, an audience of leering South African traders eagerly ogling her as she performs the bluesy "Song of the Congo." Wally gets the film's best number as his solo at the low-down club, "Nobody Cares If I'm Blue." 

Louanne's friend Peggy North (Inez Courtney) gets "Every Little Girl He Sees," an odd tribute to college musicals with the chorus in letter sweaters and pulling out college pennants. The African motif returns for the big chorus routine "I'm Crazy for Cannibal Love," complete with chorus girls hauling spears and shields in huge feathered headdresses. The chorus girls kick behind Wally during "All the Pretty Girls I Know"...which is interrupted by the sound of a gun shot backstage. Louanne starts out in a top hat and cane dancing with chorus girls in "Man About Town," but she eventually comes back in a gown to dance with chorus boys. 

Trivia: This was originally filmed in Technicolor, but only a fragment of the original color exists. Current copies (including the ones on Tubi and on the Warner Archives DVD) are in black and white.

What I Don't Like: Other than "Nobody Cares If I'm Blue," most of the songs are up tempo dance routines that pretty much blend into one another. Fay is a problem. He does do well by "Blue," but otherwise is nowhere near Mackaill or Beery's levels and frankly comes off as whiny and annoying. Courtney doesn't have that much to do besides her numbers until she joins the others in lying to the police to save Louanne in the end. There's the loss of the color, too. It makes everyone look like over painted figurines, especially the men.

The Big Finale: Mackaill and the relatively unique story makes this worth checking out for fans of early talkie musicals or backstage yarns.

Home Media: On Warner Archives DVD paired with another Dorothy Mackaill late 20's-early 30's feature, The Reckless Hour. It being in the public domain means it's now all over streaming, too.

DVD - Dorothy Mackaill Pre-Code Double Feature: The Reckless Hour/Bright Lights

Tubi

Family Fun Musicals - So Dear to My Heart

Disney/RKO, 1948

Starring Bobby Driscoll, Beluah Bondi, Burl Ives, and Luana Patten

Directed by Harold D. Schuster and Hamilton Luske

Music and Lyrics by various

First of all, Musical Dreams Movie Reviews will be going on hiatus next week for vacation. Reviews will resume October 8th with another lesser-known family film, The Magic of Lassie. 

With that out of the way, let's get to our last review before vacation. So Dear to My Heart was dear to Walt Disney in many ways. Its Midwestern setting reflected his own early 1900's childhood in Missouri and brought back happy memories on his family's farm with his brother. He wanted it to be fully live-action, but RKO, his distributor at the time, insisted Disney was too associated with animation. The short cartoon sequences here wound up being the compromise. It was a hit at the time, but how does it look today, when less rosy Disney films - in live-action and animation and both - have come and gone? Let's begin as so many fully animated Disney films do, with a beautiful old book opening. This one is found in a musty, dusty attic, and it's not a storybook, but a scrapbook that once belonged to young Jeremiah Kincaid (Driscoll) filled with all his dreams and hopes as a young lad growing up in early 1900's Indiana.

The Story: One of those hopes is to someday own a champion race horse like Dan Patch. His practical Granny (Bondi) would rather he focus on his chores in the here and now. Jerry thinks he's found a way to make his dream come true when he adopts a black lamb that was rejected by its mother. He even names him Danny. He wants Danny to win a blue ribbon at the county fair, but his grandmother and Uncle Hiram (Ives) don't have the money for a train. He and his friend Tildy (Patten) do manage to find honey to sell for the tickets, but then Tlldy gets lost and Danny runs away. 

Granny scolds Jerry for putting the awards he could win with Danny over the welfare of his friend and his pet. She finally realizes how much he loves Danny when he does find him and claims he'd be ready to give up his dreams to find his pet. Even after they make it to the fair, Danny's still making trouble...but it's the judge at the fair (Harry Carey) who realizes just how special the little lamb is, whether he's black, white, or any color in between.

The Animation: Looks pretty much like the package films released in the late 40's. It's colorful, the owl moves well, and the animation does at least somewhat resemble the cut-out "scraps" in Jerry's book. It's not the most lavish animation they ever did, not even to the degree of their previous live action/animated hybrid Song of the South, but it works with the film. 

The Song and Dance: I don't know why Disney doesn't pay more attention to this one. This is such a charming movie! As adorable as the kids are, Bondi and Ives are the real stand-outs as the crusty old woman who wishes her grandson would focus on practical matters and her laid-back brother. They have so much fun with "Lavender Blue" and dancing with the kids afterwards, no wonder "Blue" was nominated for an Oscar. 

The Numbers: We begin with our first animated sequence, which illustrates the seasons John Beal croons about in the title song via the scraps in Jerry's book. Uncle Hiram briefly sings "Ol' Dan Patch" as he drives the kids home in his wagon after seeing the famous race horse. Our first of three animated sequences with the Old Wise Owl who illustrates sayings is the catchy "It's Whatcha Do With What You Got." The Owl assures the animated Danny by reminding him David once toppled giants despite being smaller. 

Hiram attempts to put his sister in a better frame of mind about the fair with the lovely ballad "Lavender Blue." Granny joins him for "Where Have You Been, Billy Boy?" (in a far more attractive voice than you might think), and they grab the kids for a hilarious square dance around the cabin. When Granny still won't let him go to the fair, he once again imagines Wise Old Owl singing stories. This time, he talks about men with "Stick-it-Tivity" like Christopher Columbus and Robert Bruce. Wise Old Owl also joins the animated bird chorus to herald their arrival at the "County Fair." The film ends with a reprise of "It's Whatcha Do With Whatcha Got." 

Trivia: Last film of Harry Carey. The movie was filmed in 1946, but he was long gone by the time it finally made it into theaters early in 1949. 

First feature-length film to run on The Disney Channel, which is how I heard of this in the first place. I remember it ran a lot on The Disney Channel in the 80's and early 90's. 

What I Don't Like: This is a very sentimental and nostalgic story.  If you don't feel the same way Walt did about sentiment or the rosy past, you probably won't be into this. I don't know how much young kids would be into it today, despite the cute lamb. The animated sequences are cute for what they are, but too brief. Song of the South did far more with its animated characters. The movie also pushes its religious convictions and Danny being an outsider because of his black wool a bit hard, and both might be a tiny bit uncomfortable for some audiences nowadays. 

The Big Finale: A sweet underrated gem from Disney that really should be better-known nowadays. If you think your kids can handle the slow pace and the storm sequence, give this one a try.

Home Media: Alas, to date, the only way you can get this one in North America is on streaming (and surprisingly, not on Disney Plus). The discs were released exclusively through the Disney Movie Club and can be hard to find today.

Amazon Prime

YouTube

Cult Flops - Dancing Pirate

RKO/Pioneer Pictures, 1936

Starring Charles Collins, Steffi Duna, Frank Morgan, and Luis Alberni

Directed by Lloyd Corrigan

Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Lorenz Hart

Now for one of the most peculiar cult flops I've ever seen. It's not scary, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or inherently offensive or badly made, like Golden Dawn. In fact, it's history. This was the second feature-length film made in two-strip Technicolor after the comedy Becky Sharp in 1935, and the first musical. In a way, this odd little film could be thought of as the ancestor of all those MGM and 20th Century Fox Technicolor extravaganzas set in the past that flooded theaters in the 40's and 50's. How well does the story of a dancing teacher in 1820's Boston who ends up literally teaching dance to Spanish ladies to save his life look nowadays? Let's begin in Boston, as dancing master Jonathan Pride (Collins) teaches the well-to-do of the city how to dance the scandalous waltz, and find out...

The Story: Jonathan is supposed to be on his way to visit a relative, but he's shanghaied by pirates and is forced to work for them. He manages to escape off the coast of Spanish California, where the overly anxious residents of a small town think he's a pirate and they're being invaded. It doesn't help that he ends up in the home of the town's mayor Don Emilio Perena (Morgan) and Perena's niece Serafina (Duna) thinks he's after her. 

Don Emilio and the town jailer Pamfilo (Alberni) order him hung, until he shows them what he can do. Serafina insists on waltzing lessons. She protests how close they are at first, but gradually falls in love with Jonathan. Trouble is, she already has a suitor, the wealthy Captain of the Guards Don Balthazar (Victor Varconi). What they don't know is Don Balthazar was fired from the Army and is looking to loot the town with his men. Jonathan rounds up the local Native population, using a war dance to convince them that the best way to get what everyone wants is to clear out this phony before he marries Serefina and his men take over the town.

The Song and Dance: There's a lot to like here. For one thing, I'm glad they found the color in 2015 after it was lost for 80 years. The color copy currently on Tubi is stunning, a decent restoration with colors that really pop. For another, this is one of the most unique musicals I've ever seen. You just don't see a lot of movies, let alone musicals, that combine pirates (briefly), Native uprisings, swashbuckling heroics, big chorus numbers, bandits, mistaken identity, and a historical setting that doesn't often turn up outside of the Zorro franchise. The dancing genuinely is that good, especially Jonathan's solos. 

The Numbers: We open in Jonathan's Boston dance studio with his students doing awkward waltzing to a tinkling music box. Jonathan does a solo to an instrumental "Yankee Doodle" to show them how it's done. He literally dances for his life to prove that he's a dancing teacher on the noose platform as the mayor and jailer want to hang him just for some excitement. Serefina performs "Are You My Love?" outside Jonathan's door and in her room as they both prepare for the dancing lesson. Jonathan is so impressed with her flamenco solo to a Spanish-language song that he wonders why she needs to learn dance from him. 

He does teach her the waltz using his music box, but the moment he touches her waist, she thinks he's being improper, and he ends up back in jail. She finally works on it with her servant and realizes that it's dancing, not impropriety. He sings "When You're Dancing the Waltz" to her in a moonlit courtyard...and they're so lovely, everyone in the town joins in and turns it into a huge production number. Jonathan's "War Dance" is contrasted to the pious Spanish hymn the townspeople perform as they enter the church for Serefina and Don Balthazar's wedding. The move ends with another lavish, cape-flourishing chorus number to "When You're Dancing the Waltz." 

What I Don't Like: This can get a little too unique at times. It feels like a mish-mash of ideas someone just threw together that would look nice in color. Despite the title, the pirates appear for all of five minutes in the beginning of the movie. We have the townspeople continually insisting that Jonathan is a pirate, despite his protests to the contrary, Jonathan teaching the ladies to dance, and when Don Balthazar and his men show up in the second half. That would be enough for three normal historical musicals, and none of those stories really have much to do with one another. 

Not to mention, for a movie called Dancing Pirate, there could have been a lot more music. There are only two Rodgers and Hart songs, both of which are far from the team's best work, two major chorus numbers, and three solos, two for Jonathan, one for Serefina. There's also the simple fact that I can understand why Collins would only do a few more films after this, and only one with any kind of starring role. He is a wonderful dancer and is charming enough, but he's also kind of dull for a man whose dancing sparks a Native uprising.

The Big Finale: Interesting curiosity if you want to learn more about color and dance on the screen, but nothing you need to go out of your way for.

Home Media: It's in the public domain, and both color and black and white versions are easy to find. (The color version at Tubi is missing a few minutes, for some reason, but the copy is decent.)

DVD

Blu-Ray

Tubi - Color Version

Tubi- Black and White Version

Back to School Again - High School Hero

Monogram, 1946

Starring Freddie Stewart, June Preissler, Noel Neill, and Jackie Moran

Directed by Arthur Dreifuss

Music and Lyrics by various 

Let's go back to school with the Teen-Agers in this B-comedy. Drive-in fodder for teens goes back way further than the Beach Party films. Monogram created this series directly for this new breed of consumer. The war years gave teens a life of their own, with their own language, clothes styles, and culture, which exploded in the late 40's and 50's along with the population. This would be the third of four films in this series. We covered the first, Junior Prom, back in 2022. How does the football season at Whitney High look nowadays? Let's begin with that fateful game and find out...

The Story: Actually, Whitney's team is terrible. They lack a star player like Fairview's Jimmy Forrest (Jackie Moran) and keep losing to their rivals. Not only that, but the school's newspaper may shut down due to lack of circulation, and Professor Townley (Milton Kibbee) wants to replace the student performers with professionals at the school bazaar. Freddie goes to Jan Savitt (himself) and his singer Chi-Chi (Lita Baron) for help. Jan thinks he's there to be his next singer and convinces Chi-Chi to make him fall in love with her. 

Meanwhile, Freddie and his best friend Lee Roberts (Warren Mills) sees Freddie's girl Dodie (Preissler) knock every guy on the field over when she thinks he's two-timing her and convinces her to join the team and play in his place. This works until Dodie's reporter sister Betty (Neill) gets photos of her, of Freddie with Chi-Chi, and of the governor with all of them and reveals the deception. Now Dodie and all of the kids have to figure out how to win the big game against Fairview without Dodie, convince the governor (Pierre Watkin) that they mean no harm, and get them all back into that big student show, before they all end up expelled.

The Song and Dance: For all that the so-called "kids" are way too old for their roles, there's still a lot of talent to be found here. I do like that a girl ends up saving the football team and comes up with the idea that wins the game in a plot that pre-dates the college football comedy Necessary Roughness by almost 50 years. Preissler has way too much fun off and on the field, especially shoving all those guys aside to get to her man! Anne Rooney as the youngest Rodgers sister gets her own mildly amusing subplot spouting half-baked psychology theories after she falls for her psychology teacher (Leonard Penn). 

The Numbers: We open with "Fairview March" as Fairview High celebrates its big win over hapless Whitney and its big star Jimmy Forrest. Freddie Slack and his Orchestra play the jivin' instrumental "Southpaw Serenade" after two kids put a nickel in the jukebox and dream about him and his musicians. "Football Frolics" pits the girls against the boys in a mock dance football game. (Girls win, by the way.) Freddie sings "You're Just What I Crave" to Dodie when they're out on a date at the Teen Canteen. Chi-Chi sings and wiggles her hips in a glittery dress to "Mi Caballo" with Jan Savitt's band. The majorettes perform a brief march and toss the batons routine to "Whitney Victory March," which becomes a number for the football team when they use their dance moves to confuse Fairview. The film ends with a reprise of "Whitney Victor March" and "Fairview March" as both schools celebrate Whitney's win together in a last big chorus number at the bazaar.

What I Don't Like: Uh, yeah, this is about as cheap of a B-movie as you can get. None of the kids look remotely like high schoolers or football players. (I'm pretty sure Frankie Darro was pushing 30 by this point, though at least he has less to do in this movie than he did in Junior Prom.) The story is even skimpier than the student body elections in Junior Prom. The subplot with Chi-Chi just seems stuffed in to get a nightclub routine and a little more glamour than most teens could provide in there.

The Big Finale: Ehh, same deal. Recommended for a few catchy numbers if you need a way to pass an hour after school or background noise on while your kids are doing homework. 

Home Media: To my knowledge, the Teen-Agers films are currently streaming only.

Tubi

Happy Labor Day! - Wake Up and Live

20th Century Fox, 1937

Starring Jack Haley, Alice Faye, Ben Bernie, and Walter Winchell

Directed by Sidney Lanfield

Music by Harry Revel; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

We celebrate journalists, gossip columnists, and those who work on the radio to keep us entertained and informed this week as we head into Labor Day. Comic rivalries, real and fictional, abounded on radio in the 30's and 40's as people listened in to hear just how long two opposites could keep tossing quips at one another. In real life, orchestra leader Ben Bernie and gossip hound Walter Winchell were close friends, but they started up a fictional feud on the radio. Not only did it net them both more attention, but it got to be so huge, it outgrew the airwaves. Fox finally made this movie based on their ongoing feud not only to bolster them, but as a showcase for their newest singing star, Alice Faye. How does this farce about a nervous young singer who gets more help overcoming mic fright than he bargained for look nowadays? We open at the nightclub belonging to Ben Bernie (himself) and a barrage of mildly insulting quotes from his buddy Winchell (himself) on a poster outside, then move inside to find out...

The Story: Eddie Kane (Haley) and his partner Jean Roberts (Grace Bradley) arrive in New York to audition for the radio. Unfortunately, Eddie's rejected when he develops severe fear of the microphone. Jean forms her own act, and Eddie gets a job as an usher at the station. He befriends Alice Huntley (Faye), the host of the self-help show Wake Up and Live, in order to conquer his fear of the mics. 

One day while alone in a studio, he sings into what he thinks is a dead mic. Turns out this microphone is very much live...and Eddie's golden voice ends up going out over the airwaves. He's a sensation as everyone wants to know who this "Phantom Troubadour" is, especially Bernie and Winchell! Alice figures it out and tells the radio station she'll set up broadcasts of his voice for a bigger salary. Trouble is, first, Eddie and Alice fall for each other, then a lot of people who are a lot less pleasant than even dogged Winchell and Bernie get involved with trying to find this unknown singer, including Jean and her manager Gus Avery (Walter Catlett) and Eddie's sister and Winchell's secretary Patsy (Patsy Kelly) and Winchell's dour assistant Steve (Ned Sparks).

The Song and Dance: This is a lot more fun than you might think from the goofy premise. Haley's adorable as the sweet singer whose golden voice causes all the trouble, and Faye plays off him nicely as the motivational speaker whose kind encouragement hides a will of steel. Bernie and Winchell do get a few good quips in, naturally at each other's expense, and Patsy Kelly has nearly as much fun trying to help them figure out what's going on here. Revel and Gordon's music is lovely; "There's a Lull In My Life" became a jazz standard. 

The Numbers: We open at Bernie's club with an instrumental number featuring some nifty fast tap dancing from the Condos Brothers. We hear "Oh, But I'm Happy" the first time when Jean and Eddie attempt their audition and Eddie suffers from his attack of mic fright. Jean ends up singing "I'm Bubbling Over" with two other young ladies on her own at a nightclub. Alice performs the title song for the first time as theme song of her radio show. Ben Bernie and his male singers give us a commercial jingle for "Red Seal Malt" before the Condos Brothers return with another fast tap routine, this time sitting down. 

The song that Eddie inadvertently performs for the entire listening audience is the ballad "Never In a Million Years." Bernie trots out a masked singer to reprise "Never In a Million Years" on his show, but Winchell figures out it isn't the real deal almost immediately. Eddie sings "It's Swell of You" for Alice...which is when she realizes he's the Phantom Troubadour. Eddie reprises the title song with her as it goes out over Bernie's show. Eddie sings "Camptown Races" with the audience as Eddie brings the man next to him up to Winchell...who turns out to hardly be a singer. 

Joan Davis does a hilarious Spanish spoof number "I Love You Much Too Much Muchacha" at Bernie's club with the chorus, and then basically flings a partner around with a filmy scarf. Alice gets to introduce the big hit from this one in an attempt to get Eddie back, the gorgeous ballad "There's a Lull In My Life." Eddie finally reprises the title song when he manages to get into the club. The movie ends with Eddie and Alice briefly reprising "Never In a Million Years," Jean telling Gus that she's not really "Bubbling Over," and Patsy trying to charge Steve's batteries with "There's a Lull In My Life," and Bernie and Winchell finally singing "It's Swell of You." 

Trivia: Haley was dubbed by crooner Bobby Clark.

There was a semi-sequel also featuring Bernie and Winchell later in the year, Love and Hisses. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, why was Haley dubbed? He was a genuinely good singer. Second, as you may have noticed, the story is pretty silly, and not the strongest in the universe. It's also very topical. If you don't know who Bernie and Winchell were or know anything about their radio feud or old time radio in general, you might not get as much out of this. 

The Big Finale: For all of Winchell and Bernie's sniping at each other, this ended up being surprisingly adorable. Highly recommended for fans of Faye, Haley, old-time radio, or the big Fox musicals of the 30's and 40's. 

Home Media: Alas, the only place you can currently find this one is on YouTube. 

YouTube

A Salute to Dolly Parton - Blue Valley Songbird

Lifetime, 1999

Starring Dolly Parton, John Terry, Billy Dean, and Beth Grant

Directed by Richard A. Colla

Music and Lyrics by Dolly Pardon and others

We salute one of the true originals of country music with this down-home musical drama. Lifetime began in 1984 as a merger of two earlier cable channels, carrying health and medical-related programming. They switched to talk shows after a year, and by the late 80's, were the home on cable for women-related programming. Parton made this movie with them in 1999, when they were at the height of their popularity as the place for movies and programming with women and their lives in mind. While Dolly wasn't as successful as she had been in the 1980's, she continued to steadily release albums and had even been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame that year. How does she do in this melodrama inspired by the title song off her album Hungry Again? Let's begin with singer Leanna Taylor (Pardon) flirting with a cop as she rushes to a concert and find out...

The Story: Leanna has been playing with her band and her manager and boyfriend Hank (Terry) for fifteen years. Hank is jealous and controlling, refusing to let Leanna chose anything from her songs to where she plays. She's been falling for her guitarist and fellow songwriter Bobby Grissom (Dean), who was working on a number with her. Hank's not thrilled when he sees their chemistry onstage and fires Bobby. 

Meanwhile, Leanna is also coming to terms with the death of her father (Bob Morrison) and her mother Ora (Peggy Walton-Walker) not having responded to her letters. Leanna's father was abusive and domineering, refusing to let her sing for anyone but him. She wouldn't even go to his funeral. It's not until Hank's friend Ruby (Grant), who owns the restaurant where Leanna plays frequently, talks to a major producer Leanna once knew that she begins to realize how much she's let Hank take over her life, and where hear heart really lays.

The Song and Dance: Parton and her music are really the only reasons to see this southern-fried melodrama. Even with her strange orange-ish hair, Parton always gives 100 percent to even the corniest lines. There are some nice songs here, and with her producing as well as starring in this movie, it goes without saying that the music comes across well. I also like Kimberly Kates as a band member's pregnant wife who constantly worries he'll stray on the road. 

The Numbers: Our first number takes us onstage at Ruby's, with Leanna and her band performing "I Hope You're Never Happy." She and Bobby first work on "We Might Be In Love" at her home. They perform the traditional "Angel Band" onstage while remembering how she first sang it in her church in Blue Valley as a teen. It's when Leanna and Bobby perform "We Might Be Love" onstage that Hank realizes his lady is in love with someone else. Unfortunately, her zither version of "Wildflowers" onstage is cut off before we hear all of it. She performs "My Blue Tears" onstage a little later and a bit of "Amazing Grace" when she finally brings herself to see her father's grave. She and Bobby duet on "Runaway Feeling" after he returns to the band. We hear her recording the title song in the finale.

What I Don't Like: Parton and her music are really the only things that stand out. The cliches run hard and heavy, especially in the second half, when she's trying to come to terms to losing a father she wasn't even sure she loved. Neither Dean nor Terry are especially compelling or interesting, making you wonder why Leanna would stay with either of them. The production is obviously a cheap cable movie; the songs are pretty much a matter of Dolly bringing her own recent material. 

The Big Finale: This dull melodrama is for true fans of Dolly and Lifetime romance movies only. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, the latter often free with commercials.

DVD

Tubi

Musicals On TV - Camp Rock 3

Disney, 2026

Starring Liamani Segura, Hudson Stone, Sherry Cola, and Malachi Barton

Directed by Veronica Rodriguez

Music and Lyrics by various 

The Camp Rock movies were among the biggest musicals ever on the Disney Channel, probably just under the High School Musical films. Talk of a third movie had been tossed around since the second was a massive success in 2010, but Demi Lovato ran into scandal and the Jonas Brothers fell out of popularity. One way or another, plans for the third film were pushed aside until the film was formally announced in September 2025. Is the new generation of campers just as talented as the previous one, or should this camp finally be closed for good? Let's start with excited new camper Sage Scott (Segura) and her brother Desi (Stone) as their parents drive them to the camp and find out...

The Story: Sage is thrilled to be at the camp where rock legends like the now-major star Mitchie Torres (Demi Lovato) first made their mark. She's determined to become a great singer, leaving the band she had with Desi to join a prestigious music school. Desi's resentful and angry at Sage for what he sees as her abandoning him. His sister is just excited to be among fellow music-lovers like goofy drummer Cliff (Casey Trotter), sweet cellist and classical-music lover Rosie (Lumi Pollack), upbeat dancer Callie (Brooklyn Pitts), and Fletch (Barton), who has a bad boy reputation after he arrives in a cop car. There's also social media influencer Maddie (Ava Jean) and her two back-up dancers, who think they run the camp.

Rock group Connect 3 (the Jonas Brothers) have reunited for a tour, but they need an opening act after their original choice broke up. Their manager Lark (Cola) holds a contest at the camp, with the winner joining Connect 3 on the tour. As the kids take part in three challenges leading up to Final Jam, Sage grows to know each of them better. She grows especially fond of Fletch, who writes love songs and isn't the bad kid everyone assumes he is. Maddie, furious after Sage bumps her and gets her out during the second challenge so Desi can move on, does everything she can to discourage the finalists, from destroying their most prized possessions to filming them on a bus during the last challenge when the kids aren't supposed to have a phone at the camp. It's Sage who learns the lesson, though, when she hurts Fletch to save her career, then realizes that her new friends are more important than any contest.

The Song and Dance: First and foremost, this one gets points for kids who are a lot more likeable than the ones in the original film. Sage may be focused on her career, but she's not a bad kid and genuinely shows that she cares, especially in the second half once she apologizes to her brother. There's also references to the original films, from bits of songs to Sage finding Mitichie's original song notebook. The musical numbers remain the stand-outs, with the chorus numbers in particular awash in energy.

The Numbers: We open with Sage performing "Brand New Day" as the kids arrive at Camp. "Come On Over" shows Connect 3 filming a music video...and reveals that they're no longer getting along. The Camp Rock kids have more fun with "One Beat Away" in a high-energy chorus routine after the contest is announced. "Play My Music" is a montage of the campers playing the song as the first challenge, in every style from Rosie's classical cello to a salsa dancer to a hip-hop performer and even a young Sinatra imitator. "Tomorrow" is Fletch's sweet acoustic ballad that he writes after interviewing Sage for the songwriter's workshop. 

Fletch and Desi have a brief jam session that ends with Desi joking about Fletch's interest in his sister. "Start the Party" is the second challenge. The kids are supposed to show how well they can dance, but it ends with Sage bumping Maddie out to keep Desi, who doesn't dance, in. Angry, Maddie covers their most loved items in sequins and paint, leading to them throwing paint around to the tune of "It's On." Furious after the mess incident, Lark makes the last challenge having to live in a camp bus for 24 hours. The kids aren't happy at first, but the forced confinement turns into their group number "Echo." Desi and Sage finally reconcile singing "Rhythm's Only Right." 

The first number at the final jam goes to Cliff, who does a comic drum rap solo to "My Own Drum." Rosie's cello number is artier, until she breaks out the black-clad dancers and silver halter to "Play It My Way." Callie helps Desi and his dancers with the upbeat "Get Ready."  Fletch doesn't need dancers to reprise a now-longer "Tomorrow." Sage encourages Connect 3 to choose the other kids before singing "Work In Progress" without a band. The other kids eventually join her as they admit they may not be perfect, but they're looking forward to growing, as people and musicians. Connect 3 and the kids join for "We Rock" in the finale. The five finalists, Callie, and Maddie and her dancers perform "What It Takes" over the end credits.

What I Don't Like: The kids may be likable, but they're also bland. This manages to be even more cliched than the previous two movies. You can pretty much figure out what's going to happen with the contest way before the kids and Connect 3 do. Conflict is settled way too easily, especially after Maddie pretty much sells out Fletch to Lark over the song leak to save her career. Maddie and her back up dancers don't have nearly enough to do other than ruining their stuff. They probably should have been left in a little longer, or even made the final group. 

In fact, a lot of threads are picked up and dropped. There's a side plot with Callie teaching Desi to dance that's ignored when Callie vanishes mid-way through the film and isn't acknowledged again (even when Callie returns for the finale), and another one with Cliff having a crush on Rosie. Rose's transformation from demure classical cellist to artsy hard-rock performer is a little too abrupt, too. Wish we could have seen more of how that changed happened. 

The Big Finale: In the end, I suspect this franchise is just too bland for me, no matter how many stars it produces. For those who were huge fans of the original films or are in the appropriate 8 to 14 age range.

Home Media: This is a Disney Plus exclusive at the moment.

Disney Plus

Let's Go Native

Paramount, 1930

Starring Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Oakie, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, and James Hall

Directed by Leo McCarey

Music by Richard A. Whiting; Lyrics by George Marion Jr.

Let's take a summer vacation to a remote tropical island in this hilarious early romp. Director McCarey had been directing short comedies featuring Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase since the early 20's. This was only his third sound film and his fourth feature, but he already knew his way around a slapstick gag. It wound up being a surprise hit in 1930 and garnered so many positive comparisons to the Marx Brothers vehicle Animal Crackers, McCarey would go on to direct the Brothers' Duck Soup in 1934. How does this nutty Depression-era tale look nowadays? Let's begin with two dapper Argentinians as they look on at the home of costume designer and singer Joan Wood (MacDonald) and find out...

The Story: Joan got hit hard by the start of the Depression and is heavily in debt. She's done the costumes for a Broadway show that's on its way to Argentina, but she won't get paid until they're in Buenos Aires. Her boyfriend Wally Wendall (Hall) wants to marry her, but she won't marry him until he gets a job. His wealthy grandfather (Charles Sellon) doesn't approve of Joan and has disinherited him. He wants him to marry Constance Cook (Kay Francis), the daughter of the owner of a cruise ship line. Also onboard is Voltaire McGinnis (Oakie), a cab driver who wants to get his money from Wally and his friend Basil Pistol (William Austin) after a freak accident.

While onboard, Voltaire falls for Constance, while Wally continues to pursue Joan. They all end up stranded on a remote island when the ship goes down. The natives are all beautiful women, to the  delight of most of the men. They sound and behave like Brooklyn chorus girls because the "king" of the island is Jerry (Gallagher), a New York native who was shipwrecked on the island and was dubbed its king. Voltaire woos Constance and plots with Basil to sell Jerry's pearl-crusted crown once they get back. Wally's grandfather finally turns up to rescue them, but Joan knows how to deal with him - and Voltaire's scheming - now. She leverages the island and its riches in exchange for marrying his son, but the island is volcanic, and it may not be around for much longer...

The Song and Dance: This may be one of the funniest original musicals from the early talkie era. Everyone is having a ball with the unique and wild shipwreck story. Even MacDonald, who apparently wasn't happy about ending up in this, seems to enjoy swaying in her grass skirt. Oakie, Austin, and Gallagher have a lot more fun as the two guys who get caught up in Joan's money woes and the one who managed to "civilize" paradise. There's some great gags here, from the opening with the furniture being carried out of Joan's house even as she awakens for breakfast to the men on board watching as they all knock off each other's hats (and how that ties into the fate of Jerry's pearl crown in the finale). There's no attempt to tie the songs in. They blatantly come up with the silliest, spoofiest cues for songs that, more often than not, are there just to be catchy. 

The Numbers: We open with Wally and Joan singing one last song on Joan's piano, the ballad "My Mad Moment," before it's repossessed. Joan does a whirling Apache dance before we go into a montage of musical numbers from the big show, ending with Joan and one of the dancers performing an Argentinian-style tango. "It Seems to Be Spring" is a rehearsal on the boat, as Joan and Wally sing on a stage where snow is falling, even as they strip down to warm-weather clothes. The snow stops briefly, enough for bears to do their own wooing...and them to get covered in snow. Voltaire gets the ladies on-board going with his lively chorus number "Joe Jazz." This turns into a full-on tap routine, with the dancers in top hats and hot-pants dance costumes. 

The title song chorus number on the island starts with Voltaire and the native girls doing their idea of a hula. Basil joins in for the stuffy British version before the girls go into Busby Berkeley-style overhead formations. Voltaire's idea of a romantic song is "I've Got a Yen for You." Constance even joins in at one point. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Universal needs to do some serious restoration on this one. The copies currently on YouTube are horrible, blurry, jumpy, and with fuzzy sound. Second, this is obviously not for those looking for a darker story or one that makes sense. This is pure goofiness all the way. McCarey's skill makes this a little livelier than most early musicals, but it's still an early talkie and can occasionally get a bit static (mostly in the first half). And I kind of wish they'd gotten to the island earlier. They spend more than half of a 75-minute movie setting up the finale. 

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of any of the stars, are looking for something light and funny to watch on a summer's day, and can deal with the shape the copies online are in, you'll have a "vine" time going native with some of the wackiest goofballs of the pre-Code era.

Home Media: As mentioned, this is currently on YouTube in blurry copies with fuzzy sound. 

YouTube

Cult Flops - Bitter Sweet (1933)

United Artists, 1933

Starring Anna Neagle, Fernand Gravey, Miles Mander, and Ivy St. Helier

Directed by Herbert Wilcox

Music and Lyrics by Noel Coward

Let's begin this month with another rediscovered operetta treasure, this time from England. Noel Coward's melancholy operetta made it's debut on the West End in 1929. It was such a massive hit, its producer C.B Cochran brought it to Broadway a few months later. It didn't do as well there, in the original cast with Evelyn Laye or a 1934 revival with Evelyn Herbert. Back in England, its success was enough for Wilcox to adapt this for up-and-coming English stars Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravey. Did they do better than the glossy but dull MGM remake with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in 1940? Let's begin in 1929 London with a party in full swing and find out...

The Story: The party is for Dolly Chamberlain (Pat Paterson) on the eve of her marriage to a wealthy nobleman, but she really loves poor musician Vincent (Hugh Williams). They're caught in an embrace by elderly Sarah Millick (Neagle). Sarah doesn't mind at all. It turns out that in 1875, she ran out on her own pompous and dull suitor (Esme Percy) to marry the handsome and dashing Viennese songwriter Carl Linden (Gravey). 

They lived in Vienna, happy but poor, working at a cafe frequented by soldiers and ladies of the evening. He's the bandleader. She dances with the soldiers, including Captain Auguste Lutte (Mander). They're hoping to earn enough money to start their own cafe, with her singing Carl's music. She does manage to befriend Carl's former lover Manon Le Crevette (Helier), a singer at the club, and he impresses the club's owner Herr Schlick (Clifford Heatherly). Lutte, however, is interested in more than Sarah's singing. Carl's attempt to defend his wife's honor after Lutte makes improper advances ends in tragedy. Sarah, however, has never forgotten Carl and his music...and encourages Dolly to follow her heart her heart and marry the man she truly loves.

The Song and Dance: At the very least, I do give them credit for including some songs that didn't make it into the 1940 version, including the other hit from this, Manon's rueful "If Love Were All." Neagle is simply radiant as Sarah, especially during the first half when she's a young woman truly in love for the first time. She just glows, to the point where I can see why director Wilcox married her a decade later. Gravey is equally charming as the Austrian musician who adores her. (And at least they're both closer to the appropriate ages for their roles.) Heilier repeats her West End role as the worldly Frenchwoman. This is slower than the Hollywood version, but Wilcox's British sensibilities have a theatricality to them that's appealing and works with the melodramatic material. 

The Numbers: We open with an instrumental chorus number as we see dancing legs in ruffly gowns. When Sarah overhears Dolly and Vincent talking, she sings "The Call of Life" to explain her own story...and that dissolves nicely into the young Sarah in 1875, all ruffles and bustles and golden ringlets, finishing the number. Carl wistfully performs "If You Could Only Come With Me" at his last music lesson for Sarah. Sarah's shocked, but she cheers up when they perform the longing ballad "I'll See You Again." The chorus performs the instrumental "The Last Dance" waltz as Sarah realizes she can't go through with marrying stuffy Hugh. 

Our first number at the cafe is Manon's "Bonne Nuit, Merci" as she entertains the soldiers and their female companions. They perform "Ladies of the Town" to explain their own positions in Viennese society. Manon gives her own rueful observations on life in "If Love Were All." At home, Sarah and Carl sing about how they want their "Dear Little Cafe" to show off Sarah's singing and Carl's songs. "Tokay" is the big drinking number for the Captain, the soldiers, and the patrons of the cafe. Manon performs "Kiss Me" while the Captain glares and Sarah flees. The Captain and Sarah are dancing to "Kiss Me" when the Captain gropes Sarah and Carl steps in, prompting their duel. Back in 1929, Vincent reprises "I'll See You Again" as a jazzier instrumental number after Sarah fades in, singing it to the dying Carl. Sarah ends the movie singing it one more time for the camera.

What I Don't Like: Despite being the version Coward approved of, it still doesn't use all of the original show. The 1940 version did get in most of the third act, where Sarah becomes a star in Viennese operetta and marries a nobleman who also loved her. Several songs are missing, including Sarah's "What Is Love," the duet "Forevermore and a Day," and Sarah's big operetta number "Zigeuner." On the other hand, this does use the opening and closing with Sarah as an elderly woman that the 1940 version dropped. Not to mention United Artists/MGM could give this some restoration. The copy on Tubi is intact but a bit fuzzy.

The Big Finale: Charming and well worth checking out for fans of Coward, Neagle, or vintage operetta. 

Home Media: It can currently be found for free with commercials on Tubi. (And don't let the posters used to advertise this discourage you - for some reason, they use the poster for the MacDonald-Eddy version as the thumbnail.)

Tubi

Musicals On TV - Descendants: Wicked Wonderland

Disney, 2026

Starring Kylie Cantrall, Malia Baker, Liamani Segura, and Leonardo Nam

Directed by Kimmy Gatewood

Music and Lyrics by various

We're going to stay with Disney, but head to the Disney Channel for another fantasy revolving around teen protagonists. Descendants: Rise of Red was a massive hit on the Disney Channel and Disney Plus in 2024, one of the biggest hit made-for-TV films they'd had in years. Them putting out a sequel was probably inevitable, though it apparently wasn't announced until February 2025. After changing their lives via time travel in the previous film, how do Red (Cantrall) and Chloe (Baker) react to their new worlds? Let's begin, not with the girls, but with our narrator, Chessy, the daughter of the Cheshire Cat (Awkwafina), as she explains that all is not what it seems to be in Wonderland, and find out...

The Story: After everything that happened in the previous movie, Chloe and Red come to the conclusion that time travel is too dangerous and hide the magical pocket watch in the Wonderland Vault. Red has the most changes to deal with. Not only is her mother Bridget, the Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora), a lot kinder than she used to be, but Red now has a little sister, the ever-positive Pink (Segura). Chloe is frustrated that her mother Cinderella (Brandy) is now even stricter and seems to have forgotten her scrappy adolescence. 

Red's less happy that her former tutor Maddox Hatter (Nam) has really gone mad searching for the pocket watch after he witnessed them use it in the past. He and his son Max (Brendon Tremblay) were forced to leave Wonderland, but returned after the ban on villains ended. He gets his revenge on Bridget by stealing her magic cards and taking over Wonderland. Red and Chloe are joined by Max, Pink, Red's awkward and sweet crush Luis Madrigal (Alexandro Byrd), and their friends from Aurodon Prep as they make their way to Hearts Castle to rescue Bridget and Cinderella. Chloe, however, is getting fed up with Red doing things her way and ignoring her, and Red wishes Chloe were a little bolder, leading to a rift in their relationship...one Chessy and Maddox manage to manipulate as they move closer to the castle.

The Song and Dance: I definitely think this one improves on the previous film. For one thing, no confusing time travel cliches here. Wonderland is seen in all of its glowing, neon and fluff glory, and it's a delight. The costumes and sets remain incredible, especially for a TV movie. As good as Cantrall and Baker are, Ora and Brandy steal the movie as their mothers, who manage to reconcile and bond when their daughters are unable to. They even get one of the movie's best songs. The music and choreography are also excellent, with "Dancing With the Enemy" and the "True to My Heart" finale as the stand-outs.

The Numbers: We open with the chorus number "Perfect Princess," as both girls are shocked to see all of the rules that are now expected of them and how different their lives are. "Mad" is Maddox's villain number as he accuses Bridget of not giving him a chance and steals her cards. "Did You Hear About Them?" ask Luis, Hazel Hook (Kiara Romero), and the kids of Auradon Prep, many of whom are not impressed with "perfect" Chloe and Red. Chloe, Red, Luis, and the kids find themselves "Dancing With the Enemy" as they mirror the moves of chess pieces on a massive chess board. One wrong move, and the kids disappear. Luis and Red wish that "For Once In My Life" they could do what they want and be who they want to be.

 Bridget and Cinderella reminisce about school and "The Girl I Used To Be" when they're Maddox's captives in Heart Castle. Max gives the hurt and confused Chloe a bracelet that makes her "Heartless"...and willing to betray Red. Trapped in the moving maze without her friends, Red wonders "Who I Am," until Pink finds her and reminds her. Reunited with their mothers, the girls and their friends encourage each other to "Go Live It" and enjoy life to the fullest, no matter what the past or future brings. The movie ends with a big chorus number to "True to Your Heart" from the animated version of Mulan. 

What I Don't Like: This movie did not need 8,000 characters all over the place. It mainly focuses on Red, Chloe, Luis, Max, and the two mothers. Anyone else, including Pink, Hazel, Robbie Hood (Joel Oulette), and Felix Facillier (Zavien Garrett), are window dressing and barely get any development or screen time. They could have used Maddox a bit more to do too and let us see his actual plans. Speaking of underdeveloped, while we don't get time travel cliches, we do get every other teen cliche in the book, including one girl going bad briefly. It's not hard to tell where this one is going once it gets into Wonderland.

The Big Finale: The terrific numbers, costumes, and some decent performances make this worth checking out for major Disney fans like me or girls in the appropriate 8 to 14 age range who love fantasy.

Home Media: This is exclusive to Disney Plus at the moment. 

Disney Plus

Moana (2026)

Disney, 2026

Starring Catherine Laga'aia, Dwayne Johnson, Rena Owen, and John Tui

Directed by Thomas Kail

Music and Lyrics by Opetaia Foa'i, Mark Mancina, and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Unlike Snow White, there was no hostility or controversy when Disney announced they were remaking this in April 2023. It was based on one of Disney's most beloved animated films of the last decade, one that continued to be popular on Disney Plus and in the theme parks and had a sequel that debuted just two years ago. After the relatively recent Lilo & Stitch was a smash hit last summer, Disney must have thought they had another blockbuster on their hands. Considering it currently stands to be one of the biggest flops of the year so far...what happened? To figure that out, we begin in much the same way as the original, as young Moana's (Amasa Masoli) grandmother Tala (Owen) tells the story of how Maui (Johnson) stole the stone heart of the goddess island Te Fiti and how that began to destroy the life on every island...

The Story: Moana (Laga'aia) has heard the call of the sea all her life. Her parents, especially her father Chief Tui (Tui), want her to stay on the island and focus on becoming Chief. No one's ventured past the island for three thousand years. Only her eccentric grandmother Tala (House) encourages her love of the ocean and desire to explore. It's her grandmother who reveals ancient boats hidden in a cave. Her people were once explorers, searching for new islands across the Pacific. 

When the villagers discover that the foliage of the island is dying and fish are disappearing, Moana finally takes off in one of the camacaus from the cave. She's determined to find Maui and restore the goddess island, but it's not easy. Not only does Maui refuse to help at first, but she has to deal with rough seas, wild little coconut-like scavengers, treasure-loving giant crabs, and her own lack of sailing abilities. Nothing, however, will stop Moana from saving her people and proving that being a leader sometimes means going outside the box and what others deem "safe."

The Song and Dance: For all the problems, some things do work. The songs have always been a delight, and the end credits number "Along the Way" is a lovely addition. Johnson is still having a lot of fun as Maui, and his hand-animated tattoos retelling his adventures are still hilarious. Laga'aia makes a lovely, determined, and very funny Moana, especially when dealing with Maui and his ego that dwarfs the entire Pacific Ocean, and Owen is a wonderfully wise and eccentric grandmother. (And I still appreciate that Moana and Maui are more pupil and mentor than romantic.) 

The Numbers: Our first flat-out number is the chorus routine "Where You Are." Chief Tui introduces us to the culture and people of Motunui as Moana grows up...and still hears the call of the sea. Moana's first attempt to leave the island is underscored by her big "I want" song and the hit from the original film, "How Far I'll Go." "We Know the Way" is the second chorus number as we see Moana's ancestors charting the Pacific. Moana reprises "How Far" when she finally makes it out to the ocean on one of the ancestors' boats. "You're Welcome" says Maui when Moana washes up on an island where he too is stranded. After all, he created (or claims her created) everything. 

Moana has to dodge the enormous coconut crab Tamatoa (Jermaine Clement), who loves all things "Shiny," and grab the stone heart and Maui's magical fish hook. Moana performs the brief "I am Moana" with her grandmother when she thinks she'll never be able to restore Te Fiti. The chorus reminds her to "Know Who You Are." We end back at Motunni with a reprise of "We Know the Way" as Moana, Maui, and everyone on the island are now wayfarers searching the seas. Lin-Manuel Miranda is joined by Laga'aia and original Moana Auli'i Cravaho for the end credits song "Along the Way." 

What I Don't Like: This has the opposite problem from Snow White. They tried to change and update too much there, but this...has no reason to exist. They changed and updated almost nothing. It's pretty much exactly the same as the animated film people can buy on disc or watch on Disney Plus except for a few additional gags and the one new end credits song. Not to mention, this movie was overlong when it was fully animated, and it's not any less in live-action. Some of Moana and Maui's antics in the middle of the film could still be trimmed. There's also the complaints of all the CGI and AI used. There's so much animation used, it practically still is an animated film, and it looks horrendously fake compared to the big action and horror films in theaters right now. 

The Big Finale: If your kids are huge Moana fans who can't get enough of the character, they'll probably want to see it. Everyone else is fine looking up "Along the Way" and taking their money elsewhere.

Home Media: It's home release date hasn't been announced yet, but the vinyl soundtrack is available at Target and elsewhere

Vinyl Soundtrack (Target)

Safety In Numbers

Paramount, 1930

Starring Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Carole Lombard, Katheryn Crawford, and Josephine Dunn

Directed by Victor Schertzinger

Music by Richard A. Whiting; Lyrics by George Marion Jr.

Schertzinger went way further back with musicals than The Fleet's In. He started his directing career doing rural comedies in 1917. His first sound musical was segments of the revue Paramount On Parade; this was his first full-length musical film. It was made to showcase Paramount's then-biggest matinee idol, Buddy Rogers. Rogers was an early form of Pat Boone, "America's Boyfriend," the cute, cuddly guy girls can bring home to their parents with no trouble. This was intended to be a big star vehicle for him, allowing him to show just how sweet he could be and promote some of the up-and-coming ingenues on the Paramount lot...including one who would go on to have a major career a few years later. How does this romantic comedy about a young playboy who gets an education in love from three chorus girls look nowadays? Let's begin with that playboy, William Butler Reynolds (Rogers), as he judges a "high kicking contest" among the secretaries in his uncle F. Carstair Reynolds' (Richard Tucker) business and find out...

The Story: Carstair tells his nephew he stands to inherit $350 million dollars on his twenty-first birthday, but only if he goes to New York and learns "the ways of the world." He hires three Follies girls, Maxine (Dunn), Pauline (Lombard), and Jacqueline (Crawford), to show his nephew around New York and keep an eye on him. They get help from a chatty cab driver, Bertram Shapiro (Roscoe Karns), who befriends William and the girls, and several other chorus cuties who volunteer. After things get out of hand at a party, all three ladies admit they're besotted by their charge...but there's only one of them whom William loves so much, he's willing to give up that money for.

The Song and Dance: Not the most exciting story in the world, but there are a few items worthy of note. The music isn't bad, especially the lovely ballad "My Future Just Passed." Nice costumes, too, with some really gorgeous early 30's gowns for the ladies and tuxes for the guys. Rogers may have the lion's share of moments, but it's the ladies who run off with the film. They're hilarious and heartfelt as they try to show their charge how to really live life, especially sweet Crawford as the one who falls for him. Karns has a few good moments too as the boastful cab driver.

The Numbers: We open with our first chorus number, as those secretaries show off their high kicking stuff and Rogers shows off his prowess on the drums to "Business Girl." William switches on the radio so Jacqueline can hear (and be impressed by) his own song, "Do You Play, Madam?" He gets her up for a short dance. He woos Maxine with "I'd Like to Be a Bee In Your Boudoir." Pauline tries to woo him with "Young Man, You Appeal to Me" without actually singing it. The other two are not amused. The ladies' maid (Louise Beavers" joins in for the dance number "The Pick-Up," while the chorus gets "Pepola," in a very strange number that turns into silhouettes of beautiful women dancing against a city projection background at one point.

What I Don't Like: Did I mention up there that this is not the most exciting story? It's basically Rogers chasing women, the ladies chasing him, and Karns popping up here and there. While it's a little more kinetic than usual for the early talkie era, we do get the occasional shots of people standing and talking. Also, if you're expecting something like Lombard's brittle screwball comedy persona from the later 30's, you're going to be disappointed. Other than her "You Appeal to Me" number (where she doesn't even really sing), she doesn't really have that much to do.

The Big Finale: This is cute and has some decent music, but in the end, it's mainly for early talkie enthusiasts or major fans of Lombard or Rogers. 

Home Media: Thanks to it entering the public domain this year, it can now be found all over streaming, including at Tubi. 

Tubi