Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Song O' My Heart

Fox Film Corporation, 1930

Starring John McCormack, Maureen O'Sullivan, Alice Joyce, and John Garrick

Directed by Victor Borzage

Music and Lyrics by various

Top O' the evenin' lads an' lasses! This year, we go way far back and celebrate St. Patrick's Day with one of the great Irish tenors of the early 20th century. John McCormack was known for being the quintessential Irish singer, with his beefy appearance, ringing tones, and frequently sentimental choice of material. His popularity had dropped off somewhat by 1930, but he was still well-known enough for Fox to offer him his choice of material and pay him the princely sum of $200,000 to star in the film. Is this operetta drama worthy of McCormack's artistry, or should it be left at home? Let's start with two frequent gossips at the Irish village where Sean O'Conlon (McCormack), lives, Peter (J.M Kerrigan) and Rafferty (J. Farrell MacDonald) and find out...

The Story: Sean has retired to the village despite his promising career to be near his beloved Mary (Joyce), and her two children, teenager Eileen (O'Sullivan) and young son Tad (Tommy Clifford). He had once loved Mary, but her sour Aunt Elizabeth (Emily Fitzroy) convinced her to marry for money. Her husband abandoned them and left them high and dry, forcing them to move back in with strict Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth doesn't approve of Fergus (Garrick), the handsome young man whom Eileen is in love with. Fergus is poor, and leaves the US to make money to support her. To help Mary and her children, producer Fullerton (Edward Martindel) convinces Sean to go on a concert tour in America. The tour is a great success, until tragedy forces Sean to return to the country and people he's always loved the most.

The Song and Dance: I do give this some credit for being one of the better-shot and more unique films of its era. McCormack's presence assures that there are no huge, out-of-place chorus numbers or goofy backstage drama. It was partially filmed in the real Ireland for Fox's experimental widescreen "Grandeur" format, and that shows in the decent cinematography for the early talkies era. The cast is pretty accurate, too. O'Sullivan kicked off a six-decade career with her winsome performance here. Kerrigan and MacDonald have a high time as two village men whose comments bookend the action. It almost feels like an early preview of The Quiet Man in black and white, with a lot of the same attention to detail that marked John Ford's later magnum opus.

The Numbers: Our first number is "Then You'll Remember Me," which Sean performs at his home with his usual accompanist Vincent (his real-life long-time pianist Edwin Schinder). The children of the village beg him for a fairy tale about a princess or a leprechaun, which turns into "A Fairy Story By the Fire." Sean performs "Just for Today" accompanied by the organ at the village church as Mary wistfully listens outside its walls. He delights his friends in the town with the traditional comic number "Kitty My Love, Will You Marry Me?" at his home and sings "The Rose of Tralee" for Mary after the party. She hears him sing it again in her mind after he leaves just before her death.

Sean's first number in the big concert sequence is "Plasir d'Amour." "Little Boy Blue" is accompanied by heartbreaking images of stuffed animals and toy soldiers covered in cobwebs waiting for their young owner to play with them again. This is followed by "Ireland, Mother Ireland." After Fullerton gets the word of Mary's death, he keeps it from Sean until he's sung "I Hear You Calling Me." The film ends with Sean singing "I Feel You Near Me" for his new family, Tad and kindly neighbor Mona (Effie Ellsler). 

Trivia: As mentioned, this was filmed in regular 35 millimeter film and Fox's experimental 70 millimeter "Grandeur" film. Most movie theaters at the time weren't set up for widescreen film, and the Grandeur version was never seen and is currently lost. 

First film for Maureen O'Sullivan and last film for Alice Joyce.

What I Don't Like: First of all, there's McCormack himself. He's a genial presence, but he's no actor and is in over his head with some of the more melodramatic sequences. There's also the fact that the Irish stereotypes are even more thick on the ground here than they are in Quiet Man, without that film's stunning color or often hilarious script. There's also the simple fact that this is straight melodrama only a step above some of the weepy Al Jolson sob stories from the late 20's and early 30's. It's not for people looking for something more upbeat, or those who aren't opera or McCormack fans. This is pretty much a concert with an Irish soap opera surrounding it.

The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of McCormack or the more melodramatic films of the early talkie era.

Home Media: Thanks to it now being in the public domain, it can be easily found on streaming for free with commercials.

Tubi

The Roku Channel

Sunny (1930)

First National Pictures, 1930

Starring Marilyn Miller, Lawrence Gray, Joe Donahue, and O.P Heggie

Directed by William A. Seiter

Music and Lyrics by various

Operetta, of course, isn't the only musical genre to see remakes. Nor are remakes a recent phenomenon. This week, we're going to look at a musical comedy that got two very different versions a decade apart from each other. Sunny was producer Charles Dillingham's follow-up vehicle for Broadway superstar Marilyn Miller after the phenomenal success of her hit Sally. Is this circus-set romantic comedy worthy of the $150,000 she earned for it, or should it be left in the center ring? Let's start at the circus, as men ogle the posters for bareback rider Sunny Peters (Miller) and find out...

The Story: Sunny's dad (Heggie) wants her to marry Harold Harcourt Wendell-Wendell (Mackenzie Ward), who is wealthy but deadly dull. She becomes smitten with Tom Warren (Gray), an old friend who stops by to see her before he takes a boat back to the US. Stealing boy's clothes, she runs away and follows him onboard. Not only is she caught, but she has no idea he's already engaged to socialite Margaret Manners (Barbara Bedford). 

The only way she can get off the boat is to marry her American friend Jim Denning (Donahue). They plan on getting a divorce the moment they can, especially since Jim is already in love with Weenie (Inez Courtney) from the circus. Sunny, still head over heels in love with Tom, tries to fool him into saying he's in love with her by appearing to be hurt at a fox hunt. When that doesn't work, she plans on returning to England and marrying Harold, at least until Tom sees the light.

The Song and Dance: And with a story that flimsy, song and dance...or really, Miller's dances...are the main points of interest. Miller's wattage, at least when she's singing and dancing, hasn't dimmed between films. She still loves what she's doing and is magnetic while doing it. Donahue and Heggie are the only ones who get anywhere near her as the good-natured guy buddy who helps her out and her stubborn father. Some of Jerome Kern's best songs can be found here, too - Gray and Miller singing "Who" is totally charming.

The Numbers: In fact, the movie puts its best foot forward and starts with its biggest hit song. Gray wonders "Who" stole his heart as he pours his heart out to a delighted Miller. They're both so adorable, it's by far the best sequence in the film. Sunny briefly sings "I Was Alone" after she boards the boat dressed as a boy as she wistfully watches Tom on board. She does a totally joyous instrumental tap dance after she's caught and allowed to stay onboard. After a massive wedding, she and Jim have their own hilarious dance as they wonder "When We Get Our Divorce." Tom and the men sing the old chestnut "Oh, He Didn't Ramble." Sunny finishes with her own interpretation of a fox hunt, complete with crop and top hat.

Trivia: This was supposed to have had three more numbers from the original show, "Sunny," "Do 'Ye Love Me," and "Two Little Love Birds," but they were cut from US prints when musicals fell out of fashion late in 1930. "Sunny" can be heard over the credits and as an instrumental number in the opening. 

The original Sunny debuted in September 1925. It ran a year, a pretty big hit for the time. It also did well in London, where ran nine months and toured for three years. 

What I Don't Like: There's a reason this hasn't turned up since that UK tour. The story is a soggy cream puff that collapses entirely in the second half. Cutting the music doesn't help. Miller's wonderful when she dances, but she's still not much of a singer and even less of an actress. Gray's deadly dull other than that charming "Who?" sequence. They really don't make much of that circus setting. I wonder if the cut numbers were set at the circus or did more with it. They're barely there at all before Sunny runs off to the boat. Oh, and Warners needs to throw some money at restoring this. The copy at Tubi and on DVD is scratchy and has wonky sound

The Big Finale: If you enjoyed Sally, you'll want to give Miller's second starring role a look as well.

Home Media: On DVD via the Warner Archives and on Tubi.

DVD

Tubi

Cult Flops - The Vagabond King (1930)

Paramount, 1930

Starring Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald, O.P Heggie, and Lillian Roth

Directed by Ludwig Berger

Music and Lyrcis by various

For the next two weeks, our weekday reviews will look at musical remakes, either of older films, or a remake and the original. This version of the 1926 stage hit of the same name was intended to be Paramount's stately answer to major film operettas like Warner Bros' The Desert Song or MGM's (now-lost) Rogue Song. It proved to be too stately for 1930 audiences who were looking for war movies and gangster films, but how does it look now? Let's begin in fifteenth-century Paris, where only a lawless poet stands between the King of France (O.P Heggie) and the Duke of Burgundy's attempt to take over his throne...

The Story: Francois Villon (King) is arrested by Louis the XI and his men while drunk and brought to the castle. Louis anoints him king for a day, hoping to enlist him and his fellow peasants, poets, and drinks in battling the Duke and his army. Earlier in the day, Francois had rescued the beautiful Princess Katherine (MacDonald) and had fallen hopelessly in love with her, despite already having a girlfriend in the tavern wench Hugette (Roth). It's the ladies who are willing to lay down the line - and in Hugette's case, her own life - to make sure Louis stays on the throne and Francois is hung for a king's amusement the next day.

The Song and Dance: Oh, how I wish the full color copy was available online! What little color is seen during the "Only a Rose" number is blurry but exquisite, with MacDonald looking every inch the princess she's supposed to be in exquisite peach, standing out against the lavish green garden. In fact, even in the blurry mostly black and white copy currently on YouTube, it's that much-vaunted pageantry where this stands out. MacDonald is a radiant princess in glittering gowns amid enormous, craggy castles and the fetid alleys of a shadow-strewn Paris, while Heggie makes a wonderful opportunistic King Louis. European director Ludvig Berger had made several similar sumptuous fantasies in France and Germany during the silent era, and he knew something about spectacle and how to make it work.

The Numbers: We open over the credits and at the tavern Francois frequents with "Song of the Vagabonds." "King Louis" is Francois' mocking rhyme and assessment of Louis' ability to rule his people. "Mary, Queen of Heaven" is a number for the choir when Katherine is praying in Notre Dame. The ballad "Some Day" is Katherine's first solo as she changes for bed and contemplates Francois and their first meeting in Paris. Francois declares to his followers what he would do "If I Were King." He tells the disguised Louis "What France Needs." 

"Only a Rose" is the only Technicolor sequence existing in current online prints. The gorgeous singing from King and MacDonald and exquisite color somewhat make up for MacDonald being right about King's ego and his continued attempts to push his nose or hands into her shot. Roth's solo is "Hugette's Waltz," as she explains to the vagabonds that she is how she is, take her or leave her. Francois and Katherine get a second duet, "Love Me Tonight," shortly before he is to fight the Burgundians. The people of Paris reprise "Song of the Vagabonds" during the actual siege. "Nocturne" is the executioner's number as he's about to hang Francois.

Trivia: The color prints do exist and were restored by UCLA in 1990, but alas, to date have only seen there other than the "Only a Rose" sequence taken from the PBS documentary Broadway: The American Musical. 

This is based on the fanciful book and non-musical play If I Were King. If I Were King was filmed as a non-musical three times, in 1920 and 1938 under its original title and in 1927 as The Beloved Rogue. 

The Vagabond King opened on Broadway in 1925 with King as Villon and was a huge hit for the time, running over 500 performances. It had a brief revival on Broadway in 1943. It hasn't been seen there since, but remains popular with light opera companies in New York and elsewhere. The film would be remade in 1956 with Kathryn Grayson as Katherine (which we'll be looking at on Thursday). 

What I Don't Like: Jeanette MacDonald had a point about Dennis King and his ego. He's a little too into the role, proclaiming everything to the rafters when film calls for a somewhat subtler approach. He's too hammy even for a swashbuckler. This is likely why he very rarely made movies after this. Lillian Roth has the opposite problem. She's too much of a cute comedienne to be playing a sensual streetwalker and really can't pull off her "Hugette's Waltz." And oh, how I wish UCLA would release the rest of that color copy to the general public! I have the feeling it would help this tremendously, and certainly be nicer to look at than the dim, blurry copy currently on YouTube.

The Big Finale: In the end, as lovely as it is, it's really only for fans of MacDonald, operetta, or early film musicals. 

Home Media: Which perhaps makes it just as well that the only place you can see this is in that blurry copy I mentioned that's currently on YouTube. 

YouTube

Hollywood Hotel

Warner Bros, 1937

Starring Dick Powell, Lola Lane, Rosemary Lane, and Ted Healy

Directed by Busby Berkeley

Music by Johnny Mercer; Lyrics by Richard A. Whiting

Back at Warners, Berkley was now choreographing and directing his films. Warners had cut back on the budgets when a few too many flopped, but this one had a pedigree beyond mere imitation. Hollywood Hotel was both a real hotel in Hollywood for the rich and famous (which was slightly past its prime in 1937), and a radio series where gossip columnist Louella Parsons would interview celebrities who would then perform condensed versions of the latest films. Since Dick Powell was a regular on the show, it made sense for him to appear in a film version. Parsons made her film debut here as well. How well does the film adapt a show made for a very different medium? Let's begin not in Hollywood, but with Benny Goodman and his orchestra as they cheer singer and saxophonist Ronnie Bowers and find out...

The Story: Bowers (Powell) just signed a ten-week contract with All-Star Pictures. His first assignment is to escort major screen star Mona Marshall (Rosemary Lane) to her latest premiere and out to the Orchid Room afterwards. Turns out he's not really escorting Mona, who threw a fit and refused to attend her premiere, but her double Virginia Stanton (Lola Lane). The real Mona figures it out and has Ronnie fired. 

Ronnie is reduced to working for a drive-in diner along with his newly-appointed manager Fuzzy Boyle (Healy). Director Walter Kelton hears him and hires him to dub Mona Marshall's usual screen partner Alex Dupre (Alan Mowbray). He's not thrilled about it, and is even less happy when called on to dub him on the Hollywood Hotel radio show. Fuzzy and Virginia finally find a way for him to be seen for the wonderful singer he is while on the air.

The Song and Dance: This is one of the better Warners musicals of the late 30's. It's too bad Healy, who died under shady circumstances less than a month before its premiere, didn't live to see his very funny performance as the photographer-turned-manager. I also like that the real-life Lane sisters look enough alike to fool people realistically, no illusion or lavish special effects needed. Lola is charming as the sensible Virginia, while Rosemary is a riot as spoiled, obnoxious, and ridiculously dramatic Mona Marshall. Not only do we get gorgeous sets and costumes depicting Hollywood during the 30's, we actually get scenes filmed in the real Hollywood. I also appreciate the relatively unique story for a Berkeley 30's musical. This one is less about putting on a show and more about who gets seen and who doesn't in Tinseltown.

The Numbers: We open with the movie's best-known song and major standard. Benny Goodman and his band sing "Hooray for Hollywood" while riding out to the airport in cars with boards claiming stars of the era could learn a thing or two from Ronnie. Virginia and Ronnie admit "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water" while splashing around outside of the movie premiere. Mona initially performs "Silhouetted In the Moonlight," which is eventually picked up by Goodman singers Frances Langford and Jerry Cooper. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (including later orchestra leaders Harry James, Lionel Hampton, and Gene Krupa) perform "I've Got a Heartful of Music" and "Sing, Sing, Sing" at the club. 

"Let That Be a Lesson to You" is the sole large-scale chorus number, as Ronnie explains about his trouble in Tinseltown to everyone at the drive-in. Ronnie dubs Alex Dupre to sing "I've Hitched My Wagon to a Star" in Mona's big Civil War vehicle. The movie ends at the Orchid Room during the Hollywood Hotel broadcast with Ronnie insisting "Sing, You Son of a Gun" with the cast and both orchestra.

Trivia: Look fast for Ronald Reagan as the radio announcer at the premiere of the Civil War movie, Susan Hayward as a starlet, and Carole Landis as a cigarette girl.

Goodman was thrilled when the success of his band in this film gave him enough clout to pull off his famous Carnegie Hall concert in 1938. This movie is also the first time a racially mixed music group was depicted on the big screen.

What I Don't Like: The numbers here are a bit disappointing. Though some of the songs aren't bad, both the opening number and "Let That Be a Lesson to You" go on for way too long, and there's little of the playing with the camera and geometric formations Berkeley's known for. In fact, like Vogues of 1938, the movie is way too long for a fluffy 30's musical and some of the numbers could have been trimmed. No wonder Louella Parsons was so bad at remembering character names, it took all day to shoot one of her scenes. She's a much better gossip columnist and radio hostess than she is an actress. There's also Hugh Herbert and Mabel Todd, both annoying as heck playing Mona's starstruck father and sister. No wonder Mona's nerves are shot, with obnoxious relatives like these. And Herbert turns up blackface in Mona's Civil War vehicle to boot.

The Big Finale: For the most part, this is a surprisingly charming later gem from Warners with some decent music and a fairly unique plot. For fans of Berkeley's films, Powell, or the big lavish musicals of the 1930's.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938

United Artists, 1937

Starring Warner Baxter, Joan Bennett, Helen Vinson, and Mischa Auer

Directed by Irving Cummings and Charles Kerr

Music and Lyrics by various

We jump back to the US this week for two more 30's musicals, both of them later versions of the lavish Busby Berkeley style. By 1937, Berkeley's scores of showgirls dancing in unique "story" numbers with overhead shots had become commonplace in musicals not only in the US, but around the world. Producer Water Wanger had been bouncing around the studios since the 1920's. He had tried to set himself up as an independent producer earlier in the 30's, but it hadn't worked out. After producing two hits at MGM, he once again struck out on his own...and this time, did much better. Though this wasn't one of his bigger hits, it did produce an Oscar-nominated standard, the ballad "That Old Feeling." How does the story of an heiress who joins a major fashion house and falls for its owner look today? Let's begin at the House of Curon as a show is starting and find out...

The Story: George Curson (Baxter) is having a really rough time. His wife Mary (Vinson) is desperate to go back on the stage and begs him to fund her big starring show, Vogues of 1938. His vice-president Sophie Miller (Alma Kruger) is having anxiety attacks and heart problems. Right after said show, one of his best customers, Wendy Van Klettering (Bennett), turns up claiming she doesn't want to marry her dull fiancee Henry Morgan (Alan Mowbray) and would rather work for him as a model. She basically pesters him into it, even though the last thing he wants is to have her in his home or his fashion house. He even gets Sophie to teach her how to model.

Her fiancee is furious when he finds out she's doing something so common and demands she be taken out of his fashion show. He finds a way for her to appear anyhow. She helps him get his customers back and prove that one of his competitors (Auer) is stealing his ideas. He still insists on staying with his wife, even after Wendy helps him win a big fashion contest...until his wife's show fails, and she dumps him. He put all of the money from the House of Curon into that show. Now, his beloved fashion house may go under, unless he can put on one more spectacular show and prove that the House of Curon still has what it takes to compete with the big Parisian houses.

The Song and Dance: And song and dance, along with some truly spectacular costumes and sets, are the major selling point here. Elegant Baxter and Bennett are dwarfed by some gorgeous Art Deco sets and the amazing dresses, especially at the big contest mid-way through where older ladies show off the creations of the Houses they buy clothes from. The music is actually quite good; "That Old Feeling" was nominated for an Oscar and is now considered to be a standard ballad. Auer and Kruger come off the best as the supercilious Russian who tells his elderly customers his designs are inspired by classical music and the perpetually anxious older vice-president.

The Numbers: After the fashion show opening, we don't have another number until more than 20 minutes in. An all-black cast energetically performs "Turn On that Red Hot Heat." The Cotton Club Singers really burn up the stage with their wild routine before four men in white tuxes get even more into the dancing. Maurice Rocco has even more fun with it on the piano. The dancers reprise it in the dark, writhing wildly to the music. Singer Virginia Vaill introduces "That Old Feeling" directly after. We then get an excellent tap dancer whom Curson claims is his wife's favorite. 

The next fashion show gets around Henry and his lawyer Richard Steward (Gonzolo Merono) by claiming Wendy is there "only as a spectator," then letting her "watch" the show onstage and model dresses while doing it. The third fashion show is "The Rayon Ball," with each lady showing off an outfit that's more outrageous than the next. Only Henry appreciates Prince Muratov's outlandish gold gown with the enormous feathered shoulders...and Henry's the only one who doesn't appreciate Wendy modeling a far more simple and elegant white gown. 

Mary and her director Mr. Brockton (Jerome Cowan) watch a truly amazing roller skating couple perform a death-defying couples dance in her living room. The big finale begins with Lawrence performing the sweet ballad "Lovely One" to Virginia Vaill, while the chorus models add their own commentary. A trio of dancing violinists pick up the song next, giving us a comic soft shoe. Lawrence picks up with "Lady of the Evening" (along with bits of the Hawaiian "Aloha Ole" and the Navy theme "Anchors Aweigh") as he describes all of those fabulous fashions.

Trivia: Was nominated for Art Direction along with "That Old Feeling." 

What I Don't Like: First of all, the movie is almost two hours. That's way too long for a story this fluffy. I do appreciate that the discussions of Curon's unhappy marriage gives it a slight edge over your usual 30's backstage spectaculars. Thing is, Bennett's character is more of an annoying pest than a sweet girl who just wants out of a bad marriage, and she never was comfortable in musicals. A lot of the non-musical dramatic scenes towards the middle probably could have been trimmed with no one the wiser. Second, Warners or whomever owns this now really needs to take a crack at restoring it. The color on the copy at YouTube is soft and scratchy. 

The Big Finale: Worth seeing for the musical numbers alone if you're a fan of Baxter, Bennett, or the big spectacular Art Deco musicals of the 1930's. 

Home Media: It can be easily found on YouTube and on some shady DVD releases.

DVD

YouTube

First a Girl

Gaumont British, 1935

Starring Jessie Matthews, Sonny Hale, Anna Lee, and Griffith Jones

Directed by Victor Saville

Music and Lyrics by Maurice Sigler, Al Goodheart, and Al Hoffman

If the story here seems familiar, this is not the first time we've seen it at this blog. I reviewed the 1982 remake Victor/Victoria way back in January 2019. The British, however, got there almost 50 years before MGM did. Evergreen was such a massive success, a follow-up with Matthews and Hale was likely inevitable. This time, Gaumont turned to Germany, where Viktor und Viktoria had been a hit in 1933. They adapted it for the enchantingly gamine Matthews and for English sensibilities. How does the story of a woman who dresses as a man who dresses as a woman look today? Let's begin as shop girls watch a lavish society fashion show and find out...

The Story: Shop girl Elizabeth (Matthews) loses her job when she wears the clothes she's supposed to be delivering to an audition instead. Caught in the rain, she meets Shakespearean actor Victor (Hale), who is currently performing a music hall drag act he calls "Victoria." After he comes down with laryngitis, he convinces Elizabeth to take his place as a female impersonator. They play the act for comedy and are such a success, promoter McLintock (Alfred Drayton) offers Elizabeth a contract. Elizabeth takes the name "Bill," and Victor is her manager.

Elizabeth eventually falls for the handsome and wealthy Robert (Jones), while Victor pursues his fiancee Princess Mironoff (Lee). Robert, however, still thinks Elizabeth is a man. She even drinks whiskey and smokes cigars to convince him she's the gender she claims to be. It's not until he rescues her from drowning on the French Riviera that he realizes she's all woman. Elizabeth is tired of the charade, but first Victor has to explain to the Princess that he and Elizabeth are only friends, and then they both have to figure out how to get Victoria off the stage for good.

The Song and Dance: Hale and Matthews are having just as much fun as Robert Preston and Julie Andrews would 50 years later, if not more. In fact, considering the subject matter, this is downright adorable. Hale and Matthews were married at the time, which explains their delightful chemistry and how they worked so well together. The costumes are gorgeous, the production sumptuous, and the farcical script hilarious at times. Heck, just the fact that they can get away with the female impersonator thing in 1935 is notable. This would not have been made in the US in 1935. 

The Numbers: We open with "Little Silkworm," that society fashion show. Elizabeth and the shop girls watch from windows looking into the auditorium. At one point, Elizabeth does an incredibly limber dance full of such high kicks, she actually kicks a shoe into the main theater! She does make a joke about it, but it gets her into trouble. She joins a mass audition singing in chorus, but is pulled quickly. Her first number as a female impersonator is "It's Written All Over Your Face." She's not entirely sure what to do...and then geese come out in the middle of the number. 

She's the toast of Europe by the time of "Half and Half." This one starts out looking normal, with women in male tuxes...before we see they're half in tuxes, and half in frilly dresses. "I Can Wiggle My Ears" is a big chorus routine in a lavish Art Deco nightclub. Singer Donald Stewart performs with the ladies in stripes, while Victor sings to the Princess. Elizabeth revels in wearing women's clothes while basking in the paradise of the French Riviera in "Say the World and It's Yours." "Everything's Rhythm In My Heart" showcases Elizabeth as literally a bird in a cage, as the other birds pamper and dress her. Victor reprises it in drag near the end of the film.

What I Don't Like: Alas, this doesn't have Rodgers and Hart writing songs. The music here is disappointingly bland, with only "I Can Wiggle My Ears" as a stand-out. And although the story makes slightly more sense than Evergreen, this is still a fluffy 30's musical. It's not for those looking for something deeper, or even the slightly naughty things Victor/Victoria did with this material in 1982. 

The Big Finale: Charming and hilarious, I enjoyed this even more than Evergreen. Highly recommended for fans of big 30's musicals, Matthews, or vintage British cinema.

Home Media: Too bad this one can only be found on YouTube at press time.

YouTube

Evergreen

Gaumont British, 1934

Starring Jessie Matthews, Sonny Hale, Betty Balfour, and Barry MacKay

Directed by Victor Saville

Music and Lyrics by various

Come with us across the Atlantic on a holiday trip to jolly old England this week as we take a look at the two most popular vehicles featuring beloved British dance star Jessie Matthews. Matthews started out as a dancer on the London stage in revues for Noel Coward and producer Andre Charlot. She'd been making movies since 1923. By the time this came out in 1934, she had just appeared in the successful movie version of The Good Companions and was looking to follow up on that success. How does the story of a young woman who poses as her own mother to get publicity look nowadays and on this side of the pond? Let's begin "yesterday" with popular music hall singer Harriet Green (Matthews) and her adoring audiences and find out...

The Story: Harriet gives up her career to marry the Marquis of Staines (Ivor McLaren), only to leave him and return to South Africa when her former partner George Treadwell (Hartley Power) tries to blackmail her over her illegitimate daughter. She leaves that daughter to be raised in the country by her old nursemaid. Years later, her daughter, Harriet Hawkes (Matthews), comes to London to get into show business herself. Handsome young publicity man Tommy Thompson (MacKay) sees Harriet's resemblance to her mother and convinces producer Leslie Benn (Hale) to feature her in a new revue as her well-preserved mother. Trouble arises when Harriet falls for Tommy, and not only does the public believe he's her son, but Treadwell comes knocking too, still looking for money. After they discover that they could get arrested for the deception, they have to figure out how to let Harriet be herself, without ending up in jail.

The Song and Dance: No wonder this was a huge hit in 1934 on both sides of the Atlantic. Matthews is simply luminous, an adorable cross between the dainty elegance of Audrey Hepburn and the ingenue proficiency of Eleanor Powell. Some of the numbers simply defy description. They're stranger than what even Busby Berkeley was doing in 1934, especially the "through the years" routine that begins with Matthews singing "When It's Springtime In Your Heart" in 1934 and ends up with women dressed in metal-covered robot costumes being turned into robotic workers in 1918 and people doing the waltz in 1904. The costumes and sets are absolutely gorgeous, with Mathews floating in acres of ruffles, lace, and fluff against a curving Art Deco backdrop. 

The Numbers: We open with Harriet Green wowing her audiences with an instrumental dance in a frilly gown, then singing the traditional music hall number "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow." She and fellow actress-turned-titled lady Maudie (Betty Balfour) sing another music hall ditty, "I Wouldn't Leave My Little Wooden Hut For You" singing and dancing on the tables at their reception. Harriet sings "When You've Got a Little Springtime In Your Heart" twice, as an audition for Leslie Mann and Tommy Thompson after Tommy comes up with the idea of her being her mother, and later in that insane "through the years" number I mentioned above. The number starts with Matthews performing the song in one of her floaty dresses. She keeps turning a time piece, going further and further back, from the Charleston to the women turned into robots for Great War industry, to a waltz. 

Harriet wants to sing "If I Give In to You" and does a wonderful dance to it, but Maudie tells her it would give her away as a young woman. Leslie does the charming "Tinkle Tinkle" with the chorus at a rehearsal. Harriet goes Spanish in another instrumental dance, this time in a ruffled senorita outfit swirling with a passionate matador. Tommy's not really happy with Harriet when they rehearse "Dear Dear." Harriet keeps avoiding giving him a kiss, despite Leslie's insistence on it. The standard from this one is Rogers and Hart's "Dancing on the Ceiling," which Harriet dances in her living room while Tommy listens in his. 

"Over My Shoulder" begins as a romp in 1900, with Harriet and Tommy playing mother and son on an outing in their car. It turns into a more typical Berkeley-esque chorus girl routine in wild costumes. Harriet, finally fed up, comes out and does a striptease during her dance, ditching her "old lady" costume to reveal the young woman she truly is. Harriet reprises "Springtime," singing with her mother's own recording in court, then in a literal heavenly chorus. We end with Harriet singing "Over My Shoulder" with an angelic chorus. 

Trivia: Ever Green debuted at the Adelphi Theater on London's West End in 1930, with Matthews and Hale in MacKay's role. It originally had an all Rodgers and Hart score, but only "Dancing On the Ceiling," "Dear, Dear," and "If I Give In to You" were used in the movie. "In the Cool of the Evening" turned up as background scoring. To my knowledge, it has never made it to this side of the pond and has not been revived.

What I Don't Like: While I give the British credit for getting cheeky in a way no American musical would even attempt in 1934, this is still a fluffy 30's musical. MacKay is cute but otherwise dull as Harriet's love interest, and Hale can get annoying, especially early on when he's barking at everyone. And I do wish they'd kept the full Rodgers and Hart score! Though I do like "Over My Shoulder" (and it became a signature number for Matthews), most of the other non-Rodgers and Hart songs are pretty dull.

The Big Finale: If you love big 30's musicals or vintage British cinema, you'll want to step across time and join Harriet in her backstage adventure, too.

Home Media: Not on disc in North America, but it can be found on streaming.

Amazon Prime

Two for Tonight

Paramount, 1935

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. 

YouTube

Cult Flops - The Lottery Bride

United Artists, 1930

Starring Jeanette MacDonald, John Garrick, Joe E. Brown, and Zasu Pitts

Directed by Paul L. Stein

Music by Rudolf Friml; Lyrics by J. Keirn Brennan

If you thought The Desert Song was campy, get a load of this. Arthur Hammerstein, uncle of Oscar Hammerstein II, was known at that point for producing lavish operettas. He'd just come off the successful Rose-Marie and so-so Golden Dawn when he headed west to Hollywood for more opportunities. He joined up with United Artists, known as the home for independent producers like Samuel Goldwyn, and got on the early talkies operetta band wagon with one of the most expensive movies the company had put out at that point. Hammerstein even borrowed up-and-coming soprano Jeanette MacDonald from Paramount and popular comic Joe E. Brown from Warner Brothers. How does all this manage to mix with a dance marathon, a rescue on the ice, and an Italian dirigible? Let's start at the Viking Ship, a club Oslo, Norway, as American orchestra leader Hoke (Brown) arrives for his gig there and find out...

The Story: Hoke suggests a dance marathon to drum up publicity for the Viking Ship and the orchestra's gig. Club singer Jennie (MacDonald) enters to help her brother Nels (Carroll Nye) with his gambling debts, against the wishes of her sweetheart Chris (Garrick). Jennie is arrested when the police, encouraged by Italian dirigible pilot Alberto (Joseph Macauley), come looking for Nels. She's arrested for helping him escape. Heartbroken, and believing her to be in love with Alberto, Chris runs up north to join a mining camp.

To his shock, Jennie turns up there as well. She and Hilda (Pitts), the owner of the Viking Ship, offered themselves as "lottery brides," brides for the men in the camp. Jennie is won by Chris' brother Olaf (Robert Chisholm). Olaf is kind to Jennie, but she and Chris are still deeply in love. After Alberto turns up with his dirigible, Chris joins the crew. Jennie's terrified when the ship goes down in the Arctic wastes and insists on organizing a search party herself. Meanwhile, Olaf goes after his brother on his own with a sled dog, hoping to bring his brother home and back to his beloved Jennie.

The Song and Dance: Well, I give this one credit for being original. At least, unlike the last operetta I reviewed that was set in Norway, this one moves pretty fast for a movie of its era and involves no children whatsoever. MacDonald and Garrick sing beautifully and wear some pretty fabulous costumes, including fur coats that must have cost more than the entire city of Oslo. Brown and Pitts make the most of their limited roles, stealing the show with their surprisingly decent chemistry whenever they're on-screen. 

The Numbers: We open with the college students and their sweethearts populating the Viking Ship performing "Yubla," before MacDonald and the chorus take over. Chris and Jennie insist that they are "My Northern Lights" while strolling together at the club. "The Marathon" is performed to a driving instrumental number from the orchestra that picks up as we see more and more couples drop out. "When a Brother Needs a Friend" is the rousing number for the brothers and the chorus in the mining camp's recreational hall. "I'll Follow the Trail" is the camp's song for the dirigible crew when it arrives. It's reprised by the chorus when the dirigible leaves for its ill-fated journey with Chris as part of the crew. "You're an Angel," Olaf sings to Jennie, not knowing she's in love with his brother.

Trivia: The movie as it stands online and on Kino Lorber DVD is missing ten minutes of footage, including the two-strip Technicolor finale with the dirigible and more scenes with Brown and Pitts. That version has been restored and was shown on Turner Classic Movies in 2011. 

John Garrick would go on to be a popular singer and actor in British film during the 30's and 40s. 

What I Don't Like: I don't think even a two-strip Technicolor finale with a crashing dirigible could save this mess. MacDonald is clearly bored other than her singing, and Garrick is playing a jerk who dumps his girlfriend over something she could have explained and runs off, twice. Pitts and Brown may be the best thing about the movie, but their parts are so greatly reduced, they have almost nothing to do in the second half. It's like someone threw together the worst parts of five different movies and tried blending them together. Absolutely nothing makes sense, including the lovers ending up together. Frankly, Olaf may not have been the most passionate guy, but he treated Jennie a lot better than his brother did.

The Big Finale: Only for the most ardent enthusiasts of MacDonald, operetta, or the early talkie era.

Home Media: As mentioned, the truncated version can be found on DVD and on streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - Something to Sing About

Grand National Pictures, 1937

Starring James Cagney, Evelyn Daw, William Frawley, and Gene Lockhart

Directed by Victor Schertzinger

Music and Lyrics by Victor Schlesinger

I Go Pogo was far from the only independent movie that ran into trouble with distributors. Grand National Pictures began in 1936 as an alternative to the many B-level Poverty Row studios. Hiring James Cagney, who was then feuding with his usual home-base Warner Bros, was considered a great coup for them. They threw Cagney into two lavish (for them) films, of which this is the second. It's also Cagney's second time singing and dancing on-screen. He started out as a hoofer on Broadway and still considered himself to more-or-less be one. How does Cagney's second foray into musicals after Footlight Parade look nowadays? Let's join Terry Rooney (Cagney) and his band at their latest nightclub and radio gig and find out...

The Story: Terry is off to Hollywood to make movies with studio owner B.O Regan (Lockhart). He leaves his band and his fiancee Rita (Daw) behind, promising to return. Terry doesn't find his time in Hollywood easy. Fearing his new discovery getting a big head, Regan has ordered his people not to praise Terry in any way. This culminates in an onscreen fist fight that turns too real for Terry's liking. He leaves and goes back to the band, marrying Rita. When he returns, he discovers that the movie has been released and was a huge success. 

The studio already has his second movie planned. They convince him to keep his marriage silent. Studio publicist Hank Meyers (Frawley) plants news stories claiming Terry and actress Stephanie Hajos (Mona Barrie) are an item. Terry is kept in Hollywood for so long dealing with all this and his new contract, Rita feels neglected and returns to the band. Terry has to finally take control of both his careers and prove his marriage to Rita is more important to him than any movie.

The Song and Dance: And "dance" is the real operative word here. We do get to see Cagney strut his stuff, including three solo dances. Great cast for what amounts to a B-pick here, too. Frawley and Lockhart are hilarious as the publicist who thinks he can drum up interest no matter what the real story is, and the studio head who worries that his new discovery will get too big for him to handle.

The Numbers: We open over the credits and in the first few minutes with Rita performing the title song. Terry gives us his first dance sequence, tapping in a rather Fred Astaire-like top hat, white tie, and tails across the nightclub floor. His second instrumental dance number is as he's about to leave for Hollywood. He shows off for Rita and the band, this time in a simpler suit and bucket hat, even swinging an amused Rita around. Rita and the band perform their new ballad "Right or Wrong" over the phone for Terry. 

Terry sings "Any Old Love" with a bevy of ladies in the movie-within-the-movie. His third solo is dancing with two officers (Cagney's real-life partners and teachers Johnny Boyle and Hartland Dixon) on the tramp steamer that takes him and Rita to the South Seas for their honeymoon. Rita sings "Out of the Blue" when she rejoins the band on the East Coast. She sings "Loving You" and reprises "Right or Wrong" at the nightclub in the finale. "Loving You" also gives us one last dance from Terry.

Trivia: Grand National threw everything they had into their Cagney pictures...too much, as it turned out. This and the comedy Great Guy were too lavish for their audiences. Between that, the difficulties a newly-formed company had bucking the studio system of the time, and no breakout hits in the so-so score, Sing About wound up a flop...and took down Grand National with it. Grand National closed their doors in 1940. Warner Bros ended up buying Cagney's contract and the next movie Grand National had intended to make with him, Angels With Dirty Faces. 

What I Don't Like: Cagney, his dances, and the decent cast are pretty much the only things of interest here. Otherwise, it's pretty obvious this was a low-budget B-film from the late 30's. As mentioned, the songs are dull, the story perfunctory, the Hollywood satire toothless. This isn't anything you haven't seen in countless spoofs of the movies going back to the silent era, and this does nothing really new with it other than the idea of Terry walking out.

The Big Finale: Only for the most devoted fans of Cagney and the cast. 

Home Media: This is in the public domain, so it's easy to find anywhere in most formats. It's currently streaming on Tubi with commercials. 

DVD

Tubi

Cult Flops - The Goldywn Follies

Samuel Goldwyn/United Artists, 1938

Starring Adolph Menjou, Andrea Leeds, Vora Zorina, and Kenny Baker

Directed by George Marshall and H.C Potter

Music by Vernon Duke and George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Despite the initial success of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the decent showing of Paramount On Parade, revues fell out of favor rather quickly in Hollywood. It seemed people did want some semblance of a plot along with their songs and sketches. Even when musicals came back into style with the phenomenal popularity of 42nd Street, revues were not, conspicuously, part of the line-up. Most of the studios tried to revive them, but they tended to turn into something else, as with the decidedly peculiar Hollywood Party. Samuel Goldwyn's musicals had always been known more for their largess than their stories. With Eddie Cantor having left by 1938, Goldwyn opted to throw his focus into this million-dollar semi-revue that showcases some of the top acts of the day. How well do those acts work in this story of a producer who hires a young woman to give his films "the common touch?" Let's start in a small town, where producer Oliver Merlin (Menjou) is about to film a scene with his top actress Olga Samara (Zorina) and find out...

The Story: Sensible small-town girl Hazel Dawes (Leeds) tells Martin point-blank while watching the shoot that she thinks the whole romance is a lot of hooey. Samara doesn't look or act like a normal person in love. Merlin is so enchanted by her honest opinion, he hires her to be "Miss Humanity" and evaluate his films from the point of view of the ordinary, everyday theater-goer. He wants to keep Hazel free of Hollywood affectations, but she falls for sweet singing soda jerk Danny Beecher (Baker). Danny's such a wonderful singer that she gets him a job on the radio, which leads him to a Hollywood contract. Now Hazel is torn between her feelings for Danny and her "common" opinions. Not to mention, Martin has fallen for her, too, and there's a whole bevy of crazy comedians, nutty animal trainers, and wacky ventriloquist acts who are dying to get into Martin's newest show.

The Song and Dance: And with a story that fluffy, song and dance is pretty much the only thing of interest here. As goofy as the story is, some of the numbers are genuinely good. Ira Gershwin turned out a wonderful score, with his brother George and with Vernon Duke after George died. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy get a few good wisecracks as the ventriloquist act that manages to charm the passionate Olga, while Broadway comedian Bobby Clark also has his moments as Martin's randy assistant. The color is exquisite on the copy I watched, almost candy-like in its softer pastel charms. Menjou is the stand-out along with the music as the producer who is so delighted with his new "common" lady and how she's helped his pictures, he can't see she's falling for someone else.

The Numbers: The two big chorus routines are ballets for Zorina and the American Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera. The "Romeo and Juliet Ballet" turns the famous Shakespearean tragedy into the tale of a war between popular tap dancers and jazz performers and ballet dancers and violinists in Paris. It ends up with a happy ending when Hazel complains that it's too dark and not much fun. "The Water Nymph Ballet," with has Zorina as a supernatural creature in love with a human, is better-received by Hazel. The Ritz Brothers play Russian dancers in "The Volga Boatmen" to impress Zorina. They make use of their animal act to bring in dozens of cats for "Here Pussy Pussy." Their "Serenade to a Fish" turns them into Romans, then mermen. 

Baker gets to introduce the film's three hit songs. He sings "Love Walked In" at the soda shop, and later on the radio. He also gets the standard "Our Love Is Here to Stay" and "Spring Again" in the finale at Hollywood. Scottish comedienne Ella Logan introduces "I Was Doing Alright." Poor Michael Day (Phil Baker), whose parts are perpetually cut or changed, finally gets his chance to play the accordion with "I Love to Rhyme." Opera star Helen Jepson sings numbers from "La Traviata" with baritone Charles Kulllmann and "La Serenada." 

Trivia: George Gershwin's last film project. He died during production. 

What I Don't Like: Despite having an actual story and some terrific Gershwin and Gershwin-Duke songs, this is even more of a mish-mash than the early talkie revues. Zorina is a block of ice with a strange accent, Baker and Leeds are bland as the "common people," and the comedians all seem to have walked in from other, better films entirely. The two ballet sequences are lovely, but seem out of place among the less lavish numbers. It's all just throne together with more budget than sense, despite its emphasis on finding humanity and making movies more "real." That simple story is also drawn out way beyond too long, and the ending drags like crazy. Some of the later numbers could have been trimmed with no one the wiser.

The Big Finale: In the end, this is probably of interest only to fans of ballet, the Gershwins, or the comedians in question. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, the former from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Paramount On Parade

Paramount, 1930

Starring Jackie Oakie, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Leon Erroll, Maurice Chevalier, and others

Directed by Edmund Goulding, Ernst Lubistch, Dorothy Arzner, Victor, Schertzinger, and others

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we're going to do something entirely different and investigate three different versions of a musical genre that doesn't often turn up in films after 1930. Revues have been a part of musical theater going back centuries. These collections of songs, skits, and lavish showgirl parades were wildly popular on Broadway in the 1910's and 20's. After the success of Ziegfeld's Follies, every producer in town created their own lavish spectacles, filled with gags, girls, and specialty numbers from star comics. When sound came in, the studios sought to continue this tradition with their own versions. Paramount, the most sophisticated studio in 1930, may also have the most fascinating of the revues. How does Paramount's parade stand out from the pack? Let's head to the theater just as the curtain is rising and see...

The Story: This is a revue, so there isn't one. Comics Jack Oakie, Skeets Gallagher, and Leon Erroll introduce a vast array of Paramount stars of the time in numbers and sketches suited to their unique talents.

The Song and Dance: And actually, one of the places this stands out is in the sequences where there's no song involved at all. If you're a fan of vintage mysteries, you'll love "Murder Will Out," which spoofs popular detectives right in the very start. If you ever wanted to see Sherlock Holmes (Clive Brook), Philo Vance (William Powell),  and Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) solve a mystery together, here's your chance...and it's hilarious. George Bancroft tossing shade at his own bad guy reputation in "Impulses," as we see what party guests really want to say to each other, is pretty funny too. Some of the musical numbers that survive are among the most enjoyable of the era - Maurice Chevalier, Clara Bow, Nancy Carroll, and Jack Oakie and Zelma O'Neal are among those who make the biggest impressions musically.

The Numbers: Alas, the movie's Technicolor opening number "Showgirls On Parade" is totally lost except the sound, so our first number defaults to our MC's. "We're the Masters of Ceremony," say Gallagher, Erroll, and Oakie. They're clearly enjoying it, and tend to be far looser MCs than the ones on other early revues that try too hard or not enough. With "Showgirls" missing, our first chorus number we can actually see in current prints is "Anytime Is the Time to Fall In Love." Buddy Rogers and Lillian Roth woo each other on a giant clock while other young people dance under it. It's cutesy, but the song is fun and Roth and Rodgers are adorable.

Following "Murder Will Out," we have Maurice Chevalier and tough-lady character actress Evelyn Brent introducing the "Origin of the Apache" in a satire of the famous passionate French dance, directed by none other than Ernest Lubistch. The next number in the surviving print brings in another tough-love couple. Jack Oakie and Zelma O'Neal spar in more than one way at a gym, insisting "I'm In Training for You." The dancing here almost matches their hilarious performance - the snappy chorus routine is surprisingly good for the early talkie era. Ruth Chatterton, as a French tart among doughboys (including a very young Fredric March) sort-of sings "My Marine." Chevalier gives us a far more pleasant French interlude as a randy gendarme who admits "All I Need Is One Girl." Mitzi Green comes off as a lot less annoying than she generally did in movies of this era doing impressions of him.

Helen Kane is probably the least-likely teacher you can imagine, which is likely how her "What Did Cleopatra Say?" history lesson turns into her teaching the kids to boop-oop-a-doop. Nancy Carroll's "Dancing to Save Your Sole" starts out with her and Abe Lyman's band being pulled from a shoe box, but Carroll's sexy swinging and the catchy song makes this one of the film's best numbers. The fleet's in, and rowdy Clara Bow wants her pick of the cadets, claiming "I'm True to the Navy Now." Chevalier return for the Busby Berkeley-esque finale, with chorus girls doing overhead formations as he plays a French chimney sweep leaping among rooftops, "Sweeping the Clouds Away." 

Trivia: Alas, more than a quarter of the film remains missing from even the longest copies currently on YouTube, including all but one of its original Technicolor numbers. Of the missing footage, only sound has turned up for the opening "Showgirls" chorus parade. "Dream Girl," with Gary Cooper, Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, and Jean Arthur singing "Drink to the Girl of Your Dreams," and Dennis King singing "Nichavo!" have Techincolor footage existing, but no sound. "Come Back to Sorrento" with Nino Martini and "I'm Isodore the Torredor" with Harry Green and Kay Francis have picture and sound, but have yet to turn up online.

The Marx Brothers and Jeanette MacDonald supposedly had short sequences in this, but their parts were either cut or only turned up in international versions. 

Paramount On Parade filmed Dutch, German, Romanian, Spanish, French, and Scandinavian versions. 

The "Sweeping the Clouds Away" finale was originally in color, but survives in black and white.

 

What I Don't Like: First of all, note everything that's mentioned as missing in the Trivia section. In the copy I watched on YouTube, "Dream Girl" is introduced but not seen, and they don't even mention "Nichavo!" or "Come Back to Sorrento." "Isdore" and "Showgirls" have sound but not picture. The black and white footage doesn't look so hot, either. Universal really needs to take a very big swing at restoring this. 

Second, not everything lands. Errol's hospital sketch is annoying, Ruth Chatterton's "My Marine" is too dark for this light-hearted film, and the "Anytime" dance routine can come off as a bit too sweet. Not to mention, if you're not a fan of this era in general or Chevalier in particular, this movie probably won't change your mind. You really need to be a fan of Chevalier and/or understand what was going on in Hollywood and the world in 1930 to get a lot of what's going on.

The Big Finale: There's enough remaining here that's good to put this in the "recommended for fans of Maurice Chevalier, old-time mysteries, or the early talkie era musicals" column.

Home Media: To my knowledge, only on YouTube in copies of varying length and quality - this is the longest length I could find. (It includes two numbers from the mostly-lost Scandinavian version, one only with sound.)

YouTube

Back to School Again - College Holiday

Paramount, 1936

Starring Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Mary Boland

Directed by Frank Tuttle

Music and Lyrics by various

Our next collegiate story is a bit more unique. Most of Paramount's college-set stories usually took place on the actual campus. This one varies the setting enough to take the kids on vacation to a fictional resort in trouble, with a bit of Busby Berkeley backstage mixed in. How does this strange combination of school, wacky comedians, and then-fashionable theories on human breeding look nowadays? This time, let's begin as those kids dance at their prom and find out...

The Story: Sylvia Smith (Marsha Hunt) is called from the dance by her father, who had a mental breakdown when he found out they might lose their California hotel the Casa Del Mar, thanks to his less-than-astute partner J. Davis Bowster (Benny). The mortgage is held by eccentric heiress Carola Gaye (Boland), who is given to obsess over whatever strange fad catches her fancy. At the moment, that's eugenics and ancient Greek history, thanks to Professor Hercules Dove (Etienne Giradot). Bowster promises her gorgeous college bodies for her eugenics mating program if she'll fund the college kids staying at the hotel. Bowster tells the kids they're there as entertainers, as he wants to raise enough money for them to put on a show.

The kids aren't happy when they discover that Hercules wants his "genetically perfect" daughter Calliope (Allen) to select who gets to pair off. Dick Winters (Leif Erikson) has been trying to find out Sylvia's first name ever since the dance, and he'd rather be with her than with Gaye. There's also Calliope's actual boyfriend George Hymen (Burns), who would rather avoid she check his measurements to find her Apollo, and the stagehand (Ben Blue) who tries to chase new student Daisy Scholggenheimer (Martha Raye), but has a hard time avoiding the fists she's been trained to use in order to ward off men. They all end up putting together a minstrel show in support of the hotel, and to show Hercules and Carola that true "perfection" is in the eye of the beholder.

The Song and Dance: While the story isn't much, even for a Paramount college musical, some of the individual performances do have merit. Jack Benny has fun firing off some hilarious lines, while Raye and her fists do even better playing off the adorably bewildered Blue. Boland and Dove are befuddled riots as the duo with more wealth than brains who actually believe his ridiculous theories. Allen and Burns have a blast too, especially when Gracie attempts to pair off everyone!

The Numbers: We open under the credits with everyone performing "The Sweetheart Waltz" at that dance. The California Collegians Glee club sings "The Maine Stein Song" on board the train going to the resort. Dick and Sylvia really get into their cute "A Rhyme for Love" tap routine at the back of the train. Bowster even joins in briefly near the end. Daisy wonders "So What?" when asked about men. Bowster also gets to conduct the Collegians singing "Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here" and plays (or tries to play) "Love In Bloom" during the minstrel show. 

The ballad "Enchanted (I Love You)," performed by Sylvia and Dick with the chorus, is the big ballad in the minstrel show. Calliope, Ben, and George get into lavish colonial garb for an attempt at what they think is a dainty dance to the "Minuet In G." Martha Raye gets more into her blackface routine to "Who's That Knocking at My Heart?" with the Collegians. 

What I Don't Like: Where to start with this one? How about eugenics has largely been discredited since 1936, making Dove's theories look even sillier now than they likely did then. Or how dull Erikson and Hunt are compared to all the loonies around them. There's also the finale revolving around a minstrel show. In 1936, it was quaint nostalgia from a rosy past. Nowadays, the blackface alone may make the final 20 minutes a slog for many people. Or the songs are cute but nothing special, with only the wordplay on "A Rhyme for Love" being even a mild stand-out. Or Raye and Blue seeming to have come from another world entire; Blue is dropped into the second half with little rhyme or reason.

The Big Finale: Only for the most ardent fans of the star comedians. 

Home Media: Once again, this can currently only be found on YouTube (admittedly in a decent copy taken from a TCM showing). 

YouTube

Back to School Again - She Loves Me Not

Paramount, 1934

Starring Bing Crosby, Miriam Hopkins, Kitty Carlisle, and Edward J. Nugent

Directed by Benjamin Glazer

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's head west to Princeton, New Jersey for our next school story. School musicals vanished during 1930, along with other forms of the genre. They too would make a comeback in the mid-30's, though they largely tended to be smaller in scale than the Busby Berkeley dance spectaculars that helped revive the genre. Bing Crosby also rose to prominence around 1933 as he became a popular singer and favorite of women in particular. He was fast becoming one of Paramount's top draws, mostly specializing in small-scale romantic comedies with music like this charming comedy. How does this story of two Princeton students who hide a dancer from gangsters look nowadays? Let's begin as the bell tower of Princeton is contrasted with dancer Curly Flagg (Hopkins) and her routine in a skimpy outfit and find out...

The Story: After Curly witnesses a gangland murder, she flees, with Princeton being the furthest she can afford to go. She ends up in the dorm room of student Paul Lawton (Crosby). He sends her to his buddy Buzz Jones (Nugent), who suggests dressing her as a student and hiding her in plain sight. They cut her hair and give her men's clothing. Paul suggests she get a job with Buzz's movie owner father to support herself.

This turns into her story being leaked to the press in increasingly wild fashion, with the movie men making it look like she's an innocent girl who was taken in by men who wanted to do wrong by her. This upsets both Dean Mercer, the head of Princeton (Henry Stephenson) and his daughter Midge (Kitty Carlisle) who truly loves Paul, not to mention Paul's angry fiancee Frances (Judith Allen). It isn't until Buzz and Paul resign from the school that Curly realizes the trouble she caused...and everyone discovers the gangsters are still on her trail.

The Song and Dance: Charming small-scale school tale with a hilarious premise. Hopkins is the stand-out here. She's straightforward no matter what, whether she's running from the cops, wailing because of the loss of her hair, or doing a tap dance in slippers. Her vivacious heat is a marked contrast to Carlisle, who manages to be both warm and imperious, often in the same moment. Her sweet performance of the hit "Love In Bloom" with Crosby is a major highlight.

The Numbers: We start things off with a Princeton choir singing "Old Nassau" over a shot of a bell in a tower...which takes us into our first number under the credits. Curly, in her skimpy shorts and huge bow top, sings "Put a Little Rhythm Into Everything You Do," finishing right before the gangsters commit murder. She also attempts a tap number in slippers to "Cocktails for Two" after Paul takes her in, and she gets drunk on gin when they cut her hair. Paul and Midge duet on the hit ballad "Love In Bloom" and the jauntier "Straight from the Shoulder." Later on, Paul says "I'm Hummin', I'm Whistlin', I'm Singin'."

Trivia: The song "Love In Bloom" is more associated today with comedian Jack Benny, who used it as his theme song for years.

Would be remade twice, as True to the Army in 1943 and How to Be Very, Very Popular in 1955. 

What I Don't Like: Why was this set at Princeton? The guys are barely shown in school and are never seen studying. Not to mention, there's the problem of them being way too old for college students again and pretty interchangeable. Paul is, frankly, a bit of pill, and is pretty dull for one of Bing's characters. It's interesting too that he ends up with Carlisle, not Hopkins, with whom he really has more chemistry anyway.

The Big Finale: Not Bing's best film, but a cute enough way to pass an hour and a half if you're a huge fan of him or the leading ladies.

Home Media: Which makes it just as well that the only way you can currently find this one is on YouTube in a copy with Portuguese subtitles. 

YouTube 

Happy Labor Day! - Thanks for the Memory

Paramount, 1938

Starring Bob Hope, Shirley Ross, Charles Butterworth, and Otto Kruger

Directed by George Archainbaud

Music and Lyrics by various

We honor writers and their creative process this Labor Day with this lesser-known Bob Hope comedy. Ross, Hope, and their performance of the song "Thanks for the Memory" had been the major stand-out number amid the chaos of the semi-revue The Big Broadcast of 1938. After the song won an Oscar, Paramount rushed the two into this low-budget comedy, based on the stage play Up Pops the Devil. How does the story of a newlywed couple who start to question their relationship when she goes back to work so he can focus on his novel look nowadays, with far more women in the workplace? Let's begin with that couple, Steve (Hope) and Anne (Ross) Merrick, at their cozy apartment in New York and find out...

The Story: Steve loves schmoozing with his mooching friends, including Biney (Butterworth) and his wife Polly (Hedda Hopper) and George Kent (Roscoe Karns), who is married to a wealthy woman. Anne, though she enjoys their parties, is less enamored by their cost. Steve has taken a second job while working on his novel, which he isn't close to finishing. Anne insists on him quitting his job while she works for her ex-finacee, publisher Gill Morrell (Kruger). 

Steve's ultimately frustrated by staying at home. He's not a great cook and can't concentrate. Likewise, Anne doesn't appreciate Gill's advances, though she does like the money she brings home. Anne finally makes a major discovery, only to see Steve out with their clingy southern Belle neighbor Lulella (Patricia Wilder) and jumps to the wrong conclusion. For his part, Steve is tired of feeling "kept." They're about to sell their apartment when a couple comes to see it and they realize how much they still want it...and are willing to give each other a second chance.

The Song and Dance: For something Paramount tossed off in response to another movie, this is honestly pretty cute. Hopper and Butterworth are a riot as Steve's well-dressed pals who show up whenever there's food or gin to be had, and Karns has some funny moments as Steve's hangdog pal who isn't sure he loves his wife, but knows he loves her money. The story - and how it treats writers and gender reversal - is pretty interesting too. Steve has a harder time writing when there's no distractions than when there's friends all over the place, while Anne is bored by her modeling job. 

The Numbers: The title song opens and closes the film, first as we meet Anne and Steve and see their life together in the apartment, and then right before the end when they recall their relationship and realize they don't really want to leave each other. In between, we get another charming duet that became a standard. Anne and Steve are "Two Sleepy People" who are enjoying each other's company way too much to hit the sack by dawn.

What I Don't Like: First of all, "Two Sleepy People" aside, this isn't really a musical. It's more of a B-comedy with an A-list cast. Second, though the story is relatively original for a romantic comedy, it hasn't dated that well. Nowadays, many people, men and women, work from home, and men are just as likely as women to take on domestic chores. 

The Big Finale: Not really of much interest unless you're a huge fan of Hope and his theme song or 30's screwball comedies. 

Home Media: On DVD from the Universal Vault and Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Gold Diggers In Paris

Warner Bros, 1938

Starring Rudy Vallee, Rosemary Lane, Allan Jenkins, and Hugh Herbert

Directed by Ray Enright

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Al Dubin and Johnny Mercer

The Busby Berkeley extravaganzas continued pretty much through the rest of the 30's, but by 1938, they were starting to run their course. Most of the stars who appeared in them had left Warners or moved to other genres, and even Berkeley would be gone by 1940. This would be the last movie in the series Warners made with "Gold Diggers" in the title, and it's telling that, other than Hugh Herbert, it largely has a very different cast from the earlier entries. Warners was starting to dial back the budgets, too - there's only one huge number in this film, and it comes near the end. How does the story of showgirls who end up replacing a ballet company at a Paris dance festival look today? Let's begin with the men who run that festival, including the one charged with finding the entrant for the US, Maurice Giraud (Herbert), and find out...

The Story: Giraud is supposed to bring over the Academy Ballet of America, but he's accidentally brought to the failing Club Balle instead. Although the owners Terry Moore (Vallee) and Duke Dennis (Jenkins) realize there's been a mistake made, they accept the invitation anyway when they realize there's cash prizes involved. They hire ballet teacher Luis Leoni (Fritz Feld) and his student Kay Morrow (Lane) on the boat France to teach ballet to their dancers. Kay falls for Terry, but his ex-wife Mona (Gloria Dickson) is rooming with her.

Trouble is, the head of the actual Academy Ballet of America, Padrinsky (Curt Bois) has figured out by this point what's going on. He cables Giraud on the ship, but the ventriloquist (Mabel Todd) who has been trying to get her big break with Terry and Duke and her "talking dog" convinces him that it's Padrinksy who isn't telling the truth. Trouble is, Padrinsky is already on his way to Paris with his patron, gangster Mike Coogan (Edward Brophy). Duke relates to Coogan when they arrive that they've been having trouble with the representative of the festival, Pierre LeBrec (Mellville Cooper). Coogan agrees to "take care" of the problem, but he "takes care" of Leoni instead of LeBrec. Padrinksy wants the group to be deported, but Mona arranges the order so he and Coogan are shipped out instead...but Kay has found out Terry's deception and is now angry with him, and there's still the fact that the ladies have never really picked up ballet that well...

The Song and Dance: This wound up being a lot more charming than I thought. It's the ladies and the character actors who carry the day here. Lane and Dickson frankly play off each other better than the men. Dickson in particular does well as the ex-wife who does have a softer side. Jenkins and Coogan don't do badly playing up New York and gangster stereotypes, either, while Herbert is slightly less annoying as a Frenchman here than he was as a righteous moral crusader in Dames. There's also The Snicklefritz Band and their wacky numbers adding much-needed musical levity to the first half in particular. 

The Numbers: We open with the number at the Club Balle. "I Want to Go Back to Bali" is a romance in the tropics chorus routine with Vallee as a Navy officer among South Seas beauties. (It's also heard briefly in the finale.) The Snicklefritz Band get their own "Colonel Corn" at the club and "Listen to the Mockingbird" later in Paris. Vallee and Lane sing "Dreaming (All Night Long)" on-board ship and "A Stranger In Paree" in Paris. "The Latin Quarter" was the hit song and is the big number in the finale. We get all kinds of artistic types and Parisian stereotypes joining in, along with the return of the Navy uniforms from the first number. We even get everyone dancing under a huge Navy officer's hat at one point.

What I Don't Like: First of all, Vallee has all the charm of a dead fish when he's not singing. He's so dull, it makes you wonder what Kay or Mona see in him. (He would come off far better as a character actor and comedian from the later 40's through the 60's.) Second, it's obvious this one is a bit lower-budgeted than the earlier entries. Of the three big numbers, only the finale goes full-on Berkeley kaleidoscope. "Back to Bali" in particular is a dull chorus number that could appear in any film. The story is piffle and a bit annoying; of the songs, only "Latin Quarter" is even remotely distinguished.

The Big Finale: Mostly for major fans of Vallee or the big Berkeley musicals of the 30's. Everyone else is better off starting with 42nd Street or Gold Diggers of 1933 instead.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Dames

Warner Bros, 1934

Starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, and Hugh Herbert

Directed by Ray Enright

Music by Harry Warren and others; Lyrics by Al Dubin and others

This week, we're diving into Busby Berkeley's signature kaleidoscope numbers in two of his lesser-known Warners films. Dames was a direct result of the massive success of Gold Diggers of 1933, 42nd Street, and Footlight Parade. Warners wanted more of the same and immediately put a lot of the actors from those three films at work on this one. Trouble was on the horizon, however. The new Production Code forbade scanty costumes and sexual ogling...and all of this is reflected in this movie. How does the lavish Berkeley sensibility mix with the story of an eccentric millionaire (Herbert) who is determined to raise morals and eliminate those he doesn't find upright, upstanding citizens...especially show business folk? Let's begin with Ezra Ounce and his principles and find out...

The Story: Ezra visits his cousin Matilda Hemingway (ZaSu Pitts) in New York City, which he considers the center of vice and immorality in the US. None of them are happy when they find out that Matilda's daughter Barbara (Keeler) is actually dancing in a show, or that she's in love with "black sheep" singer and songwriter Jimmy Higgens (Powell). Matilda's husband Horace (Guy Kibbee) ends up in trouble when he gives a showgirl named Mabel (Blondell) a ride home in his private train car. He's so terrified of scandal, he leaves her money and a note saying not to tell anyone...but Mabel uses his connections to her and to Barbara to blackmail him into backing their show.

The Song and Dance: The supporting cast definitely waltzes off with this one. Herbert's a supremely weird and enjoyable eccentric rich uncle, fluttery Pitts is hilarious as his stuffed-shirt sister, and Kibbee is all enjoyably flustered bluster as her husband whose kindness to a showgirl starts the trouble. We're still at the height of Berkeley's initial influence and popularity, too. One of the most famous songs from any of the Warners/Berkeley came from this film, and one of its most unique numbers. Berkeley's famous playing with the camera to turn showgirls into Ruby Keeler for "I Only Had Eyes for You" and girls in black and white frills tapping in formation for the camera in the title song.

The Numbers: "I Only Have Eyes for You" is the standard ballad here, and it gets not one, but two numbers worthy of it. The first, less lavish has Jimmy crooning the hit to Barbara on the ferry to Manhattan with other couples looking on. The second is far more elaborate. Powell dreams of every girl dancing in white frills looking like Keeler, with Keeler's face being held up by chorus girls. "Dames" shows said ladies sleeping, dressing, and showering before going into their ruffle-and-black stocking kaleidoscope tap dance for the camera. 

"The Girl at the Ironing Board" is more whimsical. Early 1900's laundress Mabel dances with laundry after wishing for more romantic love. It's funny and charming, and Blondell looks like she's having fun with it. "Try to See It My Way" is Barbara and Jimmy again, and there's the satirical "When You Were a Smile On Your Mother's Lips and a Twinkle In Your Daddy's Eyes."

What I Don't Like: Not one of the better Berkeley comedies. The story is silly and kind of annoying, even by the standards of 30's musicals. Keeler and Powell are fine, but they're not nearly as much fun as the hilarious supporting cast.The songs don't start until nearly 20 minutes in, and while they are good, there aren't that many of them. 

The Big Finale: The great numbers and supporting cast are fun for fans of Berkeley movies and 30's musicals, but casual viewers will likely want to start with 42nd Street or Gold Diggers of 1933 first. 

Home Media: The solo DVD is pricey, but it can be found on several Berkeley collections and on streaming.

DVD

DVD - TCM Greatest Classic Film Collection: Busby Berkeley

Amazon Prime

The Three Musketeers (1939)

20th Century Fox, 1939

Starring Don Ameche, The Ritz Brothers, Binnie Barnes, and Pauline Moore

Directed by Allan Dwan

Music by Samuel Pokrass; Lyrics by Walter Bullock

The Marx Brothers were far from the only comic brother group who were popular in the 30's and early 40's. The Ritz Brothers started out on the stage in 1925. By 1934, they were Broadway headliners who did short subjects for Educational Pictures. 20th Century Fox was so impressed, they hired them as the comic relief in big musicals like On the Avenue. The Three Musketeers would prove to be their biggest hit with their names above the title. How does this wacky spoof of swashbucklers look now? Let's begin with D'Aragnan (Ameche) as he arrives in Paris and find out...

The Story: D'Arangan is looking for the fabled three Musketeers. Alas, they got drunk, and what he finds is three cooks (Ritz Brothers) in their outfits. He needs all the help he can get. Queen Anne (Gloria Stuart) and her lady-in-waiting Constance (Moore) find him dueling with the Duke of Buckingham (Lester Matthews) at the inn where he and the cooks conned their way into rooms. The Queen is having an affair with the Duke and has given him a jeweled broach to remember her by. 

Cardinal Richelieu (Miles Mander) orders Lady De Winter (Barnes) and his head man De Rochefort (Lionel Atwill) to steal the broach and bring it to King Louis (Joseph Schildkraut). DeWinter does manage to waylay D'Arganan...but she doesn't account for his loyal, if none-too-bright, friends. It's all for one, and one for lunacy as the four non-Musketeers prove themselves worthy of the name to make sure the broach gets to the Queen before the King figures out what's going on!

The Song and Dance: Darn good cast for a spoof. Ameche made such a wonderful D'Arangan, I wish he'd done more swashbucklers. Moore was a lovely Constance, Barnes was a charming Milady the few times we see her, and Atwill and Mander didn't do badly as the scheming villains. The Ritz Brothers' broad slapstick may be an acquired taste, but I thought their gags came off a lot better here than in the bigger-budget musicals On the Avenue and One In a Million. I'm also impressed with how relatively well they stuck to the first half of the book for a spoof, despite the complicated story being greatly condensed. 

The Numbers: We open with D'Aragnan on his horse, riding to Paris and singing "Warla Warla (Say Paree)" as he greets other travelers on the road. He reprises the number while preparing to meet Constance again about mid-way through the film. The cooks show how they make their "Chicken Soup" in the tavern kitchen right before the real Musketeers turn up drunk. D'Arganan and the cooks sing "Voila" after they've taken on the Cardinal's guards at the tavern. The young Musketeer hopeful woos Constance with "My Lady" in the boarding house courtyard. 

What I Don't Like: As I mentioned, the Ritz Brothers are an acquired taste at best for most audiences nowadays. Though they were popular onstage through the 50's, they never did gel with movies the way the Marxes did. The trio don't have enough personality to offset their broad and often juvenile slapstick shenanigans. They admittedly come off better here than they did playing second fiddle to Fox blondes, but their brand of goofiness doesn't work well with the otherwise straight action story. In fact, there's so much focus on them, we don't see enough of characters like Lady DeWinter who are a lot more important to the action. The songs are no great shakes, either, and in fact often slow down the pace. 

The Big Finale: I got a kick out of this, but your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for the Ritzes and/or their brand of slapstick lunacy. 

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

DVD

Happy April Fool's Day! - A Night at the Opera

MGM, 1935

Starring The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, and Chico), Margaret Dumont, Allan Jones, and Kitty Carlisle

Directed by Sam Wood

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's celebrate a day devoted to merriment with three of the craziest pranksters in classic film. Paramount dropped the Marxes after their previous film, Duck Soup, wasn't a hit. Head of MGM Irving Thalburg recognized their genius and snapped them up, encouraging them to hone their craft on a vaudeville tour before they made this movie. How well does the MGM largess and their big musical numbers fit with the Marxes' brand of madness? Let's begin at an expensive restaurant in Milan, Italy, where Otis P. Driftwood (Groucho) is supposed to be meeting his boss Mrs. Claypool (Dumont), and find out...

The Story: After she finally gets his attention, Driftwood introduces Mrs. Claypool to Herman Gottleib (Sig Rumann), the director of the New York Opera. Driftwood has arranged for Mrs. Claypool to invest $200,000 in the opera company, which will allow Gottlieb to hire star tenor Rodolfo Laspari (Walter Woolf King). After hearing how much Laspari will make a year, Driftwood tries to get him under contract instead. He ends up getting Ricardo Baroni (Jones), a chorus performer at the opera, thanks to Baroni's self-styled manager Fiorello (Chico) and Laspari's dresser Tomasso (Harpo). Baroni is in love with leading lady Rosa Castaldi (Carlisle), but Laspari is also interested in her. 

During the voyage from Italy to New York, Driftwood discovers that Baroni and his two friends stowed away in his trunk. He tries to hide them in his already-small stateroom at first, but they get caught. He manages to get them into New York anyway when they pose as three heroic European pilots. Driftwood's continued attempts to keep his friends from the police and Baroni returning to Rosa's side ends with Driftwood and Rosa losing their jobs and everyone thrown out on the sidewalk. Driftwood may not be able to sit on the grass, but he and his friends are never down for long. They come up with an idea that'll bring Rosa and Ricardo together onstage and keep Gottlieb and police officer Sergeant Henderson (Robert Emmet O'Connor) from stopping their own show for good.

The Song and Dance: One of the Marxes' best films. My favorite sequence has always been the Stateroom Scene, where fifteen people, a giant trunk, and 30 hard-boiled eggs are stuffed into a stateroom barely bigger than a closet. There's also Harpo and Chico wrecking havoc in the orchestra pit and onstage in the finale while Groucho makes sarcastic comments in the audience, and Groucho and Chico tearing apart Ricardo's contract before they can even agree to make it. Great performances across the boards, from the Marxes having an absolute blast to Jones and Carlisle being funnier than the lovers in most of their movies to the wonderfully hissable King. 

The Numbers: We open in Milan with a chorus number from the opera I Pagliacci, "Stridonu Lassu," which gives us a glimpse of what Rosa and Rodolfo do and why they're so popular. Our first number outside of the opera house is the ballad "Alone." Rosa sings it to Ricardo as the boat is leaving Milan. He picks it up on the docks, and the chorus joins in while Driftwood ducks out of paying his hotel bill and Tomasso hugs everyone on-deck. Driftwood belts "Sing Ho for the Open Highway" briefly while being hauled around on his trunk. 

The Italian peasants are singing the traditional Neapolitan song "Santa Lucia" when Ricardo, Tomasso, and Fiorello head on-deck for dinner. Ricardo is so delighted with their hospitality, he goes into the Brown-Freed dance number "Cosi-Cosa," which turns into an enormous chorus routine all around the deck. After the dance, Fiorello dips into the MGM vault for an instrumental "All I Do Is Dream of You" on the piano, while Tomasso reprises "Alone" and "Dream of You" on the harp. (His rendition of "Alone" is especially pretty.)

Tomasso and Fiorello get Il Trovodore off to a wacky start when they replace the overture with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." It even includes them hitting a ball around and Driftwood selling peanuts in the audience. Gottlieb and Henderson try to catch Fiorello and Tomasso during "The Anvil Chorus," but they evade them. Driftwood has more fun tossing quips about the ancient old hag singing "Stride La Vampa." Laspari is performing "Di Quella Pira" when he's dragged backstage. Rosa and Ricardo replace him for the tragic "Miserere," which has her singing to him in prison. 

Trivia: According to Wikipedia, the movie originally began with a long number depicting the sights and sounds of everyday Milan workers before cutting to Mrs. Claypool at the restaurant. It was either cut in 1938 or during World War II to remove references to Italy and has since been lost.

What I Don't Like: It's been pointed out that the Marxes tend to work better with looser storylines that give them more room for anarchy. Their last two films had also de-emphasized the roles of the lovers. This one builds them back up again and adds musical numbers. The opera sequences in the beginning and end show what Rosa and Rodolfo do and give the Marxes a chance for gags. "Alone," on the other hand, is lovely but goes on for too long, and "Cosi Cosa" is fun but largely extraneous. 

The Big Finale: I'm going to agree with Groucho Marx himself and say this has long been my favorite Marx Brothers movie. It's probably the best place for newcomers to the Marxes' nutty world to start along with Duck Soup. 

Home Media: Easily found on all formats. The Blu-Ray is a Warner Archives release. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime