Happy Memorial Day! - Let's Face It

Paramount, 1943

Starring Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, Eve Arden, and ZaSu Pitts

Directed by Sidney Lanfield

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter and others

Let's celebrate the upcoming Memorial Day weekend with the last of the four comedies Bob Hope did set in the military. On Broadway in 1941, Let's Face It was a farce with Cole Porter songs that made stars out of Danny Kaye as one of three soldiers who are hired by bored wealthy women to escort them and Eve Arden as the most prominent of those women. It was a surprise hit despite less-than-stellar reviews that didn't consider it to be one of Porter's better scores. How does it look nowadays? Let's begin, not at the barracks, but at a dairy farm that is also a health spa for overweight women and find out...

The Story: Winnie Porter (Hutton) is getting tired of her fiancee, Private Jerry Walker (Hope) ducking out of getting married. On the day they're supposed to finally tie the knot, Winnie catches Jerry selling junk food to her clients, and the Army catches him when he accidentally drives a Jeep through a wall. Desperate to pay off the Jeep, he convinces his friends Barney (Dave Willock) and Frankie (Cully Richards) to join him in arranging dates for wealthy Maggie Watson (Arden) and her friends Cornelia Figeston (Pitts) and Nancy Collister (Phyllis Povah). The ladies are tired of their husbands going off on "fishing trips" and leaving them alone. Furious when they catch them with the women, Winnie and Frankie and Barney's girlfriends Muriel (Dona Drake) and Jean (Marjorie Weaver) take the ladies' husbands out on dates at the same nightclub. Unfortunately, the boys' superior officer Sergeant Wiggins (Joe Sawyer) is also out on the town. When he catches them, it sends the boys fleeing again.

The Song and Dance: Though Hope and Hutton both have some good moments, Arden and the older ladies are the ones who really steal the show. They get all the best lines and have some of the best moments, including when their husbands catch them with the soldiers! Hope does get a few moments of his own to shine, notably in the beginning when he's trying to hustle the ladies with the sweets and the end when the guys are fleeing the entire mess. 

The Numbers: We open with "The Milk Song" as Winnie leads ladies of all shapes and sizes in an exercise class. Winnie and Jerry say "Who Did? I Did? Yes I Did!" as they sing along to an album Winnie made and Jerry tries to show off on Winnie's exercise equipment. "Let's Face It" is the sole chorus number as the Army soldiers sing about the presents their girlfriends sent them. "Who Did?" is heard later as an instrumental dance number for the trio of soldiers as they literally stick together to keep the overly amorous older ladies at bay and as they finally do dance with the women. When we get to the nightclub, two dancers do an instrumental routine that seemed to mainly involve variations on the woman smacking the man. Winnie gives her own option on romance as she insists "Let's Not Talk About Love."

Trivia: Jules Styne and Sammy Cahn wrote "Who Did? I Did! Yes I Did!"

Let's Face It debuted on Broadway in 1941 with Kaye in Hope's role singing two patter numbers written by his wife Sylvia Fine in addition to Porter's songs. As mentioned, it was a surprise hit, running two years in New York and a year in London in 1943. It pretty much disappeared after the London run, other than a TV version in 1954 with Bert Lahr and Gene Nelson as the soldiers and Vivian Vance in Eve Arden's role.

What I Don't Like: No matter who wrote the music, this isn't really much of a musical. I really wish they'd kept more of the Cole Porter score, even if it wasn't one of his best. It might have fleshed out more of the characters. We barely see Winnie other than her numbers, and Jerry's buddies and their girls are fairly interchangeable. 

The Big Finale: Mainly for really big fans of Hope, Arden, Porter, or small-scale 40's musicals. 

Home Media: Which makes it just as well that the only places you can currently find this are on YouTube and the Internet Archive.

YouTube

Internet Archive

Happy Mother's Day! - Three Daring Daughters

MGM, 1948

Starring Jeanette MacDonald, Jose Iturbi, Jane Powell, and Edward Arnold

Directed by Fred M. Wilcox

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's celebrate a day devoted to mothers with a movie about a mother and her very devoted offspring. Jeanette MacDonald's last starring role had been in the spy comedy Cairo in 1942. She was last seen in a cameo in Universal's big wartime revue Follow the Boys in 1944. This was intended to be a bit of a comeback for her after she spent time focusing on opera. For Jane Powell, this was her third movie, and her second of five times she'd try to play matchmaker to a single parent. How does the story of a harried mother who marries a concert pianist on a trip, only to discover her daughters want to get her together with her ex-husband, look in a time when divorce and blended families are far more common? Let's begin at the graduation ceremony of older teen Tess Morgan (Powell), who is disappointed when she sees an empty chair in the audience that should be filled by her mother Louise (MacDonald), and find out...

The Story: Louise is late because she fainted at her job as an editor for Modern Design Magazine. Dr. Cannon (Harry Davenport) insists that she takes a vacation alone to help her nerves. She takes a month-long cruise to Cuba. On board, she meets concert pianist Jose Iturbi (Himself), who is playing with the ship's orchestra. They end up falling in love and marrying. Trouble is, Louise told the girls their father was a wonderful man, when he was really a bad father who abandoned his wife and daughters. She didn't want them to feel bad about their father, but her trying to protect them backfires when they go to their father's boss Robert Nelson (Arnold) and ask him to bring their father back so he can re-marry her. They're shocked when she finally admits she married Iturbi and try to drive him away, until they realize just how much in love Louise and her new husband are.

The Song and Dance: This is charmingly low-key for a big MGM musical in the late 40's. It's mostly just MacDonald, the three young ladies, and Iturbi, with Arnold occasionally tossing in blustery reactions as the girls beg him to get their father home or keep him from coming and interrupt his meals. MacDonald is warm and affectionate with the girls, and you can understand why they adore her so much, they try to interfere with her love life. I especially love the sweet scene when the girls call their mother shipboard to serenade her on her birthday. There's some lovely costumes too, with lavish gowns for MacDonald in Cuba and attractive teen and kids' clothing for the girls. 

The Numbers: We open with the young ladies of Miss Drake's School for Girls singing their "Alma Mater" as Tess tries to ask her youngest sister Alix (Elinor Donahue) where their mother is. She finally arrives in time to see Tess perform "Passipied." "The Dickey Bird" is heard three times. The first time has the three girls playing it for their mother, who joins in. The second is in the finale; Iturbi joins in here as well. Tess sings "Flurette" to get Morgan's attention from his meal when the girls first descend on his mansion. 

Iturbi's first solo is "Lieberstraum," which he plays on the ship with an orchestra. He plays "Where There's Love" for Louise the next night. She also briefly performs "You Made Me Love You." His real-life wife Amparo joins him for the "Rumanian Rhapsody In A, Opus 11 No.1" at the big Cuban concert. The girls adorably sing "Happy Birthday" and part of "Dickey Bird" over the phone for their touched and impressed mother. The only chorus number is the brief "Ritual Fire Dance" at the show in Cuba. The dancers sing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish for Louise here, too. 

After Louise and Iturbi return from the cruise, they think he's there to audition Tess. She sings "Juliet's Waltz" from Romeo et Juliet for him. Iturbi conducts the "Allegro Appasinato, Opus 10" with a huge classical orchestra at a concert hall. Louise's second song with Iturbi as she rehearses with him at the concert hall is "Sweethearts."  The girls play "Route 66" at home, claiming Iturbi knows nothing about modern music. Iturbi repeats it and plays it quite well, swing and all. Tess sings "Springtide" with her mother to apologize for driving Iturbi away and calling their father without permission. 

What I Don't Like: The story occasionally edges into something more annoying than cute, especially in the second half. On one hand, what the girls did stepped out of bounds, and the older ones in particular were modern levels of bratty about it. On the other hand, Louise should not have lied about their father, whether she was trying to protect them or not. The complicated story is basically sitcom fluff that would turn up in every other family comedy of the 80's and 90's. Iturbi is no more interesting wooing a woman closer to his own age than he was as the object of Jane Powell's affection in Holiday In Mexico two years before. 

The Big Finale: Just sweet enough to be charming Mother's Day viewing with your own Mom this Sunday.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Tin Pan Alley

20th Century Fox, 1940

Starring Alice Faye, Betty Grable, John Payne, and Jack Oakie

Directed by Walter Lang

Music and Lyrics by various

Tin Pan Alley marks a turning point for 20th Century Fox musicals. They'd been doing the same Busby Berkeley imitations as the rest of Hollywood since 1933, but the wild success of Alexander's Ragtime Band set the tone for their musicals through the mid-50's. It also made Faye one of their biggest stars. Here, she's joined by Grable, who had been banging around Hollywood for a decade at that point, comedian Jack Oakie, and relative newcomer John Payne for another "through the years" tale. This one revolves around the famous lane in New York where songwriters had their offices from the turn of the 20th century until well into the 60's. Does the story of two Tin Pan Alley songwriters who fall for a vaudeville sister act still go over today, or should it be given the hook? Let's begin, not on Tin Pan Alley, but in the boxing ring, where Francis "Skeets" Harrigan (Payne) is finishing a match, and find out...

The Story: Harrigan only boxes to pick up extra cash. He and his friend Harry Calhoun (Oakie) are songwriters with ambitions of setting up their own publishing house. They're very impressed with vaudeville sister act Katie (Faye) and Lily (Grable) Blane. Neither woman is especially impressed with them. Dancer Lily auditions for a series of increasingly bigger and more amorous producers, but Harrigan convinces singer Katie to stay with them after they turn a lovelorn songwriter's (Elisha Cook Jr.) little melancholy tune into a huge hit. 

Harrigan and Calhoun do get their publishing empire, thanks to Katie being able to plug their songs. She's impressed with the big patriotic number "America, I Love You" and is furious when Harrigan reluctantly lets star Nora Bayes (Esther Ralston) sing it instead. They talk her out of going to Chicago, but the "America" number is the last straw. She joins Lily in England, where they're a hit on the West End. Having lost their empire and their ability to sniff out a hit song, Harrigan and Calhoun join the Army when America enters World War I. Harrigan thinks he has no chance with Katie when he sees she now has a fiancee, Captain Reggie Carstair (John Loder), but Lily knows which man her sister really wants.

The Song and Dance: It's a shame Grable and Faye would never star together again. They're warm, funny, and believable as sisters. They even kind of look alike. I actually wish they got to spend even more time together. Payne is even better as the less-goofy half of the songwriting team. He's one of the few men in these Fox musicals who can hold up his end of the musical chores, and in fact may be the best thing about this. He and Faye have a warm rapport that makes it all the more heartbreaking when she takes off for London. 

The Numbers: Oakie gives us our first song, writing and dancing to "Dixie" as Harrigan plays. The Blane Sisters' first song is their attractive hula and tap routine to "In the Land of Sweet Aloha." It's enough to convince Harrigan and Calhoun that they are the ladies to put over their songs. Joe Cobb's (Cook) funeral instrumental waltz turns into the sole new song, the now-standard "You Say the Sweetest Things, Baby." We get a (thankfully) brief shot of a minstrel group in burnt cork makeup performing it, then a stripper on a moon, then two tap dancers doing a soft shoe, then Katie with the chorus boys. Katie's not happy when Harrigan insists she sing "On Moonlight Bay" at a nightclub to one-up a rival publishing house. They were supposed to be out together. 

Grable has more fun showing off her famous legs with the chorus to the tune of "Honeysuckle Rose." Katie and Harrigan start off singing "America, I Love You" together, but everyone on Tin Pan Alley (including the Roberts Brothers and the Brian Sisters) end up joining in. Despite how energetically Calhoun puts it over, Harrigan still rejects Cobb's "Good-Bye Broadway, Hello France." Rotund Billy Gilbert is "The Sheik of Araby," in a huge chorus number with the Blanes and girls in harem costumes that were so brief, they ended up having to reshoot it. The Nicholas Brothers have a fabulous dance routine right in the middle of it. The movie ends with the doughboys arriving home as Calhoun finally figures out the lyrics to the song he'd been struggling with throughout the film, "K-K-K-Katy." 

Trivia: Several songs were cut from this movie, including Grable's "When You Were a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose" and "Get Out and Get Under" for Grable, Faye, and Oakie, were cut from the film. Both sequences survive; "Get Out and Get Under" can be found on the 1994 video release. 

What I Don't Like: "Sheik of Araby" aside, this is actually pretty small-scale for a big 40's musical. It's even in black and white. Despite how well she works with her friend Faye, Grable's part almost feels like an afterthought. She's barely in a good chunk of the movie. Most of it revolves around Harrigan trying to push his songs and Katie either getting tired of it or resigning herself to it, both of which get pretty annoying after a while. You wish we could see more of the sister act and what made them such a hit together and less of Harrigan and Katie chasing each other. 

The Big Finale: There's enough that's good here to recommend for fans of the four leads or the smaller-scale musicals of the 30's and 40's. 

Home Media: Alas, the only place you can find this at press time is YouTube, in a blurry copy that seems to have been recorded off of AMC sometime in the late 90's.

YouTube

Incendiary Blonde

Paramount, 1945

Starring Betty Hutton, Arturo de Cordova, Bill Goodwin, and Barry Fitzgerald

Directed by George Marshall

Music and Lyrics by various

Our first of three Women's History Month movies is also the first of two vehicles we'll be seeing featuring energetic comedienne Betty Hutton. Of the four biographies she appeared in, this one might suit her the most. Texas Guinin lived a colorful life from the late 1900's through the early 1930's, working everything from rodeos to Broadway to films, ending up as "queen of the nightclubs" in the 20's, singing and talking to the customers in her own lavish speakeasies. How well does the film do with depicting her wild Roaring Twenties world? Let's begin with the rodeo coming to Waco, Texas, and find out...

The Story: Texas Gunian (Hutton) may be a goofy tomboy, but she's no fool. The new owner of the rodeo, Bill Romero Kilgallon (de Cordova), is so impressed when she manages to stay on a bucking bronco, he hires her on the spot...and she holds out for more money. Press agent Tim Callahan (Goodwin) is even more so after he sees her act "rescuing" a child. She's in love with Kilgallon, but he's married to an invalid. She ends up going off to become a Broadway star with Callahan, but then follows her old friend Cherokee Jim (Charlie Ruggles) to Hollywood to become a movie star. 

She does well, getting back together with Bill to make their own features, but Bill runs afoul of gangsters and ends up convincing Texas to sell out and get the money. Back in New York, Texas has few prospects until she inadvertently discovers how well she can handle a nightclub crowd. Her songs and talking directly to them jazzes up speakeasy-goers and brings in the crowds. Unfortunately, they also attract gangster Joe Cadden (Albert Dekker), who takes over the club and Texas' contract. Texas is still a smash, and with Bill's wife having passed on, she's hoping to marry him...but his getting caught between warring gangsters and her realizing she has a terminal illness makes them realize how impossible that is.

The Song and Dance: When she's allowed to do the rip-roaring comedy that she does best, Hutton has way too much fun here. This may be the biographical role that suited her best. Guinan was a tough-talking tomboy who lived one of the most colorful lives of the early 20th century, not too far from Hutton herself. She really throws herself into Guinan's trademark nightclub patter and that bucking bronco in the opening. Great production, too, with gorgeous Edith Head costumes and some nice Technicolor cinematography, especially in the first half.

The Numbers: We open with Texas singing "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" with her siblings as they watch the rodeo parade. We get  montage of Texas moving up from chorus line cutie to featured dancer to a star with shows based around her, including the (rather stereotypical) African spoof "Oh By Jingo" with her shaking her hips in feathers among "natives." "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" is a more romantic roundelay, with Hutton in a massive lavender gown and picture hat singing to a handsome leading man. 

Texas joins three acrobats throwing each other around to ad-lib and get herself kicked out of the show...but them throwing her around turns out to be so hilarious, she ends up staying in the show. She gets the energetic "Row Row Row," turning a fur coat and a table into a boat and sweetheart, while black pianist Maurice Rocco earns the contract Texas gives him with his incredible instrumental "Darktown Strutters Ball." Texas sings "It Had to Be You" on New Year's Eve, right before she and Bill are supposed to get married.

What I Don't Like: It's true that Texas Guinan did start out in wild west shows, she did make silent movies at her own production company (and two sound features, one of which is currently lost), and she was "the queen of the nightclubs" who resurrected her career singing and mingling with the crowds in the speakeasies she owned. Her life was even more colorful than that, with her clubs frequently getting raided, her telling truth-skirting interviews to the press, and her living with two men for years without marrying either. Her only known legal husband bore no resemblance to either de Cordova or Goodwin, both of whom are dull in thankless love interest roles. Only Fitzgerald as her Irish father who is even more inclined to embroider the truth comes anywhere near Hutton.

The Big Finale: Despite the heavy cliches, this is colorful enough to rate a look if you're a fan of Hutton or the big bright Technicolor musicals of the mid-late 40's.

Home Media: To my knowledge, this is currently only available on YouTube in a blurry copy taped from a TCM showing. 

YouTube

Jivin' In Be-Bop

Alexander Distributing Company, 1946

Starring Dizzy Gillespie, Freddy Carter, James Moody, and Helen Humes

Directed by Leonard Anderson and Spencer Williams

Music and Lyrics by various

Some race films bypassed flimsy plots entirely to document the popular black singers and orchestras of the time. Gillespie's career began in the mid-30's. He played on several big band orchestras and did arrangements for others before he struck out on his own in a small combo in 1944. He was riding the rise of both small combos and be-bop, then considered to be a jazz sub-genre, when he and his combo appeared in this film. How well do these numbers come off today? Let's let our master of ceremonies, Mr. Freddy Carter, tell us what we're about to see and find out...

The Story: There isn't one. Carter introduces Gillespie and his orchestra and a variety of dancers, from a modern dancer swinging scarves barefoot (Sahji) to a laid-back tapper (Ralph Brown). He does gags trades quips with the musicians between numbers.

The Song and Dance: And obviously, with no plot to discuss, song and dance are the only things of interest here. If you love Gillespie, you're going to have a great time here. We get some of his biggest early hits, including "Salt Peanuts," "Things to Come," and "I Waited for You." Some of the dancing is pretty incredible, too. Sahji can do some amazing moves barefoot, on the floor, and in a skimpy costume, while the jiggerbugging chorus mid-way through has to be seen to be believed. 

The Numbers: And we open with Carter introducing "Salt Peanuts," as played by Gillespie and his orchestra. Singer Helen Humes wrote, performs, and helps to introduce the rollicking "E-Baba-Le-Ba." Gillespie and his boys perform "Oop-Bop She-Bam" and an original instrumental, the latter of which provides the backdrop for comic soft-shoe duo Johnny and Henny. Johnny comes out later for an even more dynamic solo routine. "Shaw 'Nuff" is Sahji's modern dance routine, with her spending more time dancing on the floor than on her bare feet. 

"I Waited for You" gets into more romantic turf, as a handsome young gentleman performs the longing ballad to his sweetheart. Pianists Dan Burley and Johnny Taylor, aka the Burley-Taylor Duo, play their own "Hubba Hubba Blues" for a group of appreciative young ladies. We get a taste of African dance as a leggy duo in a low-budget idea of scanty native costume dance "A Night In Tunsia." Humes returns for another one of her compositions, the slower and sadder "Crazy About a Man." Gillespie's next number with the orchestra is the more jivin' "One Bass Hit." 

Burley and Taylor come back for "Boogie In C," wigged to by a lovely, slender dancer in a scanty white fringed costume with some amazingly high kicks. "Dynamo A" is accurately titled as the chorus takes the floor for some outstanding jitterbugging. "Ornithology" is the first of two tap numbers from Ralph Brown, this one done in top hat, tie, and tails. Gillespie himself performs "He Beeped When He Should Have Bopped" with his orchestra. The slinky "Boogie In C" returns for a faster-pasted number in a slightly more lavish black dress to "Droppin' a Square." 

"You ain't heard nothin' yet!" Gillespie tells Carter as we move on to "Things to Come" with Gillespie's orchestra. A less well-dressed Brown returns with a more laid-back tap routine to "Ray's Idea." The "dance creation" turns out to be "Bag's Boogie," as the "Tunsia" male dancer gives us a more polished and airy performance on a literal pedestal. We end back with Burley, Taylor, and the slinky female dancer, this time in scanty black and silver for "Hubba Hubba Boogie."

Trivia: There's a version of the film on DVD called Things to Come that cuts Carter's prattle with the musicians between the numbers. 

What I Don't Like: Obviously, this isn't for you if you're looking for an actual plot with your musical numbers. It's also not for those who don't love Gillespie or the jazz, be-bop, or dance styles of the mid-late 40's. This is another one that could use some restoration, too, especially given how much it relies on audio. The film is scratchy here too, the audio distorted in places.

The Big Finale: Mainly for huge fans of Gillespie or the be-bop, jazz, and dance from this era.

Home Media: This is another one in the public domain, making it easily found everywhere and in all formats.

DVD

Tubi

Beware! (1946)

Astor Pictures, 1946

Starring Louis Jordan, Frank H. Wilson, Emory Richardson, and Valerie Black

Directed by Bud Pollard

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we dive into Black History Month with two "race movies" from the late 40's. From the 1910's through the early 50's, black filmmakers made movies directly for African-American audiences. They were usually low-budget efforts released through small independent companies, but some of them, especially in the silent era, could get quite elaborate. Later films featured singers, performers, and orchestras who were often neglected or could only manage cameos in mainstream movies of the time. Most of these films were largely forgotten or lost until they started to show up on cable in the 90's, and later streaming. Now that many of them are more visible, are they worth checking out, or should they be left at school? Let's start at Ware College in Ohio with Professor  (Frank H. Wilson) and find out...

The Story: Lucius "Louis" Jordan (Jordan) attended Ware in his younger years, but is now a famous bandleader. He and his band are passing through and only end up there because their train is being held over. Ware is in the midst of major enrollment and financial problems. The son of the founder Benjamin Ware III (Milton Woods) wants to close the school and marry pretty teacher Annabelle Brown (Black). Annabelle only has eyes for Louis, whom she's had a crush on for years. She and the head of the school Dean Hargreaves (Emory Richardson) convince Louis and his band to put on a show that will save the school. Louis is more interested in figuring out what's going on with Benjamin Ware, who seems a little too interested in having his family's namesake college shut down.

The Song and Dance: Jordan's no actor, but he is a charmer in this surprisingly fun low-budget effort. It's no worse than other school-based musicals of the period. In fact, just this being set at an all-black college in Ohio makes it a little bit more unique than most college shows. There's some really nice music, too, including Jordan's not-bad rendition of the Billie Holliday standard "Good Morning Heartbreak." 

The Numbers: Our introduction to Jordan and His Orchestra is the rollicking "How Long Must I Wait For You?" in a montage on a train that shows us Jordan's success. He sings a lovely "Good Morning Heartbreak" the day after encountering Annabelle again for the first time in years. He and his orchestra perform "In the Land of the Buffalo Nickel" for a tiny class of a few students...that gets bigger and bigger the more they play. He sings and plays "Hold On" on his saxophone for Annabelle, Professor Leary, and the dean...but Ware is only slightly impressed.

Annabelle walks into an instrumental dance routine for the students in her own classroom that doesn't amuse her or Professor Leary. This turns into "You Gotta Have a Beat" when Jordan takes over the class. Their mule mascot inspires Jordan's "Don't Worry 'Bout That Mule." We get another brief instrumental chorus jitterbug routine at the dance before Ware starts admiring Annabelle a little too much. "Long Legged Lizzie" is one heck of a dancer at the school prom after Ware announces that the school isn't closing down. Jordan slows things down with the bluesy "Salt Pork, West Virginia." "Beware, Brother, Beware" is Jordan and the orchestra's warning against the lady who says one thing and does another. We end with "Old Fashioned Passion" as Jordan woos the slightly reluctant Annabelle.

What I Don't Like: First of all, I wish someone would take a crack at restoring more race films. Beware is in only slightly better shape than the 1941 Sunny, all scratches and raspy sound. Second, while the story is slightly stronger than usual for either a race or college movie, it's still full of all the attendant school musical cliches. About the only thing we don't get is a big football game, and they probably didn't have time for that in an hour movie. Note what I said up there about Jordan not being an actor. He's not the only one. Black's there as window dressing, and Woods is so smarmy, I'm surprised Jordan wasn't the only one who figured out what he was up to ages before this. 

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of either Jordan or the black musical films of the 40's, this is worth checking out for the good songs alone.

Home Media: It's in the public domain, so it's easily found anywhere and on most formats. 

DVD - Harlem Double Feature - Jivin' In Be-Bop/Beware

Tubi

Sunny (1941)

RKO, 1941

Starring Anna Neagle, Ray Bolger, John Carroll, and Edward Everett Horton

Directed by Herbert Wilcox

Music and Lyrics by various 

Anna Neagle was one of the biggest stars in British cinema from the early 30's through the early 50's. She and her director husband Herbert Wilcox went effortlessly from epic historical drama to elegant comedies to frothy musicals without batting an eyelash. RKO was impressed with their two biographies of Queen Victoria and offered them a four-picture contract in 1940. This is the third of the four, and the second of the three musicals they did. Is it as charming as the original Marilyn Miller film and the Neagle/Wilcox version of Irene, or should it be left at the altar? Let's begin at the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans and find out...

The Story: Sunny O'Sullivan (Neagle) literally runs into millionaire Larry Warren (Carroll) at the Mardi Gras parade. The Queen of Hearts (Martha Tilton) and her entourage encourages Larry to give her a hug and kiss. He does, but she disappears shortly after. He wanders into a circus near where he met the lady. Not only are his sister Elizabeth (Frieda Inescourt), the family lawyer Harry Bates (Horton), and wealthy Juliet Runnymede (Grace Hartman) there, but so is Sunny. She's the premiere dancer and bareback rider and one of the circus' star attractions. He tries to get through to her, but she goes out with her old friend Bunny Billings (Bolger) instead.

They run across each other in the restaurant later that night. Larry convinces her to join him for a ride. They fall in love, and he proposes. She's ready to leave the circus, but his snobbish old-money family isn't ready to accept a bareback rider as a daughter-in-law. She does manage to win over tough Aunt Barbara (Helen Wesley), but Elizabeth still considers her to be beneath them. The circus people turn up on the day of Sunny's wedding to see her off. Elizabeth encourages them to perform, shocking and upsetting Larry. Sunny, furious with his behavior, takes off with the circus. With the help of Aunt Barbara, Larry now has to prove to Sunny that he loves her no matter who she is or what she does.

The Song and Dance: This wound up being a far better showcase for Neagle's talents than Irene. You get two major dance sequences, one with the truly great Bolger, costumes that are just as lovely (at least, what you can see of them in the terrible copies currently in circulation), and some great songs by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein, and others. (Including the trio that were cut from the 1930 Sunny.) Wesley, Horton, and Bolger all have fun with their limited roles, especially Wesley as the tough-as-nails aunt who unexpectedly softens for Sunny. 

The Numbers: After a montage of Mardi Gras parade sights and sounds, our first number is Queen of Hearts Martha Tilton and her entourage insisting that "The Lady Must Be Kissed." Bunny's first dance number lets him incredible splits and spins while executing slapstick falls. Bolger then sing-recites "Who" before we see Sunny with an enormous feather fan in a feather-bedecked gown and they do an elegant dance together. The title song is our first big chorus number as Sunny comes out on horseback to do her bareback tricks and dance with the horse while Carroll tries to flirt with her from the audience. 

"Who" turns up again as Larry takes Sunny on a riverboat ride, sung first by the chorus, then sung by Larry and danced by Sunny. Bunny and Sunny are "Jack Tar and Sam Gob," doing a comic dance dressed as horny sailors. She sings the old folk song "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms" at her engagement party, thinking she's impressing Aunt Barbara. She asks Larry "Do 'Ye Love Me?" after she explains things to Aunt Barbara. Dance team Grace and Paul Hartman (in their first of two appearances together onscreen) perform the comic "The Mohache" to the tune of Ravel's "Bolero" at Sunny's wedding. Bunny dances as the "Ringmaster" at the sold-out circus show. Sunny starts singing "Sunshine"when she comes out...before Larry joins in and she realizes he's her only audience. Larry sings "Forever and a Day" as he drives Sunny's trailer to the riverboat in the finale. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, someone really needs to throw money at restoring this, too. This one is in even worse shape than the 1930 Sunny, with wonky sound and horribly scratched picture. Second, the wafer-thin story isn't really improved by the re-writing. Wesley's crotchety Aunt Barbara is a little bit more interesting than Sunny's father, but neither Bolger nor Horton have much to do other than Bolger's numbers. They do nothing with the New Orleans setting besides the opening at Mardi Gras, and only a little bit more with the circus folks than the first film. Dashing Carroll is also a bit of an improvement over the dull Lawrence Gray in the original, but he's still nowhere near Neagle's wattage.

The Big Finale: I did like this one a bit more than the 1930 Sunny or Neagle's first American picture Irene, but it's still mainly for her fans or fans of big 40's musicals. 

Home Media: This is in the public domain, so it's easily found anywhere. It's currently on Tubi for free with commercials.

DVD

Tubi

Murder In the Blue Room

Universal, 1944

Starring Ann Gwynne, John Litel, Grace MacDonald, and Donald Cook

Directed by Leslie Goodwins

Music and Lyrics by various

We kick off our Halloween Horror-a-Thon this week with a spooky mystery and a more recent musical horror film that gives us two different sides of the horror genre. Most of Universal's musicals of the 40's and 50's were fluffy B-pics featuring singing groups like the Andrews Sisters and younger up-and-coming stars like Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan. This may be one of their more creative B-films of the period. How does this tight, goofy thriller look today? Let's begin as a party gathers in the old house owned by Nan's (Gwynne) family and find out...

The Story: Singer Nan Kirkland (Gwynne) returns to her family's spooky mansion for a party. She tells her writer friend Steve Randall (Cook) that her father was murdered sleeping in the Blue Room 20 years before. Nan's friends the Jazzybelles, Peggy (MacDonald), Jerry (June Preissler), and Betty (Betty Kean) arrive to perform for the party. They get caught up in a murder mystery when Larry (Bill Williams), who was in in love with Nan, disappears after sleeping in the Blue Room. They try to stay up and see who did it, only to be drugged, a body to turn up, and for Steve to disappear next. Now these three Belles need to figure out who done it, before they end up being the next ghosts tipping their hats on the patio!

The Song and Dance:  The Jazzybelles and a fairly interesting mystery are the main reasons to see this today. All three of the ladies are hilarious, but Kean gets top honors as the tallest and least-courageous of the trio. Cook has some good moments as the curious writer as well, especially in the second half when he insists on sleeping in the Blue Room. Goodwins does manage a spooky atmosphere with B-movie resources, despite some bobbles with continuity. 

The Numbers: We open with Gwynne (dubbed by Martha Tilton) singing "One Starry Night" with the band as the party goers dance. "A Doo Dee Doo Doo" is the first number performed by the Jazzybelles, with Kean doing some pretty impressive rubber-legged dancing. The Belles get a second instrumental dance routine later when they're rehearsing. "The Boogie Woogie Boogie Man" is their number singing for the butler Edwards (Ian Wolfe).

Trivia: This was originally set to feature The Ritz Brothers, but they'd left films by this point and were replaced with the Jazzybelles.

This is the second remake of the 1933 film Secret of the Blue Room. The first was The Missing Guest in 1938.

What I Don't Like: It's pretty much the Jazzbelles' show. Anything else takes a back seat to their antics, including the rather dull Gwynne. It's also pretty obvious this was originally intended for a more organic comedy team, given how much of the action calls on them to perform together. The copy currently on Tubi is not the greatest - Universal could give this one some more care.

The Big Finale: Fairly enjoyable mystery is not a bad way to spend an hour if you're a fan of the musicals or mystery movies of the 1940's.

Home Media: It is on DVD, but the disc is expensive. You're better off streaming this one. It can currently be found on Tubi for free with commercials.

DVD

Tubi

Go West (1940)

MGM, 1940

Starring Groucho, Chico, and Harpo Marx, John Carroll, Diana Lewis, and Walter Woolf King

Directed by Edward Buzzell

Music by Bronislau Kaper; Lyrics by Gus Kahn

Saddle up, pardners, 'cause we're going west this week with some of your favorite comedians. We kick off our look at the funny side of the Old West with one of the Marx Brothers' later movies. It's also their only film with a non-contemporary setting and the only time they played with western tropes. How well do the Marx Brothers deal with land-grabbers and family feuds? Let's begin with swindler S. Quenton Quayle (Groucho) as he attempts to buy a train ticket west and find out...

The Story: Quayle loses his ticket money to a pair of even smarter swindlers, brothers Joe (Chico) and Rusty Panello (Harpo). The brothers in turn use that money to buy Dead Man's Gulch from old prospector Dan Wilson (Tully Marshall), who claims it has no gold. As it turns out, it's valuable in another way. Terry Turner (Carroll), the son of Wilson's long-time rival, went to New York to attempt to convince the railroad to buy Dead Man's Gulch. He's convinced them that the gulch is the only route through the mountains linking east and west. He's also in love with Wilson's granddaughter Eve (Lewis), who wishes to marry him no matter what her grandfather thinks. 

After the railroad agrees to buy the property, Quayle attempts to swindle it away from the Panellos. Corrupt railroad executive John Beecher (King) and saloon owner Red Baxter (Robert Barrat) use saloon singer Lulubelle (June MacCloy) to charm the deed off them. Now it's up to Quayle and the Panellos to make sure that deed gets to the railroad officials in New York, even if they have to tear the train apart to keep it going to its destination!

The Song and Dance: This wound up being really cute, probably one of the Brothers' better later efforts. Chico and Harpo in particular have some nice moments. Harpo tearing up the train to keep the engine moving in the finale is one highlight. Groucho both ducking and enjoying Lulubelle's advances are another. King is almost as good here as he was in Night at the Opera and continues to play well off the Marxes, his bluster more than matching their anarchy.

The Numbers: We start over the credits with "As If I Didn't Know." Groucho joins Lulubelle onstage for "You Can't Argue With Love." "Ridin' the Range" has the Marxes joining in with Carroll as they discuss their devotion to their new western home. Eve sings the old Stephen Foster number "Beautiful Dreamer" at home. Chico performs "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" and "The Woodpecker Song" on the piano, while Harpo gets "From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water) for the Natives whom they have to convince to give up their claim on the land.

What I Don't Like: Not one of the Marxes' better movies. Carroll is particularly dull in a thankless role, and Lewis isn't much more interesting and is too nasal to pass for a western heroine. Although it doesn't hit the lows of their next movie after this The Big Store, it's still not one of their best efforts. Only the train finale is really vintage Marx Brothers madness.

The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of the Marx Brothers or comic westerns.

Home Media: On DVD and streaming from the Warner Archive.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Romance On the High Seas

Warner Bros, 1948

Starring Janis Paige, Don DeFore, Doris Day, and Jack Carson

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Music by Jules Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn

This week, we go on vacation with Doris Day in her first movie, and one of her lesser-known ones. Day started off as a singer with several big bands during the mid-40's. She was called in by Curtiz to replace a pregnant Betty Hutton. Curtiz was so impressed with her emotional performance of "Embraceable You," he gave her a contract on the spot. Janis Paige was another last-minute addition and was technically the star, but it was Day who got the spotlight and the great songs. How well does she do with her first film, a complicated romantic comedy involving misunderstanding and fear of infidelity? Let's begin with the wedding of Elvira (Paige) and Michael (DeFore) Kent, which they spend suspecting each other of looking more at the wedding party than them, and find out...

The Story: Three years later, Elvira is setting up a cruise to Rio de Janeiro for their third anniversary. Michael canceled vacations for their previous anniversaries, supposedly to handle various deals. Elvira believes he's really having affairs at his office. She gives her tickets to singer Georgia Garrett (Day), who hangs around the travel agency dreaming of the vacations she can't afford, as long as she goes under her name. 

Georgia is delighted to do so at first, but then she falls for charming Peter Virgil (Carson). He's a private detective Michael hired to make sure Elvira wasn't having her own affairs on vacation. Not only does he really think Georgia is Elvira and he's having an affair with his client's wife, but Georgia's would-be boyfriend Oscar Farrar (Oscar Levant) turns up on-board looking for her. When Georgia gets a singing job onboard in Elvira's name, that finally brings Elvira and Michael to Rio to see this for themselves, too.

The Song and Dance: You can easily see why Day made such a big impression with both Curtiz and audiences. You'd never guess this was her first movie. She's just as ease in front of the camera as she is with a ballad and an uptempo dance number. Carson and Levant both play off her well as the private eye and nightclub owner who get caught up in the deception in spite of themselves. The gorgeous ballad "It's Magic" was a massive hit and remains associated with Day. Gorgeous production, too, including some really lovely gowns and hats for the ladies and attractive Technicolor cinematography in a romantically recreated Rio.

The Numbers: The Samba Kings get the title song over the credits. "It's You or No One" is Georgia's first number in the club. She sings the more uptempo ballad "I'm In Love" with the musicians on the ship. Avon Long sings about "The Tourist Trade" after the ship docks in Brazil. Georgia first sings  the standard "It's Magic" with Peter, and later reprises it on her own. Oscar shows off his piano skills with "Brazilian Rhapsody." Peter admonishes the Samba Kings to "Run, Run, Run" from women. Georgia's opinion on men is "Put 'Em In a Box, Tie 'Em With a Ribbon, an' Throw 'Em In the Deep Blue Sea," the other hit from this film. Georgia sings about how "She's a Latin from Manhattan" in the club near the end.

What I Don't Like: Paige and DeFore are the big problem here. Not only do they actually have less to play than the supporting cast, but their distrustful and obnoxious characters are so unlikable, you wonder how they ever got married in the first place. DeFore in particular comes off as more of an idiot than anything. In fact, the story can get both too silly and too convoluted at turns. By the end, you stop wondering what's going to happen and wish Georgia and Peter would give that spoiled, silly couple a good shaking.

The Big Finale: Even with the annoying story, there's enough good music here for Doris Day's first movie to be recommended to her fans and fans of smaller-scale 40's musicals.

Home Media: Easily found on all major formats. The Blu-Ray is from the Warner Archives.

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Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Up In Central Park

Universal, 1948

Starring Deanna Durbin, Dick Haymes, Vincent Price, and Albert Sharpe

Directed by William A. Seiter

Music by Sigmund Romberg; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields

We move onto our All-American Weekdays leading up to the 4th of July with tales from American history, on movies and TV. This week, we go to the movies with this adaptation of a Broadway hit. Up In Central Park debuted on Broadway in 1945 and would be the last hit Romberg had in his lifetime. The romantic operetta about a young reporter fighting against Tammany Hall corruption in 1870's was part of a series of musicals depicting American history at a time when Americans still needed to be reminding of what they were fighting for overseas. Does this tale of love in New York amid corruption still resonate today, or should it be left on the presses? Let's begin with a political rally in New York for mayoral candidate Abraham Oakley (Hobart Canavaugh) and find out...

The Story:  Political boss William Tweed (Price) runs Tammany Hall with an iron fist in the Big Apple, pushing Oakley into the spotlight and stamping out anyone who challenges him. His only real opposition is The New York Times, especially opportunistic young reporter John Matthews (Haymes), who is determined to bring down the curtain on his corrupt reign. Into the center of this merry-go-round comes Irishman Timothy Moore (Sharpe) and his daughter Rosie (Durbin), just off the boat. Moore is immediately taken in by Tweed's man Rogan (Tom Powers) to vote 23 times for the Tammany Ticket. He's rewarded with money and a new job as Central Park Superintendent to quiet Rosie after she overhears Tweed's plan to embezzle money from the park.

Matthews finds out from Moore that Tweed is using some Central Park Zoo animals for food. This does highlight Tweed and make people think twice about voting, but it also costs Moore his job. Rosie is furious and tells Boss Tweed so. He's so smitten with her, he re-hires her father and offers to make her an opera star. John also loves Rosie, but she's so in love with Tweed, she refuses to hear anything against him. Once Moore learns to read, he realizes just how bad Tweed is and joins Matthews in tricking the Mayor and exposing Tweed's criminal empire for good.

The Song and Dance: This isn't much of a musical, but it is a pretty interesting take on corruption circa 1870's New York City. It's the support cast and sumptuous production that shines here. Oily Price is a marvelous Tweed, radiating enough slimy charm that you understand what Rosie sees in him, even as her father and Matthews uncover his devious doings, and Sharpe is a charmingly befuddled and determined new citizen. The stunning costumes, with sweeping spangled gowns with elegant flowered and veiled hats for the ladies and tight, ruffled suits for the men, and detailed sets depicting Central Park and down-and-dirty political backrooms, are historically accurate and beautifully done.

The Numbers: We open with the big chorus number at the political rally, "Oh Say Can You See (What I Say)" as the members of Tammany Hall celebrate their candidate. It's heard again from Rosie, her father, and their fellow immigrants on the boat to New York. Rosie and John ride a "Carousel In the Park" as he sees her for the first time, in an elegant gown riding that Central Park merry-go-round. "The Currier and Ives Ballet" shows "skaters" in fur-trimmed gowns watzing on Rosie's stereopticon slide from Tweed. John passes himself as a waiter as he sings about what it's like "When She Walks In the Room." Durbin's big opera solo late in the film is "Pace, pace, mio dio."

What I Don't Like: For one thing, a lot of songs from the original show were dropped, including the lovely ballad "Close as the Pages In a Book" that might have suited Durbin very well. For another, Durbin and especially Haymes are overshadowed by the supporting cast. Durbin didn't enjoy making this and seems to be phoning in her performance. Haymes was never the best actor; a historical drama is way over his head. Frankly, the gorgeous Currier and Ives Ballet (another holdover from the show) is more interesting than most of the movie. And given the costumes and sets, I'm surprised this wasn't filmed in color. It would have brought a lot of the overheated melodrama.

The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of Durbin or nostalgic 40's musicals.

Home Media: DVD only via the Universal Vault. 

DVD

Happy Memorial Day! - Panama Hattie

MGM, 1942

Starring Ann Sothern, Red Skelton, Dan Dailey, and Virginia O'Brien

Directed by Norman Z. McLeod

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter and others

We salute our men and women who fought and died on the high seas with this wartime hit. It started out on Broadway in 1940 as a popular vehicle for Ethel Merman, with music by Cole Porter. The start of World War II suddenly made its story about a nightclub singer and three sailors who get caught up in spy intrigue and her romance with a wealthy soldier even more relevant. How does all this look today? Let's start with an opening card admitting that the gobs in this movie get pretty goofy and find out...

The Story: Those three sailors who burst through the card, Red (Skelton), Rags (Rags Ragland), and Rowdy (Ben Blue), are huge fans of nightclub singer Hattie Mahoney (Southern). They're also convinced that spies are lurking around every corner. Hattie is in love with rich soldier Sgt. Dick Bullard (Dailey). She gets off on the wrong foot with his 8-year-old daughter Geraldine (Jackie Horner) when Gerry laughs at her ribbon-trimmed suit, but she soon makes friends with the child. 

Hattie has a harder time with Lelia Tree (Marsha Hunt), the snooty socialite who is also after Dick. After Red gets two notes mixed up, Lelia angrily accuses Hattie of putting him up to it. Hattie insists Dick loves her, but after Lelia claims Hattie will just be in his way, she insists on leaving town. Hattie's sailor friends discover that the empty house mentioned in the first note may be the clue to the location of the spies they've been looking for...and their way of keeping Hattie around long enough to marry the right man.

The Song and Dance: Brief but charming. Despite Southern playing the title character, this one is really dominated by the three sailor comics. Skelton had some of his earliest exposure at MGM as the leader of the three, showing off the wacky pratfalls and babyish voices that would become his trademarks in later years. Southern does best playing off them and doing the sweet "Let's Be Buddies" with the adorable Horner. Virginia O'Brian has the most fun of the supporting cast as Hattie's best friend Flo, who gets to chase Dick's proper British butler Jay Jerkins (Alan Mobray). 

The Numbers: We open in the nightclub with the chorus singing about "Hattie From Panama" and Hattie's sailors admiring how she performs the hit from this show, "I've Still Got My Health." The instrumental "Berry Me Not" lets the trio of Berry Brothers take command of the floor with their show-stopping tap routine. Lena Horne gets another Porter standard, the breezy "Just One of Those Things," later at the club. Flo sings the Porter patter number "Fresh as a Daisy" to explain her feelings for Jay. The trio of soldiers woo three pretty Panama lasses by insisting that they're all "Good Neighbors."

The last Porter song that made it into the film is "Let's Be Buddies." Hattie initially sings it with Gerry as they admit they got off on the wrong foot and want to start their relationship over. Flo picks it up as she grabs Jay and says she wants a relationship with him, period. The film ends with a band playing "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here" as the sailors are saluted as heroes. Flo sings "Did I Get Stinkin' At the Savoy" at the nightclub, while Lena Horne and the Berrys introduce the audience to the South American dance number "The Sping." The film ends abruptly with the sudden burst of patriotism from Hattie and the cast, "The Son of a Gun Who Picks On Uncle Sam."

Trivia: Panama Hattie opened on Broadway in 1940 as a vehicle for Ethel Merman. The story seems to have been pretty much the same as the film, other than Hattie got more involved in helping the sailors capture the spies in the finale. Merman would do a second version for the short-lived TV show The Best of Broadway in 1954. Other than a few scattered staged concerts, Hattie has seldom been heard from since.

What I Don't Like: There's a reason for that. Hattie may be the quintessential 40's musical comedy...and as such, hasn't dated well beyond the end of World War II. Southern tries hard and is cute with Horner, but is otherwise no Merman. The three sailors dominate the action to such a degree, they pretty much crowd out everything else, including the love story between Hattie and her soldier. Dailey was at the start of his career and wouldn't really come into his own as a dancer and actor for another five years. Neither he nor Lena Horne (who is certainly capable of doing more than singing two songs) have much to do. There's also the loss of the full Porter score. I did hear it wasn't his best, but it would have been nice to have more songs that actually came with the show.

The Big Finale: Cute time-waster this holiday weekend if you're a huge fan of Skelton or 40's musicals, but nothing you really need to go out of your way for.

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

DVD

Amazon Prime

The Stork Club

Paramount, 1945

Starring Betty Hutton, Barry Fitzgerald, Robert Benchley, and Don DeFore

Directed by Hal Walker

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we explore the career of brash comedienne Betty Hutton with two of her lesser-known vehicles. The Stork Club in New York was more than just a nightclub. From 1929 until its closing in 1965, it was where the elite mixed and mingled, where the beautiful people danced the night away to lively big band music under the watchful eye of owner Sherman Billingsley. It was so well-regarded in this era as a symbol of wealth and status, maybe it was inevitable that a movie would be made around it. How does the story of a humble hat check girl working at the Club who comes into sudden wealth look nowadays, with the real-life Club long-gone? Let's begin with a kindly old gentleman (Fitzgerald) in rumpled clothing ruminating about how his life has taken a bad turn and find out...

The Story: Brash Judy Peabody (Hutton) jumps into the water to rescue the gentleman after he accidentally falls off. Turns out the gentleman is millionaire J.B Bates, who was lost in gloomy thoughts about his wife Edith (Mary Young) leaving him. She thinks he's a tramp and offers him a job at the Stork Club. He doesn't do well as a busboy, but he's still so impressed with her compassion, he has his lawyer Curtis (Benchley) anonymously set her up with an unlimited line of credit and a big, beautiful new apartment. She and her best friend Gwen (Iris Adrian) go on a buying spree, grabbing furs when it's too hot to wear them and buying everything in the dress store. 

Judy's boyfriend Danny (DeFore), who has just returned from the war, doesn't like this one bit. He likes it even less when she offers the apartment next to hers to him and his band. He thinks she has a sugar daddy on the side. She just wants to sing with his band. He's even more suspicious when she thinks J.D is homeless and lets him live with her. After she finally figures out who gave her the money and why Danny is angry, she takes it on herself to bring J.D back with Edith...and teach everyone involved, including Danny, a lesson in love, trust, and communication.

The Song and Dance: With a story that slight, the songs - and Hutton's wild delivery of them - are the highlights here. The songs really are charming ("Doctor, Lawyer, Indiana Chief" became a pop hit), and Fitzgerald is so adorably rumpled as the lost old millionaire looking for someone to support, you can understand why Judy's heart went out to him. Mary Young is equally adorable as his sweet wife who is far tougher than she looks, and Adrian revels in her sarcastic wisecracks as Judy's supportive friend who both questions the bounty and eagerly shares in it. Hutton's obviously having a ball as the kind-hearted singer and hat check girl whose well-meaning aid to a nice old man gets her into more trouble than she ever would have believed.

The Numbers: Judy's first number with the band at the Stork Club highlights her raucous spirit. "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" describes how she doesn't care what the guy she loves does, as long as they love each other. It's a lively number with members of the band acting as chorus boys. We don't get another song until she's rehearsing with Danny's band at their new apartment, but it's the similar "I'm a Square In the Social Circle," reflecting her attitudes towards the upper crust who mostly patronize the Stork Club. 

J.B requests "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree," a favorite waltz of his and Edith's. It's performed again in the end when Judy gets him and Edith back together. Her performance of the ballad "I'll Have a Dozen Hearts" isn't appreciated by an angry Danny. She sings it with male band singer Andy Russell later. Russell also gets a solo on another ballad, "Love Me."

What I Don't Like: The story is, as Irishman Fitzgerald would likely say, a load of malarkey. It's silly piffle that mainly serves as an excuse for Hutton to play off Fitzgerald and raise the roof with the band. Danny comes off as a grouchy, ungrateful jerk who won't even try to listen to his girlfriend when he's nice to her and gives him a place for his band to work. Doesn't help that Hutton has little chemistry with DeFore - she's more believably compassionate with Fitzgerald and Adrian than with him. 

The Big Finale: Harmless watch on a spring afternoon if you're a fan of Hutton or 40's musicals.

Home Media: It's in the public domain, so you can find it anywhere. It's currently free on Tubi, but in a substandard print.

DVD

Tubi

Happy Mother's Day! - Young People

20th Century Fox, 1940

Starring Shirley Temple, Charlotte Greenwood, Jack Oakie, and George Montgomery

Directed by Allan Dwan

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

We celebrate Mother's Day and unconventional families with Shirley Temple's last movie as a child star. By this point, she was 12, and just starting to outgrow melodramatic stories like this one. When her previous fantasy movie The Blue Bird was a flop, Fox tossed her back into something closer to the movies she'd been making since 1935. Were they right to do this, or should this be shunned? Let's begin onstage with Joe (Oakie) and Kit (Greenwood) Ballantine as they receive a certain basket from a mysterious older woman (Mary Gordon) and find out...

The Story: The basket contains not birds, but the infant daughter of their dear friend Barney O'Hara. He was about to pass on and wanted his daughter to be well cared-for. Kit and Joe not only take little Wendy (Temple) in, they keep the New England farm O'Hara left them, too. 

When Wendy turns 12, they move to the farm in the hope of starting a new life away from the stage. Though they try to be friendly, most of the townspeople consider them to be too brash and loud and shun them. It doesn't help when they align with the town's newspaper editor Mike Shea (Montgomery) against snooty Hester Appleby (Kathleen Howard) and her pretty niece Judith (Arleen Whelan) on the idea of progress. After Wendy's simple class dance offends the parents, they're ready to leave town but are prevented by a hurricane. It takes an act of selflessness from the trio to prove to the town that there's nothing wrong with being different, and maybe progress isn't such a bad thing.

The Song and Dance: Though the focus is on Temple, Oakie and Greenwood are the ones who really steal the show as the seasoned troopers who want to give a better life to a child that has come to mean so much to them. Oakie in particular has some very funny moments when he's clashing with the townspeople in the second half. Temple also does her best onstage in numbers with her onscreen parents and the hilarious song and dance at the school that got the parents so upset. 

The Numbers: We open onstage at a vaudeville house, as faux southerners Kit and Joe sing about "The Mason-Dixon Line." We see Wendy grow up in sequences from two previous Temple films with Joe singing and Kit clowning, "On the Beach at Waikiki" from Curly Top and the title song of "Baby Take a Bow" with her in the infamous polka-dot dress. (The latter lets Greenwood parody Temple in her own short dress and babyish voice!) "Fifth Avenue" is the top hat-and-cane routine that introduces the 12-year-old Wendy. They sing it again later when getting ready to leave after being shunned.  

"I Wouldn't Take a Million," says Joe when he and his two favorite ladies are driving home from the town meeting. The children sing the gentle hymn "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" at school, but it's too quiet for Joe and the young men. Wendy and the children, dressed as adults, insist that they're "Young People" and deserve to be treated more like grown-ups. Their assertiveness is shocking enough, but then they start tap dancing! Wendy reprises "I Wouldn't Take a Million" to explain how much she loves her parents, even if they aren't her birth parents. The film ends with the trio singing "Tra La La" to celebrate their staying at Stonefield.

What I Don't Like: On one hand, Oakie and Greenwood's genial presence (and the fact that no one tries to take Temple away from them) keeps this a bit lighter than some of her other melodramas. It still hits a lot of the cliches, though, from the well-meaning old grouches who don't know how to have fun to the superfluous young lovers who are there for Temple to play matchmaker. Neither Montgomery nor Whelan are terribly memorable in underwritten roles. The songs are also far from the best to appear in her movies. "I Wouldn't Take a Million" is sweet, but "Fifth Avenue" sounds like a parody of "Lullaby of Broadway," and "Tra La La" is a generic cheer-up ditty.

The Big Finale: Temple's final movie from her child star days isn't her best, but it's worth checking out with your kids this Mother's Day weekend if they or you are a fan of her films.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Thrill of a Romance

MGM, 1945

Starring Esther Williams, Van Johnson, Carleton G. Young, and Frances Gifford

Directed by Richard Thorpe

Music and Lyrics by various

We're staying with Esther Williams, but head north of the border for two of her more likely vehicles. This was her second movie with her name over the title after Bathing Beauty, and her second of five with charming, boyish Van Johnson. Johnson was even bigger than Williams at MGM during the 40's and early 50's, possibly one of their biggest male stars of the time. How well do they work together in this story of a married swimming instructor who falls for a war hero? Let's begin with an introduction to the Los Angeles area that's the setting for our story and find out...

The Story: Swimming teacher Cynthia Glenn (Williams) marries wealthy Bob Delbar (Young) after a whirlwind courtship. She's disappointed when Bob is called to Washington DC to complete a deal during their honeymoon. While staying at a hotel in LA, she falls for sweet, handsome Major Thomas "Tommy" Milvaine (Johnson), who wants her to teach him how to swim. She's initially upset when her husband can't get back for another week, then tells Tommy she wants to give their marriage a chance. Getting caught in the desert with Tommy gives her a whole new perspective on the situation. Maybe Bob isn't the right man for her after all...and maybe she wants Tommy more than she thinks.

The Song and Dance: This sweet and low-key romance is certainly better than the similar Williams vehicle This Time for Keeps from 1947...and the key is Johnson. Anyone else would have made Tommy as bland as Jimmie Johnson would be in the later film, or as smarmy as Young's stoic Bob. His charming Army officer is so energetic and hopeful, you can understand why Cynthia fell so hard for him. No wonder he was one of the biggest heartthrobs in Hollywood around this time. Williams always did do well playing off him. Melichor has a far more interesting role here as the impish opera star who does everything he can to bring Cynthia and Tommy together, and Spring Byington and Henry Travers are adorable as Cynthia's doting uncle and aunt. We also get some of MGM's best Technicolor from this era and stunning gowns for Williams.

The Numbers: Most of the songs heard in the film are performed by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra at the hotel's nightclub. Among the songs heard from him are "I Should Care," "Battle of the Balcony Jive," "Opus One," and "Song of India." Dorsey's fictional daughter Susan (actually piano protege Helene Stanley) plays "Hungarian Rhapsody," which becomes "The Guy With the Slide Trombone."  Melichor gets "Vesti la glubbia" in an actual opera sequence. He does "Ich Liebe Dich" with Dorsey, along with the new "Vive la compagnie" and a hilarious "I Want What I Want When I Want It." Diminutive Jerry Scott, a bell boy with a sweet, high, almost female voice, performs "Because" and "Please Don't Say No, Say Maybe."

What I Don't Like: The plot is the problem here. Frankly, it's deadly boring when no one is singing or swimming.  Even Williams' swimming and Johnson's charm can't paper over the frothy, been-there plot or Young being a block of wood. Melichor's role is completely extraneous. He's mainly there to sing opera and look twinkly. This is another MGM musical of the 40's and early 50's that felt like they grabbed whomever was laying around the lot and threw them into a romantic comedy. (The fact that it was originally intended for Kathryn Grayson does explain why Williams being a swimming instructor seems a bit shoehorned in, too.) 

The Big Finale: Not Williams' best film, but it's still a pleasant way to spend two hours if you're a fan of her, Johnson, or romantic comedies.

Home Media: DVD only, with the solo disc released by the Warner Archives. 

DVD

DVD - TCM Greatest Legends: Esther Williams Vol. 2

Celebrating Cinco Del Mayo - Fiesta (1947)

MGM, 1947

Starring Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse, and Fortunia Bonanova

Directed by Richard Thorpe

Music and Lyrics by various

The other major event this weekend takes us south of the border to celebrate Mexico's victory over the French Army in 1862. Cinco Del Mayo is really more of a celebration of Mexican culture here in the US, which brings us to this movie. South and Latin American settings and culture were also popular in American films of the 30's and 40's after the market for US movies in Europe closed due to World War II. Studios responded with movies like this one that celebrated Latin American culture and heritage...including bullfighting, a major sport in Spanish-speaking countries. How well does MGM do in representing that culture? Let's begin with the birth of the twin son and daughter of famed bullfighter Antonio Morales (Bonanova) and find out...

The Story: Morales hopes for his son Mario (Montalban) to follow in his footsteps, but his real interest is music. Mario's twin Maria (Williams) is the real bullfighting protege, but her father largely ignores her. Maria is more understanding about her brother's love of music. She sends a copy of his symphony to famous conductor Maximino Contreras (Hugo Haas). Contreras is impressed and visits the family right before Mario's first bullfight. Morales doesn't want to distract his son and dismisses the musician. 

Mario is so furious when he finds out, he walks out of the bullfighting ring after his second fight and vanishes. Hoping to save face and her family's name, Maria takes his place. Contreras has his composition played on the radio to draw him out. It does the trick...but his return to see his sister play in his place nearly ends in disaster.

The Song and Dance: This may be Williams' most unique vehicle. MGM took many pains to make this as authentic to Mexican culture as possible, including location shooting in the real Mexico. The Mexican landscapes glow in brilliant Technicolor. This was Montalban's debut as a leading man and Williams' with her name over the credits, and he in particular isn't bad as a driven musician. Actual Mexican Bononova adds authenticity and lots of bluster to his role as the father who is so determined that his son follow in his footsteps, he ignores his real talents...and that his daughter is even more talented in the ring. Mary Astor is lovely as the concerned mother, too. (I also appreciate that Maria and Mario already have committed relationships when the story begins. The real focus is on their family and ambitions, not romance.)

The Numbers: Mario's big composition that we hear throughout the film is called "Fantasia Mexicana," but it's actually based on the Aaron Copeland piece "El Salon Mexico." If "La Bamba" sounds familiar, it's today best known for the 1958 version performed by Richie Valens and the later 1987 remake. Charisse and Montalban have a fiery dance routine with her swirling in a white gown with a stunning contrasting coral red petticoat. We also get "The Mexican Hat Dance" and "La Raspa."

What I Don't Like: MGM's drive for authenticity didn't extend to the actors. Only Bononova and Montalban are actual Mexicans. Despite being a vehicle for her, Williams is about as Mexican as a hamburger and seems a bit out of place. She only gets a very brief swimming sequence, making this one of her few vehicles where she doesn't spend a ton of time in the water. John Carroll as Williams' love interest has far less to do than Cyd Charisse as Montalban's sweetheart and comes off as so bland, you can understand why Maria is reluctant to go off with him. 

The Big Finale: This wound up being far better than I thought it would from the fairly absurd premise. Fans of Montalban or Williams who want to see her in a different light will want to give this one a look. 

Home Media: DVD only from the Warner Archives. 

DVD

DVD - TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams, Vol. 2

New Orleans (1947)

United Artists, 1947

Starring Arturo de Cordova, Dorothy Patrick, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holliday

Directed by Arthur Lubin

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we celebrate Valentine's Day with historical movies that have tales of star-crossed or tragic lovers at their core. New Orleans has been one of the centers of the American musical scene for over a century, going back to the beginnings of ragtime, jazz, and the blues in its Storyville red-light district. Storyville was begun to give the prostitutes a place to stay, but by the early 20th century, it was a tourist hot-spot and one of the best places in the city to catch a live band playing that new, modern ragtime and blues sound. How does this historical drama about two radically different couples coming together at Storyville look nowadays? Let's begin with a look at the sights and sounds of Storyville as the camera moves to one specific group practicing in a bar and find out...

The Story: Armstrong (himself) and his Original Dixieland Band play for Nick Duquese (de Cordova) at his club and casino in Storyville. Nick falls for Miralee Smith (Patrick), the daughter of one his casino customers Mrs. Rutledge Smith (Irene Ryan). Mrs. Smith is pushing her talented daughter into an operatic career, but she falls for Nick and the Dixieland sound. Horrified at losing her daughter to a casino owner who pushes a type of music she doesn't approve of, Mrs. Smith tries to buy Nick off. Nick's first girlfriend Grace (Marjorie Lord) is even less thrilled. 

Nick has to leave under any circumstances. It's World War I, and the government is shutting Storyville down to avoid it being a distraction for the troops. He takes the band to Chicago, but his attempts to reopen his casino are blocked by a rival. He does better as a talent scout and music producer, eventually helping Armstrong to reunite with Mrs. Smith's former maid Endie (Holliday). Mrs. Smith took Miralee overseas to sing for the concert halls in Europe. After Nick and his band returns from a similar tour, he's determined to get Woody Herman and His Orchestra (themselves) into New York's Manhattan Symphony Hall. The owner is aghast at the idea, but Miralee's the one who finally proves that jazz, blues, and other "popular" forms of music are here to stay.

The Song and Dance: Interesting look at music and romance in the Deep South is better than it has any right to be from the low-budget pedigree. Lubin felt passionately about jazz, and it shows in his affection towards the characters. Even the snobs are more misguided and out of date than bad. Patrick's not bad as the spoiled debutante who falls for the music and Nick in that order. Armstrong is funny and charming more-or-less playing an adult version of  himself in this time period, and he does have surprising chemistry with Holliday. This would be Holliday's only shot at a feature-length picture, making this movie fascinating for that alone. She's no actress, but her voice throbs with heartache, and hers and Armstrong's numbers are definitely the highlights here. 

The Numbers: The standard "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" came from this movie. It's played no less than four times, including by Armstrong and his band, by Patrick at a concert hall with a less-than-appreciative audience, and in the enormous finale with Patrick and Herman in New York. Armstrong and the Original Dixieland Band open things at the club with "Name Your Poison Blues (aka West End Blues)." They play "Maryland, My Maryland" for the arrival of Miralee's steam ship. "When the Blues Were Born In New Orleans" is another new number for Armstrong and his band. They get the Jelly Roll Morton song "Buddy Bolden's Blues" when Mirilee visits the club the first time. 

"Farewell to Storyville" is an affecting blues ballad performed by Holliday as the residents of Storyville sadly pack their bags and belongings and leave the homes and businesses they love so much. "Honky Tonk Train Blues" takes us to Chicago, where it's played by its author Meade "Lux" Lewis. "The Blues are Brewin'" with Armstrong's band in Chicago. By the time he's playing "Endie," Holliday has joined up and joined in. 

Trivia: This would indeed be Holliday's only feature-length film appearance. Keep a sharp eye out for a young Shelley Winters in an uncredited role as Nick's secretary in New York near the end of the film. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, there isn't a drop of historical flavor in this. For one thing, Armstrong was a teenager when this movie was set. Most of the songs, including "West End Blues," were written well after 1917 and sound like it. Herman's band didn't debut until the 30's, either. There's no indication other than on a card at the beginning and several news headlines seen throughout the film that time has even passed. It looks and sounds like 1947 for the entire film. 

Second, though they get some credit for showing blacks and white interacting at all, most of the black characters still kow-tow to the whites (and to Hispanic de Cordova). They're the ones who are most effected by the closing of Storyville, but the movie is more interested in the rather cliche romance between Mirliee and Nick. Even Armstrong courting Endie (and how he eventually finds her) is more interesting. Not to mention, all those wonderful blues songs are seldom allowed to finish...and as much as I like "Do You Know What It Means," it turns up at least two or three times too many. 

The Big Finale: For all its difficult and dated aspects, jazz and blues lovers and fans of Armstrong and Holliday may find this exploration of Big Easy history to be a fascinating glimpse into not one, but two lost eras in music. 

Home Media: Streaming is your best bet here. The Kino DVD has been out of print and expensive for a while now. Can be found for free just about anywhere right now, including Tubi and The Roku Channel with commercials.

DVD

Tubi

The Roku Channel

Ice-Capades (1941)

Republic Pictures, 1941

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

Directed by Joseph Santley

Music and Lyrics by various

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Internet Archive

Happy New Year's Eve! - It Happened On 5th Avenue

Monogram/Allied Artists Productions, 1947

Starring Gale Storm, Victor Moore, Don DeFore, and Charlie Ruggles

Directed by Roy Del Ruth

Music by Harry Revel; Lyrics by Harry Revel and Paul Francis Webster

Our last review of 2024 takes us to New York for a lesser-known holiday classic. Monogram had specialized in B movies and cheap programmers for over a decade by then. Hoping to improve their image, they created Allied Artists as their A-picture unit. This romantic comedy would be their first production. It cost over a million, made almost two million at the box office, and scored an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Is it worthy of that praise and popularity, or should it be thrown out in the cold? Let's begin as Mr. Aloysius T. McKeever (Moore) explain his living situation and find out...

The Story: McKeever spends his winters living in the boarded-up 5th Avenue mansion of Michael O'Connor (Ruggles), the second-wealthiest man in the world. He takes in former soldier Jim Bullock (DeFore) when the building he's living in is demolished. Jim invites his old war buddies and their families who are living out of cars to stay, too. Trudy (Storm), an 18-year-old girl who claims she's a runway, turns up there and ends up staying as well. 

Turns out Trudy is the daughter of O'Connor, who comes to the house looking for her. She tells him she's in love with Jim and hasn't revealed her real identity because he wants him to love her for more than her money.  Mike ends up posing as a homeless man and joining the household, but gets fed up when McKeever treats him like a servant and threatens to call the police. Trudy calls her mother and his ex-wife Mary (Ann Harding) to convince him otherwise. She becomes the household's cook, and to the delight of her daughter and McKeever, falls for Mike all over again.

Mike, however, still objects to his daughter marrying a penniless man. He outbids Mike on buying army barracks that would have been turned into housing for homeless soldiers and offers him a job in Bolivia for a single man. It isn't until he almost loses his family - and sees how his selfishness is effecting everyone's morale - that he begins to understand that love...and Christmastime...are more than a business transaction.

The Song and Dance: No wonder this was such a hit. I'm impressed with how charming and well-written this was. Veteran character actors Moore, Harding, and Ruggles clearly enjoy their roles as the homeless man who has no trouble living in other people's splendor and the unhappy rich couple who learn that money can't buy happiness or real connection with one another. Storm doesn't do badly as their feisty teen daughter, either, coming off far better here than she ever did in her many musicals with Monogram and RKO, with DeFore matching her well as the strong-willed soldier with a dream. The witty script keeps things believable, even when the plot is at its silliest.

The Numbers: We open over the credits with "That Wonderful, Wonderful Feeling," which Trudy, McKeever, and Jim also sing in the park right before they find Mike. Everyone sings "That's What Christmas Means" on Christmas Eve as Trudy plays the piano and McKeever dresses as Santa Claus. The chorus gives us "Speak My Heart" as Jim comes looking for Trudy at the music store. Trudy sings "You're Everywhere" as part of her interview for the music store job; we also hear it as Jim talks to her afterwards. Three Italian men sing "Santa Lucia" in the restaurant where Trudy and Jim have their quarrel over him taking the Bolivian job.

Trivia: Frank Capra was originally going to direct this, but opted for It's a Wonderful Life instead. 

What I Don't Like: Cute though this is, I wonder what would have happened if Capra or another prestigious director had taken a crack at it. Del Ruth spent most of his career jumping back and forth between action films and musicals, and his work on this comes off as a bit bland. It would be nice if he'd let even one of the few musical numbers finish. In fact, I wish there were more of them. This might have made a very sweet full musical. DeFore, Storm, Ruggles, and Moore had all done musicals and were good singers, and Harding could have at least gotten by. There's also times when it's clear that Monogram hadn't quite tossed off that cheap image, notably when projected backdrops stand in for New York.

The Big Finale: It's not really a musical, but it is a lovely snuggly comedy with a cute cast and nice performances that deserves to be better-known.

Home Media: Apparently, this vanished for 20 years before it started turning up again on TCM around 2010. Nowadays, it's easy to find on disc and streaming. The former is from the Warner Archives; the latter is on Tubi for free with commercials.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Tubi