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

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

Gold Diggers of 1937

Warner Bros, 1936

Starring Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Victor Moore, and Glenda Farrell

Directed by Lloyd Bacon

Music by Harry Warren and Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg and Al Dubin

Despite the success of the 1935 Gold Diggers, Warners was starting to notice diminishing returns with its other Berkeley-esque backstage extravaganzas and lowered the budget on this one. Bacon took over the directing reigns here, letting Berkeley to concentrate on what he did best - creating elaborate dance numbers that let the cameras do the dancing. The studio initially wanted Arlen and Harburg to write the music, but they were so disappointed with the results, they brought Dubin and Warren back in. How well did they all do with the bizarre story of a life insurance salesman who convinces a Broadway producer to buy life insurance and has to keep him alive in order for him to continue to make money from it look today? Let's begin at an insurance convention in Atlantic City and find out...

The Story: Rosmer Peek (Powell) is the top salesman with his insurance company. He hires former chorus girl Norma Perry (Blondell) as his secretary and convinces Broadway producer J.J Hobart (Moore) to sign a million-dollar life insurance policy. His partners Morty Wethered (Osgood Perkins) and Tom Hugo (Charles D. Brown) squandered all of Hobart's money in the stock market. They want that million dollars to back a new Broadway show and do everything they can to push him closer to death, including sending gold digger Genevieve Larkin (Farrell) to seduce him. Genevieve ends up falling for him instead. Now there might not be a show, unless Rosmer and his friends can find another way to get the money without losing their million-dollar golden goose in the process.

The Song and Dance: I give them credit for going with a truly original story this time. I don't know of too many other musicals about singing insurance salesmen and the business of selling insurance. I also love how the insurance company eventually earns the money - via Genevieve's genuine gold digger girlfriends and the wealthy insurance men the snagged at the beginning of the film. Powell and Blondell had just gotten married a few months before this movie's release, and you can see that in their strong chemistry and playful performances. Moore's so adorable as the hypochondriac producer having the most fun he's ever had in his life, you can understand why Genevieve fell for him. Some great costumes, too, especially in the big Berkeley number in the finale, "All's Fair In Love and War."

The Numbers: We open with Powell singing the hit "With Plenty of Money and You" before and during the credits. He also gets our first chorus number, encouraging his fellow salesmen to increase their morale with "The Life Insurance Song." The first version of "Speaking of the Weather" is, surprisingly for a Berkeley musical, a plot number. Rosmer tries to flirt with Norma, even as a storm scatters the paperwork on  her desk everywhere. It's charming and cute, and Powell and Blondell have fun with it. 

"Let's Put Our Heads Together" is another chorus number as everyone at the party for the life insurance company find romance. We also get a bit of "Speaking of the Weather" here as Rosmer's buddy Boop Oglethorpe (Lee Dixon) shows off a wild, arms-and-legs tap routine and Genevieve dances with J.J. "Speaking of the Weather" is reprised again as part of the "All's Fair In Love and War" finale. This men against women military satire begins with all the lovers spooning in massive rocking chairs. This is traded in for military formations as over a hundred women in white uniforms create Berkeley's iconic overhead patterns.

Trivia: A sixth song, "Hush Mah Mouth," was apparently filmed but not used.

What I Don't Like: Did I mention how weird this is? Life insurance seems like a pretty odd subject for a musical, and mixing it with the backstage shenanigans doesn't make much sense. The "All's Fair" number is somewhat scaled-down compared to the bigger, more dramatic "Lullaby of Broadway" and "The Words are the Music In My Heart" from Gold Diggers of 1935. Considering "Plenty of Money" went on to be a hit in its own right, I'm surprised it only gets that quick run-through from Powell before the credits. You'd think Berkeley would have built that up into a big money-based number like in the earlier Gold Diggers of 1933. 

The Big Finale: Worth catching if you're a fan of the cast or the Berkeley backstage imitations of the 1930's for the good numbers and performances.

Home Media: Easy to find on DVD and streaming, the former currently from the Warner Archive.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Gold Diggers of 1935

Warner Bros, 1935

Starring Dick Powell, Gloria Stuart, Alice Brady, and Hugh Herbert

Directed by Busby Berkeley

Music by Harry Warren and Al Dubin

Warners and Busby Berkeley were on a roll with their series of backstage comedies featuring snappy repartee, Warren and Dubin's memorable music, and a rotating troupe of not-so-naive ingenues, tough dames, snooty rich backers, desperate directors, and husband-hunting chorus girls. Gold Diggers of 1933 was such a smash, Warners turned it into a series of unrelated backstage musicals revolving around show business folks butting heads with high society. How does the second Gold Diggers movie - and the first full directing assignment for Berkeley - look nowadays? Let's begin as the various managers of the resort hotel Wentworth Plaza admonish their staff on how to treat their wealthy guests and find out...

The Story: Among those wealthy guests are Matilda Prentiss (Brady), a millionairess who keeps her money by spending as little of it as she can. She's trying to encourage her daughter Ann (Stuart) to wed rich and eccentric T. Mosley Thorpe (Herbert), but Ann finds him and his constant talk about his snuff box collection to be insufferably silly and dull. Matilda has already had to bail Ann's brother Humbolt (Frank McHugh) out of four bad marriages and has no desire for her daughter go through the same, but Ann is bored and fed up with both Thorpe and her mother's stranglehold on her. 

Mrs. Prentiss hires desk clerk Dick Curtis (Powell) to escort her daughter around the resort and keep her out of trouble. Dick does it for the money, but he soon falls for intelligent and feisty Ann. Meanwhile, Mrs. Prentiss swears she'll throw the least amount possible into the annual charity show for the Milk Fund, but flamboyant Russian director Nicolai Nicoleff (Adolph Menjou) ends up spending her money like water on lavish numbers. He's hoping to skim off the earnings with the help of hotel manager Louis Lampson (Grant Mitchell), even as stenographer Betty Hawes (Glenda Farrell) blackmails Thorpe.

The Song and Dance: With a story that flimsy, "song and dance" are definitely the operative words here. Though Powell and Stuart have good moments as the star-crossed pair, the real stars are the supporting cast. Brady and Menjou are hilarious as the stingy older woman who laments losing even a penny of her vast wealth and the desperate Russian director who hopes her money will make a hit and put him back in the black. Herbert also has some good moments as the silly snuff box collector, while McHugh and Dorothy Dare as Dick's fiancee make a surprisingly cute second couple. There's some amazing sets and costumes in this film too, both in Berkeley's big musical numbers and in and around the massive New Hampshire resort.

The Numbers: Our first number is an instrumental dance routine for the many workers who keep the Wentworth Plaza humming and its guests happy, from dancing street sweepers outside the hotel to maids who are seen in Berkeley overhead shots. Dick says "I'm Goin' Shoppin' With You" as he and Ann purchase a whole new wardrobe from Berkeley chorus girl shop keepers and spend her mother's money. We originally hear "The Words are In My Heart" when Dick serenades Ann during a moonlit boat ride. It's reprised later in the Milk Fund show, this time in a far more elaborate Berkeley routine. The number starts with Dick and Ann singing in the woods before moving to three sisters playing the piano. This turns into rows and rows of chorus girls in whites performing with pianos that seemingly dance around them, thanks to the men obviously moving around under them.

The big number by far is "Lullaby of Broadway." We begin in darkness, as the camera moves in on Wini Shaw singing the number. She turns into an animated skyline, which becomes shots of the typical day of a working girl (Shaw). Eventually, she goes out with her tuxedo-clad lover (Powell) to a nightclub where we get massive lines of men in tuxes and chorus girls in surprisingly scanty black costumes for a movie made shortly after the Production Code began tapping their hearts out on enormous Art-Deco risers. The whole thing moves to conclusion that might be a little too dark for both the upbeat songs and this largely fluffy movie.

Trivia: Gloria Stuart did have some success in the 30's, including this film, but she's best-known to most audiences nowadays as the elder Rose who tells the flashback sequences in the 1997 Titanic. 

"Lullaby of Broadway" won Best Original Song and Best Dance Direction in 1935.

What I Don't Like: I wish they came up with a more interesting story to stuff between those crazy numbers. It lacks the Depression grit of the 1933 entries and has more in common with the runaway heiress screwball comedies that were also popular in this era. "Lullaby of Broadway" is such a brilliant number, it feels totally disconnected from - and out of place in - the rest of the film. It's also a lot darker than the rest of the movie, including that downer ending.

The Big Finale: Worth seeing for the numbers alone if you're a fan of Berkeley or the big backstage musicals of the 1930's.

Home Media: It's currently pricey on DVD. Your best bet might be streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

On the Avenue

20th Century Fox, 1937

Starring Dick Powell, Alice Faye, Madeline Carroll, and George Barbier 

Directed by Roy Del Ruth

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

The backstage craze set off by 42nd Street in 1933 continued throughout the 30's. Each studio attempted to outdo each other with increasingly elaborate dance numbers set to music by house songwriters. 20th Century Fox figured, if you can't beat them, join them. They brought in Powell and Del Ruth from Warners and hired no less than Irving Berlin to do the music in this clash between classes. How does the story of a rich girl who falls for a singer and playwright look today? Let's begin with the show-within-a-show and find out...

The Story: Mimi Carraway (Carroll), the richest girl in the world, is insulted by a skit in the show parodying her. She goes to the show's writer and star Gary Blake (Powell) to convince him to remove it, but he refuses. It's too popular. He eventually dumps her on the sidewalk instead. 

Shocked that anyone would insult her, she asks him on a date. By the end of a long night, they've fallen in love. That doesn't sit well with his co-star and current girlfriend Mona Merrick (Faye). He re-writes the sketch to make it less offensive, but she's so upset, she plays it as even more ridiculous. That once again leads Mimi to tell him off and return to her explorer fiancee (Alan Mowbray), at least until Mona tells her the truth. It's up to Mimi's sassy Aunt Fritz (Cora Witherspoon) to make sure the right man ends up with the right woman, no matter what side of the class divide they're on.

The Song and Dance: This one is all about the music. Irving Berlin wrote one of his best film scores here, with at least one standard in "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm." Powell gets slightly more to chew on than usual in his musicals as the downtown songwriter who comes to realize the folks who live on Park Avenue aren't as silly as he thought. Great supporting cast, too. George Barbier has a lot of fun chewing the scenery as Mimi's blustery explorer father, and Witherspoon livens up the second half as eccentric Aunt Fritz, who takes acrobatic lessons from a trapeze artist (Sig Ruman) and actually thinks the sketch in question is hilarious.

Favorite Number: We open on "He Ain't Got Rhythm," as dancing scientists and the Ritz Brothers wonder how they can jazz up their social lives and their scientific discoveries. (Listen for a bit of "Cheek to Cheek" mid-way through the number.) Gary recalls a gentler time of barbershop quartets and street cars as he recalls his search for "The Girl on the Police Gazette." Mona goes "Slumming on Park Avenue" in polka-dots and tight skirts that contrast with the elegant white-clad dancers swirling around her and her colorful friends. The Ritz Brothers get their most effective moment in the film parodying this with one in drag and them falling all around the complicated sliding set. 

He takes Mimi through the park, rebuking her for her icy-cold demeanor by telling her that "You're Laughing at Me." This is heard again towards the end in an almost identical number onstage that Mimi has paid actors walk out on to get revenge for the skit. Mona wishes she could get more than "This Year's Kisses" from Gary before a show. "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" starts out as a fashion parade of women in fur coats and ends with Mona and Gary bickering after Mona sabotages the "Richest Girl In America" skit. 

Trivia: Remade as Let's Make Love in 1960 with Marilyn Monroe in Powell's role and Yves Montand in Carroll's. 

What I Don't Like: I'm not sure what Gary saw in Mimi. She behaved like a spoiled baby through most of the film. Frankly, I agree with Gary and Mona, especially since both versions of the skit provided some of the film's funniest moments. Carroll's defrosting ice queen is more believable early-on and when she's pulling her stunt with paying the audience to walk out than when she's falling for Gary. Wish we could have seen less of the non-singing Caroll and more of the far warmer and more interesting Alice Faye, who doesn't have much to do outside her numbers and talking to Mimi in the end. 

Let's discuss the Ritz Brothers. They were a popular comic trio in 20th Century Fox comedies of the late 30's and early 40's, but nowadays, their jokes tend to be more hit-and-miss with audiences. I think a lot of it has to do with their not developing any individual personalities like The Three Stooges or The Marx Brothers that would distinguish them for modern audiences. Not to mention, a lot of their humor is based on goofy puns and slapstick that hasn't dated well. They can come off as dull or dumb rather than funny. 

The Big Finale: Worth checking out for the numbers alone if you're a big fan of Powell, Faye, or the big backstage musicals of the 1930's. 

Home Media: Not currently on streaming, but the original Marquis Musicals and 2018 Cinema Archives  DVDs are easily found and readily available. 

DVD - Marquis Musicals

DVD - Cinema Archives

Cult Flops - Meet the People

MGM, 1944

Starring Lucille Ball, Dick Powell, Virginia O'Brien, and Bert Lahr

Directed by Charles Reisner

Music and Lyrics by various

Meet the People began life as Los Angeles revue in 1940. It moved to Broadway on Christmas Day, where it lasted five months, not bad for the time. MGM hit it with the This Is the Army Syndrome three years later, adding a thin wartime-related plot to stuff between songs. Ball was MGM's glamor girl of the moment; Powell stopped there on his way to RKO by way of Warners. Toss in Bert Lahr and original cast members Virginia O'Brien, Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra, and Spike Jones and His City Slickers, and you have a formula for an extremely of its time musical comedy. Let's begin with stage star Julie Hampton (Ball) talking before a crowd of eager shipyard workers and find out just how much of it's time this show is...

The Story: Welder William "Swanee" Swanson (Powell) lies that he sold the most bonds so he can meet Julie. He's so thrilled, he tells the workers she'll kiss everyone who makes additional pledges to him, allowing him to win. After he does win, he takes her out on a date and shows her the musical he's written, Meet the People. She's impressed and shows it to big-shot Broadway producer Monte Rowland (Morris Ankrum), but he's angry when the showy costumes don't reflect the working man depicted in his show and takes off. 

To prove she has the common touch, Julie goes to work at the same shipyard he's at. Julie's surprised as anyone when she finds the work enjoyable and the people fun to be around, and manages to convince Swanee to sign with Monte again. Bringing in photographers to show her working with the people and her speech to the workers goes over less well, leading him to accuse her of hypocrisy. Things get even worse when his cousin John (John Craven) comes home and learns there's no show. Swanee runs off to secure the funds for the show...but Julie and the workers have more than a few surprises in store for him.

The Song and Dance: Once place where I do give this one credit - at the very least, the plot about everyone banding together to create something that truly shows the voice of the people is a lot less dull than the romantic melodrama Warners shoehorned into This Is the Army. The real interest is the cast and the music. Monroe even gets in on a few numbers, and Spike Jones and the City Slickers have an obvious ball with their routine. (Their performances here and in Thank Your Lucky Stars makes me wish they turned up more often in the movies.) 

Favorite Number: We hear the romantic ballad "In Times Like These" twice, first when Powell and Ball duet on it while he sells her on his musical, and later as a number for Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra. The title song also appears twice, in a stirring version for Powell during a daydream when Swanee imagines his show reaching all the workers of America, and later in a more glamorous rendition during rehearsals for Ball and the chorus, bedecked in feathers and glitter. June Allyson joins O'Brien and Monroe at the worker's dance insisting "I'd Like to Recognize the Tune."

The real emphasis here is on the supporting cast. One young female dancer gives us an amazing acrobatic dance routine during a show at the shipyard, featuring lots of incredible bends and spins. The City Slickers get into swashbucklers spoofs in French Revolution dress for the wacky "Shicklegruber." Bert Lahr gets on the gags as well while making fun of nautical shanties with "Heave Ho, Let the Wind Blow." Virginia O'Brien gets in on the dark and rather disturbing comedy number "Say We'll Be Sweethearts Again," about a young woman who wants to stay with her boyfriend despite him being obviously done with her, at the show. 

Trivia: Bert Lahr's mannerisms in this film and his catchphrase "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" would later inspire the Hanna-Barbara pink lion character Snagglepuss. 

Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart wrote "I'd Like to Recognize the Tune." 

"Say We'll Be Sweethearts Again" found a somewhat more appropriate showcase as a number for Harley Quinn in Batman: The Animated Series. 

What I Don't Like: Powell and Ball are clearly bored. Powell left Warners to get away from this type of malarky. No wonder he never did another musical. While the emphasis on shipyard work and the importance of war workers makes this slightly more interesting story-wise than other semi-revues of the time, it's still too fluffy for its own good and, like This Is the Army, was probably better off as an unrelated collection of songs and sketches. In fact, all that talk about how important war work is and how easy Julie's life is by comparison comes off sounding preachy and annoying nowadays. (Even Julie calls Swanee on it.) Other than "Recognize the Tune" and the rather disturbing "Say We'll Be Sweethearts," the songs aren't all that memorable, either. 

The Big Finale: For fans of 40's musicals or the stars in question only. 

Home Media: Currently DVD-only; in fact, it was one of the earliest Warner Archive titles. 

DVD

Back to School Again - Varsity Show

Warner Bros, 1937

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

Directed by William Keightley 

Music by Richard A. Whiting; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

Even the Busby Berkeley spectaculars of the 1930's went back to school. Berkeley took his overhead formations and perfectly synchronized dancers from Broadway to higher education for that hallowed tradition of many big colleges, the varsity show. How does a college musical revue look like ala Berkeley and Dick Powell? Let's start at fictional Winfield College, where the students and assistant faculty advisor Ernie Mason (Fred Waring) are at odds with th old-fashioned advisor Professor Sylvester Biddle (Walter Catlett) and find out...

The Story: Desperate to make their show a success, the kids hit New York to hire Winfield alumni Chuck Daly (Powell), who is supposedly now a big-shot Broadway producer. The truth is, he hasn't had a hit in years. Hoping to get a big payment, his manager William Williams (Healy) convinces him to take the show and make it they way they want it to be, with lots of nifty jazz and swing numbers, under Biddle's nose.

Even after realizing he won't be getting the money from a school dance, Chuck decides to stay on. Biddle's still insisting on the show being done his way, with "genteel" music and no swing or jazz. Fed up with his fuddy-duddy ways, the kids go on strike and won't show up to class. When Chuck finally leaves to keep them from getting expelled, the kids decide to bring the show to him and prove that he still has what it takes to make it on the Great White Way.

The Song and Dance: The last thing I expected was to see in a 30's musical were college kids picketing the offices and taking part in a sit-down strike. For a while towards the end, I started to wonder if we were in college during 1937 or 1967. Their antics and talk of the realities of higher education during the Great Depression add a unique layer of authenticity to this backstage story. Powell's having a little bit more fun here than he did in the goofier Going Places a year later and Catlett enjoys his role as the stuffy professor whose musical ideas are a bit too dowdy for the Depression. Healy has a great time as the fast-talking manager who tries to avoid nerdy-but-cute co-ed Cuddles (Mabel Todd). 

Favorite Number: We open with all of the kids singing about how "The Varsity Show" is being put on tonight, and everyone is excited to try out. Johnnie Davis joins Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians to show off his big "Old King Cole" routine to a horrified Biddle. Healy, Powell, and the senior class sing why "We're Working Our Way Through College" as "freshmen" Powell and Healy are escorted down the senior walk. Rosemary Lane sings "On With the Dance" as Buck, Bubbles, and the college kids proceed to do just that during the big senior dance. She and Powell share the duet "You've Got Something There" during a romantic dance in the moonlight. 

The spectacular finale brings together all of these numbers, plus the hits "Have You Got Any Castles Baby?" and "Love Is On the Air Tonight," along with a medley of college fight songs. Black dance duo John W. Bubbles and Fort Washington "Buck" Lee start things off with some amazingly dexterous tap  work. Priscilla Lane takes over, cartwheeling her way through "Castles," while Busby Berkeley's overhead formations give us students forming the initials of major schools. 

Trivia: Priscilla and Rosemary Lane's film debuts. 

The movie was released at over two hours. In 1942, Warners re-edited it, losing 40 minutes and at least four more musical numbers, including more songs for Powell and Waring. The original version remains lost. 

Davis is best known to animation fans as the voice of "Owl Jolson" in the Looney Tunes short "I Love to Singa." 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Ernie's lucky he and the kids weren't arrested for just walking into a theater and taking it over. That was weird, and frankly kind of silly. Yeah, some of the plot can be pretty goofy or veer too close to other Warners/Berkeley extravaganzas of the time, and all of the Berkeley in the world can't make the dull music exciting. Lee and Bubbles are the janitors and are pretty slow and stereotypical unless they're dancing. Waring as the drama coach determined to have the kids show off their talent is a little too corny to be believable and comes off somewhere between stiff and creepy. 

The Big Finale: Some good numbers make this worth checking out for fans of black dancers, Powell, or the Berkeley musicals of the 1930's. 

Home Media: Easy to find on streaming and DVD, the latter from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Footlight Parade

Warner Bros, 1933
Starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell
Directed by Lloyd Bacon; Musical Numbers Directed by Busby Berkeley
Music by Harry Warren and others; Lyrics by Al Dubin and others

This is the last of the three backstage movies Warners put out in 1933 that redefined the film musical. By this point, Warners already typecast Cagney as a gangster. Wishing to show off his other talents, he campaigned hard for the role of Chester Kent, the nervy stage producer in their newest extravaganza. In what other ways does this film differ from the earlier 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933? Let's head to a theater in New York...a movie theater...and find out...

The Story: With Broadway on the rocks during the Great Depression, Chester switches to creating "prologues," live musical numbers that played before films in larger houses. He's under pressure from his partners to come up with ideas for dozens of numbers, so they can sell them to major theater chains and skim off the profits. There's a spy in his company who keeps selling off his ideas to a rival, his choreographer (Frank McHugh) does nothing but whine, and the woman he hires to help him (Vivian Rich) is a gold-digger who is only interested in his money. There's also the secretary (Keeler) who switches to dancing and the singer (Powell) who was initially hired because he's the "protege" of the producer's wife but asks to become an assistant.

Chester's partners manage to get him a contract with the Apolinaris theater circuit, just as they reveal their stealing and Chester's ex-wife Cynthia (Renee Whitney) tries to blackmail him. Fed up with the espionage, Chester sequesters all performers and personnel in the studio for three days while they work on a trio of huge numbers to impress Mr. Apolinaris (Paul Porcasi). Chester's secretary Nan (Blondell) looks for the spy...and wishes her boss would see her as more than a helpmate.

The Song and Dance: The unique setting and great cast makes this my personal favorite of the trio of hit Warners musicals from 1933. Cagney and his rapid-fire rhythm assures that this remains fast-paced and zesty, with racy pre-Code zingers flying fast and furious from just about everyone. Blondell in particular gets some choice snark at the pretentious Dodd. Even Keeler and Powell come off well (and a tad more adult) as the tart office girl who decides she'd rather be back onstage and the juvenile who isn't as "kept" as she thinks.

Favorite Number: "Sittin' On a Backyard Fence" has Keeler and the chorus girls in cat suits to prowl around the neighborhood and chase frisky mouse Billy Barty. As strange as it seems to have women doing dance steps in cat suits, it still looks less creepy than last year's Cats. "Shanghai Lil" brings Cagney in in what starts as the dramatic tale of a sailor looking for the Chinese girl he loves and ends as a patriotic tribute, with soldiers making eagle formations.

By far the most famous song from this one is "By a Waterfall." What starts as a slightly syrupy romantic rendezvous with Keeler and Powell turns into a massive cascade of hundreds of women in bathing suits following formations and becoming a human waterfall on a giant cake. It likely inspired much of Berkeley's work on Esther Williams' even bigger vehicles in the 1950's.

What I Don't Like: Other than "By a Waterfall," the music isn't quite as memorable as in the previous films. "Honeymoon Hotel" is an imitation "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" and goes on for way too long, and "Shanghai Lil" is marred by Asian stereotypes and the fact that Keeler is neither Asian, nor the temptress type. While not a bad dancer, she's not at Cagney's level and has a hard time keeping up with him during their duet. 

Not to mention, there's so much going on and so many plot lines that turn up in such a short time, many people may have a hard time just trying to figure out who's who and what's going on.

The Big Finale: If you love Cagney or the lavish backstage musicals of the 1930's, this is one parade you'll absolutely want to join.

Home Media: It was just re-released on DVD via the Warner Archives last month and is easy to find on streaming as well.

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Gold Diggers of 1933

Warner Bros, 1933
Starring Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, and Aline MacMahon
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Al Dubin

This was Warners' second major musical after the tremendous success of 42nd Street and is a remake of their huge (and now mostly lost) blockbuster Gold Diggers of Broadway. It proved to be just as big of a hit as 42nd Street, with an even zestier cast and a more Depression-soaked story. How does the tale of three showgirls who pose as gold diggers to help their friend look now? Let's head to a theater in New York, just as one of the most famous songs from this score, "We're In the Money," is in progress...

The Story: Polly (Keeler), Trixie (MacMahon), and Carol (Blondell) are roommates and chorus girls who just lost a job after the producer, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks), couldn't pay his bills. Fellow chorus girl Fay Fortune (Ginger Rogers) announces that Hopkins has gotten his show back together. He has...everything but the money. Turns out the guy across the way that Polly's been flirting with, Brad Roberts (Powell), is not only a great songwriter, but is able to cough up the money in cash to finance the show. Despite being a good singer, he won't appear onstage, at least until the male juvenile can't move and he has to take his place.

That's when we learn that he's really the son of a rich Boston family that threatens to cut him off without a penny. His brother J. Lawrence Bradford (Warren William) and family lawyer Fanuel "Fanny" Peabody (Guy Kibbee) mistake Carol for Polly and try to get her away from Brad. In an attempt to help their friend and teach the snobbish duo a lesson, Trixie and Carol make them think Carol is Polly and vamp them for all they're worth...but their plans backfire when they actually fall in love with them.

The Song and Dance: It's Powell and the ladies who shine here. Powell and Keeler have almost switched roles from 42nd Street; this time, she's the slightly more wordly one, and he's the one who'll come back a star. Powell in particular comes off as a bit less stiff than he did in the earlier movie. Blondell and MacMahon hav a blast as the wisecracking dancers, and Ginger Rogers is a lot of fun as the only real gold-digger to be found. There's also a lot of references to the early Depression era - including "Forgotten Man" - that helps ground it in the era now.

Favorite Number: We kick off the movie in high style with my favorite song from this score, "We're In the Money." Ginger Rogers and the chorus girls romp in costumes made of coins, and Rogers even gets a solo in Pig Latin...until the creditors arrive and take it all away. "Pettin' In the Park" is a catchy little romp that shows girls and their beaus (and randy baby Billy Barty) chasing each other through three seasons. Check out the segment where Barty lifts the screen, revealing their tin costumes! "Shadow Waltz" is more romantic, with its girls in hoop skirts and neon violins forming violin shapes.

"Remember My Forgotten Man" is one of the most dramatic numbers in Busby Berkley's career. The "forgotten men" are the World War I veterans who marched on Washington the year before, trying to get their bonus pay. The gritty sets were inspired by German Expressionism, and they give an almost frighteningly surreal feel to the scenes of poverty and determination. The number was so moving, when studio head Jack L. Warner saw it, he ordered it be swapped to the end in place of "Petting In the Park."

Trivia: There was originally supposed to be a fifth big number performed by Blondell, "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song," but it was cut before release. The song is only heard performed briefly by Powell in the beginning.

An earthquake hit while they filmed "Shadow Waltz" and nearly electrocuted the dancers.

What I Don't Like: While MacMahon is having fun flirting with Kibbee, Blondell is completely mismatched with the erudite William. You'd never believe he'd change his mind about her so quickly, especially after being fooled like that. I also wish they'd focused more on that "putting on the show" in the second half and less on the rather convoluted and silly gold-digging plot.

The Big Finale: I don't like it as much as 42nd Street, but it does have its own charms, including some classic numbers. If you love the musicals of the 30's in general or the Busby Berkley musicals in particular, you'll want to look for this one.

Home Media: DVD is currently released by the Warner Archives. It's available with several streaming companies as well.

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You Can't Run Away From It

Columbia, 1956
Starring June Allyson, Jack Lemmon, Charles Bickford and Jim Backus
Directed by Dick Powell
Music by Gene De Paul; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

The Awful Truth was not the last classic screwball comedy Columbia remade in the 1950's. Three years later, they added music to the Best Picture Oscar-winner It Happened One Night. Is it as charming and hilarious as the original? Let's head over to to a yacht on the ocean and find out...

The Story: Ellie Andrews (Allyson) is mad as a hornet when her father, Texas cattleman AA Andrews (Bickford), kidnaps her and holds her on his yacht. He disapproves of her engagement to a notorious playboy. She dives out the window and flees for the nearest bus station. Meanwhile, unemployed reporter Peter Warne (Lemmon) thinks he's hit on the biggest story of his career. He keeps an eye on her on the bus and poses as her husband when they stop at a hotel. As they travel cross-country, the two begin to realize that they've fallen in love...but Ellie goes home when she realizes what Peter's doing. Trouble is, she's not so eager to be reunited with her husband anymore, and Peter's having second thoughts about that story.

The Song and Dance: This wound up being a bit of a surprise. It's too cute. Lemmon and Allyson may not be the first people you'd think to replace Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, but they actually have a lot of fun as the runaway heiress and the reporter who comes to think of her as a lot more than a headline. As per the original story, it's pretty small-scale for a musical of this time, and the intimacy is charming and rather refreshing.

Favorite Number: Popular musical group of the time The Four Aces harmonize beautifully on the title song over the credits. Stubby Kaye as a chummy sailor joins Lemmon, Allyson and the chorus on the bus for "Howdy Friends and Neighbors." "Temporarily" is Lemmon and Allyson singing about their sheet "Wall of Jericho" and their current relationship in the hotel. Trying to prove that she can have as much fun as the next person, Allyson enjoys cavorting with scarecrows and piles of hay in the Scarecrow Ballet.

Trivia: Apparently, there were at least two more numbers for other characters and a segment of the song "Hitchin' a Ride" that didn't make it into the film. The entire audio for "Hitchin' a Ride" survives on the soundtrack album.

This isn't the first time Columbia remade It Happened One Night. They'd done an earlier version in 1945 with Ann Miller, Eve Knew Her Apples.

What I Don't Like: Not for those looking for a bigger, brassier show. Like Let's Do It Again, this is pretty small-scale, with one major chorus number and fairly quiet songs for the leads. And while it is adorable in it's own right, it's not nearly the triumph that It Happened One Night was - or really Oscar material.

The Big Finale: While not the best adaptation, it does do a better job of adding music to One Night than the more staid Do It Again did with Awful Truth. Worth checking out if you're a fan of the stars or you run into it online or on cable.

Home Media: Until two years ago, the only way you could find this one was in rare showings on TCM. You can currently pick it up as part of that Mill Creek musicals collection (though not in its original widescreen) and on several streaming companies.

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42nd Street

Warner Bros, 1933
Starring Ruby Keeler, Warner Baxter, Dick Powell, and Ginger Rogers
Directed by Lloyd Bacon; Musical Numbers Directed by Busby Berkeley
Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Al Dubin

We're going way back tonight to what is not only considered to be the archetypal backstage musical, but the movie that helped revive the genre on the big screen. Musicals - especially backstage musicals - were huge when sound came in, but the studios tossed out too many frivolous pieces of nonsense. Warners got around this by giving 42nd Street a slightly darker story that was more in line with the tastes of Depression audiences and employing an all-star cast. Let's head to a theater in New York to see if it really "goes out there a nobody and comes back a star!"

The Story: In the depths of the Great Depression, almost everyone on Broadway is thrilled when popular producers Jones (Robert McWade) and Barry (Ned Sparks) announce that they're putting on a new musical, Pretty Baby, with popular star Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels). Brock is stringing along a backer, kiddie car magnate Abner Diller (Guy Kibbe) while seeing her former vaudeville partner Pat Denning (George Brent) on the side. They hire notoriously tough Julian Marsh (Baxter) as the director. Marsh has to make this a hit in order to recoup his losses from the Stock Market Crash and have enough to retire on.

Among the ladies who make it through the audition are ditzy Lorraine Fleming (Una Merkel), brassy Ann "Anytime Annie" Lowell (Rogers), and sweet newcomer Peggy Saywer (Keeler). Singer Billy Lawler (Powell) has taken a shine to Peggy...but so has Pat. Marsh continues to berate and push and shove the entire cast through rehearsals and right up through the day before the out-of-town opening in Philadelphia. Brock finally learns about Pat's interest in Peggy during the cast party, where she throws a fit that ends with her breaking her ankle.

The show is about to close when Annie suggests that Peggy, while not the best singer, can certainly dance rings around Brock. Now inexperienced Peggy has to carry an entire show on her poofy-sleeved shoulders. She's not so sure she can do it, but Marsh reminds her that she has to do her best in one of the most famous lines in any musical, "You're going out there a youngster, but you're coming back a star!"

The Song and Dance: Keeler and Powell may have been the ones who became stars, but honestly, my favorite thing about this along with the famous Busby Berkley dance routines are the supporting cast and the snappy script. Merkel and Rogers get some of the movie's funniest lines as New York's sassiest chorus girls, with dour Ned Sparks getting a few good lines in as the more pessimistic of the two producers. Baxter, on the other hand, puts in one of his best dramatic performances as the director desperate to make one last stand on Broadway.

Favorite Number: Although "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me" for Bebe Daniels and the chorus boys early on is pretty fun, most of the movie's most famous numbers turn up in the finale. Merkel and Rogers' wisecracks liven the slightly cutesy "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," while "Young and Healthy" shows off Powell's light tenor and some of Berkley's most famous camera and dance formations (not to mention the "under the legs" shot that has turned up in many other Berkley homages).

They save the best for last here. Keeler may not be a great singer, but her dancing in the title number is pretty darn good, enough to understand why this movie really did make her a star. We also get an attempt at drama far above the norm for a 30's musical, including glimpses of abuse and a murder, along with more Berkley camera-driven formations.

Trivia: This was one of the earliest movie musicals transferred to the stage. The Broadway version debuted in 1980, with Jerry Orbach as Julian Marsh and Tammy Grimes as Dorothy Brock. It was a huge hit, both in its original cast and in a 2001 revival. In fact, an equally popular revival just wound down a few weeks ago on London's West End.

The movie got two Oscar nods for Best Picture and Best Sound.

Warren and Dubin themselves can briefly be seen as the show's songwriters.

What I Don't Like: Keeler's only passable as the nice girl among the wolves when she's not dancing, while Powell comes off as way too coy. I almost kind of wish the film had gone the route of the Broadway version and had her end up with Marsh instead of Billy. (In the original book, Billy actually ended up with Marsh, which definitely wasn't going to happen in the movies in 1933.) Some of the Depression references may fly over the heads of those who don't understand the era.

The Big Finale: A funny, fast-paced, and fairly gritty script, Berkeley's oft-imitated kaleidoscope musical numbers, and some nice performances from the supporting cast make this a landmark musical and a must-see for anyone who loves the genre or wants to check out what made Berkeley and his movies famous.

Home Media: The solo DVD is out of print, but the Warner Archives Blu-Ray is available, and it can be found on several collections of Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930's. (And I highly recommend both the original and 2001 revival Broadway casts on CD as well - they're both fun.)

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DVD - Busby Berkeley Collection: The 10 Pack