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

Musicals On TV - Bloomer Girl

NBC, 1956

Starring Barbara Cook, Keith Andes, Carmen Matthews, and Paul Ford

Directed by Alex Segal

Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg

Operetta was not normally Harburg and Arlen's turf, but Harburg in particular was a passionate liberal who supported his many causes in his music. Cook was the next big thing on Broadway when this show debuted, having just come off the short-lived but well-remembered Candide and a year before her breakthrough in The Music Man. How well does she do in this recording of the 1944 Broadway hit about the fictional niece of real-life feminist and early black rights supporter Amelia "Dolly" Bloomer (Matthews)? Let's begin with the five older Applegate sisters and their mother Serena (Nydia Westman) and maid Daisy (Patricia Hammerlee) as they wait for their hoopskirt salesmen husbands to come home to Cicero Falls, New York in 1861 and find out...

The Story: Those five older Applegate sisters may be content to marry salesmen and sit around in hoopskirts, but that's not enough for youngest sister Evelina (Cook). She thoroughly believes in her Aunt Dolly Bloomer's (Matthews) views on women's and black rights, including the right to more comfortable clothing. Her frustrated father (Ford), the owner of a hoopskirt factory, encourages southern gentleman Jeff Calhoun (Andes) to court her. Evelina will have nothing to do with him until he frees his slave Pompey (Rawn Spearman). 

Jeff's more than happy to do so at first, until his brother Hamilton (Frank Overton), who thoroughly believes in the right to own slaves, protests. Evelina's father is even more upset when his daughter turns up in bloomers on a Sunday and insists on her aunt's right to perform Uncle Tom's Cabin with her girls. The women end up in jail, until Governor Newton (Paul McGrath) admits he supports their cause and lets the show go on. The show - and Evelina and Jeff's relationship - is disrupted by the Civil War. The war, however, brings many positive changes, including making Jeff see the light about the importance of freedom for all.

The Song and Dance: By far the best things about this are the period-perfect costumes and the rare chance to see Cook in her prime and Agnes deMille's original choreography, including the dramatic and much-lauded "Civil War Ballet." Cook is an adorable whirlwind, coquettish with Jeff, then easily standing up to her father and the sheriff in defence of her aunt and the causes she supports. Matthews is just as strong-willed as her aunt, and Ford is a blustery delight as her conservative father. Considering how wonderful the dancing is here, I really wish more of it had been retained. Love the costumes, too. We have full-on, period-accurate hoopskirts and bloomers for the ladies, tight suits and Civil War uniforms for the men, and tattered clothing for the slaves and black men who sing "I Got a Song."

Favorite Number: We open with "When the Boys Come Home" as the Applegate sisters and mother await the arrival of their salesmen husbands. Jeff sings about his "Evelina," but Evelina isn't impressed. Dolly, Daisy, and the Bloomer girls who work at Dolly's newspaper claim "It Was Good Enough for Grandma," but they want a lot more than sitting at home in a lively, adorable dance. Pompey declares "The Eagle and Me" equally deserve freedom. For Jeff and Evelina, everything is "Right as the Rain." 

"Sunday In Cicero Falls" starts off quietly for the chorus, until Dolly and her girls come high-stepping along with an encore of "Good Enough for Grandma" to advertise Uncle Tom's Cabin. "I Got a Song," says Pompey and two of his friends as they explain that they can't laugh, but they can sing. Dolly and Evelina sing a "Lullaby" to the ladies while in prison. Daisy prances to the upbeat "I Never Was Born" while dressed as Topsy for the Cabin production, blackface and all. The brief "Man for Sale," with an auctioneer (David Aiken) "selling" off a black man during the show. It's interrupted by the announcement of the Civil War, which leads into the stirring "Civil War Ballet." James Marshall leads the dance corps, many from the 1944 show, as they depict the men going to war, and what happens when they come home.

Trivia: Bloomer Girl ran a year and a half on Broadway in its original production, respectable for the time. Celeste Holm played Evelina; Dooley Wilson was Pompey. Its only New York stagings since then were a brief City Center revival in 1947, an off-Broadway revival in 2000, and an Encores! concert in 2001.

Brock Peters has a small role as Pompey's friend Alexander; he can be heard in "I Got a Song" and "Man for Sale." He would go on to star as Crown in the 1959 Porgy and Bess, the wrongfully accused Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, and as Joseph Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 

Amelia "Dolly" Bloomer was a real-life feminist and abolitionist who lived in small-town upstate New York and advocated freer, looser clothing for women and did run a newspaper advocating her causes in the 1850's. By 1859, she'd actually moved to Iowa and had resumed wearing longer skirts, since hoopskirts and heavy petticoats were being replaced by that point by crinolines. 

What I Don't Like: There's a few reasons this is rarely seen nowadays, despite the wonderful music and dance and still-relevant subject matter. Some of the dialogue, especially concerning African-American rights, comes off as condescending or overly stiff today. There's also the second half hinging around a performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Though it's downplayed from the original show, where it was a major set piece that included an expanded "Man for Sale" and a sequence derived from Eliza crossing the ice, we still get Hammerlee's too-goofy blackface "I Never Was Born" number. 

The Uncle Tom's Cabin sequence wasn't the only one to be cut down for television. Most of the other dance routines were dropped as well, along with numbers for Evelina's brothers-in-law and the men in Cicero Falls ("The Farmer's Whiskers," "Pretty as a Picture"), a solo for Daisy ("T'Morra, T'Morra"), and a third duet for Evelina and Jeff ("Rakish Young Man With the Whiskers"). Also, basic warning that this is a fuzzy black-and-white recording of a show originally broadcast live and in color. Considering how many such shows have been lost to time, we're lucky to have this at all.

The Big Finale: The terrific music and ballets and the fact that this doesn't turn up often onstage nowadays makes this rare program worth checking out for fans of Cook, Harburg and Arlen, or the folksy Americana shows of the 40's and 50's. 

Home Media: It's in print, but like all VAI International DVD releases, is expensive online. You're better off checking eBay or other used venues for this.

DVD

At the Circus

MGM, 1939

Starring The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, and Harpo), Kenny Baker, Florence Rice, and Margaret Dumont

Directed by Edward Buzzell

Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg

A Day at the Races was a hit in 1937, but things had changed at MGM in the two years between the making of that film and this one. Producer Irving Thalberg passed away a few months before the release of Races. He was one of the people who was instrumental in bringing the Marxes from Paramount and had been their biggest supporter at MGM. Louis B. Mayer, who took over as head of the studio, was far less receptive to the Marxes' wacky brand of comedy. How do the Marxes manage to get involved with a circus that's on the verge of going under, a gorilla carrying a club, and an amorous trapeze artist? To find out, let's begin backstage at the Wilson Circus and see what's going on behind the scenes...

The Story: Jeff Wilson (Baker) owes $10,000 on his circus to John Carter (James Burke), who intends to use it as a front for his gangster activities. Jeff's hidden the money in the cage of Gibraltar, their star gorilla (Charles Gemora). Carter's men Goliath the strongman (Nat Pendleton) and little man Professor Atom (Jerry Maren) knock him out and steal the money. If Jeff can't make the circus a success, he won't be able to marry his horse trainer fiancee Julie Randall (Rice).  

Fortunately, Jeff has help in the form of circus employee Tony Pirelli (Chico) and Goliath's assistant Punchy (Harpo). Tony called lawyer J. Cheever Loophole (Groucho) to figure out who wants the money and why. Loophole tries to get the money off of Burke's trapeze artist girlfriend Peerless Pauline (Eve Arden), but she outsmarts him. Tony and Punchy don't do any better searching Goliath's room. Loophole finally goes to Jeff's wealthy Aunt Suzanna Dukesbury (Dumont) to convince her that the circus would be perfect for her big Newport party. Carter, however, is ready to do anything, even burn the circus down, to keep that money from being found.

The Song and Dance: The Marxes do manage to get a few genuinely good gags and sequences here. Chico and Harpo have a great time searching Goliath's room as they destroy his pillows and let the feathers fly. Arden has her own fun being one of the very few people who ever managed to put one over on Groucho. Dumont doesn't come in until more than half-way through the movie, but she does get shot out of a cannon in the finale. Even some of the music comes across. Groucho gets one of his best numbers from any of the movies with the hilarious "Lydia the Tattooed Lady"; Chico's version of "Beer Barrel Polka" is pretty nifty, too.

Favorite Number: We open and close with the big circus number "Step Up and Take a Bow." Julie sings it to her horses in the first few minutes; Jeff performs it during the show in the end. Julie and Jeff sing the nursery rhyme-inspired ballad "Two Blind Loves" twice. It's originally heard as a duet over a cup of coffee while they wait for the circus train to leave. Jeff sings it alone later, when they're worried the circus may close. Harpo does the bizarre chorus number "Swingali" with big Dudley Dickerson and a group of black children on the circus grounds. He plays several different instruments for them, ending with his harp performance of "Blue Moon." Chico amuses the circus people with "Beer Barrel Polka" on the piano during the train trip.

The number for the books is Groucho's "Lydia the Tattooed Lady." Groucho follows "Beer Barrel Polka" with this wild rendition of Harburg's hilarious comic ditty about the infamous tattoo artist who has just about everything in history you can imagine drawn on her shapely chest. Groucho really throws himself into the song, shaking and swinging with abandon, and Chico has fun accompanying him. It's by far the film's best moment.

Trivia: Buster Keaton was supposed to supply gags for this film, but his lengthy and stylized sequences didn't mix well with the Marxes' looser form of comedy. When the Marxes complained, Keaton basically said he was doing what he'd been paid to do.

What I Don't Like: Actually, no matter what the Marxes thought, Keaton's longer comedy sequences aren't the problem here. While the songs generally fit in better than the ones in A Day at the Races did, other than "Lydia" and the harp and piano performances, they still seem a bit off. "Three Blind Loves" is especially bad, with a sing-song melody and drippy lyrics that are far from Harburg or Arlen's best work. There's way too much emphasis on the cliche "save the circus" story, too.  Baker and Rice are horribly bland, and we see far too much of them. Frankly, I would have rather seen more of the fairly funny Arlen or brought Dumont in earlier to play off Groucho. 

The Big Finale: Marx Brothers fans will want this one for "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" and some great gags near the beginning and end. Everyone else is better off starting with Night at the Opera or Day at the Races for a taste of the Marxes at MGM. 

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

DVD

DVD - The Marx Brothers Collection

Amazon Prime

Babes On Broadway

MGM, 1941

Starring Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Fay Bainter, and Virginia Weidler

Directed by George Sidney

Music and Lyrics by various

We're finally finishing up the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland teen backstage movies this week. By this point, the two were bona-fide starts the world over. Garland just had her first adult role the year before and was trying to get away from playing kids, but she didn't mind appearing alongside her best friend Rooney. How does the slightly more mature story of teens trying to make it in Manhattan look today? Let's begin with radio's Town Crier, Alexander Woollcott (himself), as he discusses the influx of hopeful children and teens to New York for stage careers and find out...

The Story: Tommy Williams (Rooney) is one of those hopefuls. He performs in a spaghetti house with his friends Ray Lambert (Ray McDonald) and Morton Hammond (Richard Quine). He doesn't believe it when a lady who gives them a big tip (Bainter) says she's a theatrical agent, but when they do show at her office, she says she has work for them. He's so thrilled, he tells half the kids in New York, including Penny Morris (Garland). 

Penny wants the kids at the orphanage where she works and her friend Barbara Jo Conway (Weidler) lives to have a trip to the country this summer to help their many aliments. Tommy sees it as a great way to promote his act. He convinces the kids to put on a show and a block party to help them. It turns out to help more than just their kids when British kids come around as well and are broadcasted to their parents. They make enough to rent a theater...but first Tommy gets a big job opportunity in Philadelphia, and then, the theater turns out to be run-down. Neither will stop the kids from achieving their dreams or learning that hard work often requires a great deal of sacrifice.

The Song and Dance: It's interesting to see how the two and their relationship have evolved since Strike Up the Band. Here, Judy is an independent young woman living on her own, making her own money, and too busy to pine for anyone. For once, it's Rooney who's chasing her. When she's angry at him, it's not because of some girl, it's because he really is being selfish. He's still going a mile a minute, but his ideas are a lot bigger than small-town barns or getting a school orchestra to a big band competition. 

They're backed by a decent supporting cast. McDonald has a few great tap solos, notably during the "Hoe Down" number, and Weidler is far more appealing here than she was whining over her boyfriend in Best Foot Forward three years later. Bainter has a few funny lines as the woman agent who finally gets the kids their big break.

Favorite Number: Busby Berkeley was the choreographer here, and he really goes to town with the energetic barnyard stomp "Hoe Down" in the auditorium. Garland and Rooney are in overalls and calico, kicking up their heels along with kids in goofy dancing horse costumes. "Chin Up, Cheerio, Carry On" is Garland's song for the visiting British kids and their families on the air, a reminder that the badly battered England had already been at war for two years at that point. The kids sing about that "Bombshell from Brazil" at the aborted show for the orphans...which turns out to be Rooney dressed in drag as Carmen Miranda and singing one of her signature tunes, "Mama Yo Quiero." 

Garland and Rooney are at their best in one big, expansive number and one small, intimate one. They really get into their medley of songs and scenes representing theater greats who once appeared on the stage of that aging theater. Garland' does especially well by the old Blanche Ring number "Rings On Her Fingers," and Rooney really gets into his Cyrano De Bergerac. 

The other big one here is "How About You?" This charming ballad was nominated for an Oscar in 1942. No wonder, with Mickey and Judy happily singing about how much they have in common on the piano, then doing a seemingly spontaneous little dance around the music room. It's sweet, simple, adorable, and proof that you don't always need Berkeley largess to be the best number in a movie.

Trivia: Vincent Minnelli conceived and supervised the "ghost theater" montage. 

Another satire of late 19th century theatrical tropes, the melodrama spoof "The Convict's Return," was filmed but cut and has since been lost (though the songs survive). 

Film debuts of Margaret O'Brian (as one of the kids at the audition) and Donna Reed (as Miss Jones' comely secretary). 

There was to have been a third "Babes" film, "Babes In Hollywood," but it was scrapped in favor of the somewhat more mature Girl Crazy after Garland admitted she was tired of teen roles. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, let's discuss that minstrel show finale. As with the almost identical number in Babes In Arms, it was seen as nostalgia for earlier theatrical tropes in 1940. Nowadays the bad blackface and stereotypical jokes will likely offend more people than they amuse. There's also the cliched story about the kids and their need for country air. It's not as melodramatic as the friend in need in Strike Up the Band, but it's still pretty obvious...and what Mickey and his buddies give up for it is worse. 

The Big Finale: Minstrel show aside, this is delightful fun with Rooney and Garland at the top of their game and some creative musical numbers. Highly recommended for fans of them or the MGM musicals of the 1940's. 

Home Media: Easy to find in all major formats. The solo DVD is from the Warner Archives.

DVD

DVD - The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection

DVD - TCM Greatest Classic Legends: Rooney & Garland

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - Gay Purr-ee

Warner Bros/UPA, 1962

Voices of Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, and Paul Frees

Directed by Abe Levitow

Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg

United Productions of America (UPA) began to make industrial and training films during World War II. They eventually became the in-house studio for Columbia Studios, winning awards for their unique use of limited animation and their two major characters, Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing Boing. This was their second and last attempt at a feature length film, and their only one not to feature Magoo. Chuck Jones of Looney Tunes fame also had a hand in it...and it got him fired from Warners when they realized he was working for another studio. Was all the fuss worth it? Let's head to a farm in 1895 Provence in the south of France and find out...

The Story: Mewsette the Angora cat (Garland) is tired of quiet rural life and her handsome but loutish suitor Jaune Tom (Goulet), an orange tom cat. Tom's kitten friend Robspierre (Buttons) wishes he'd forget Mewsette and stick to chasing mice. Mewsette finally takes the train to Paris, with Tom and Robspierre following on the tracks.

On the train, Mewsette encounters Meowice (Frees), a slick con-man tuxedo cat who claims he'll take her to Madame Rubens-Chatte (Hermoine Gingold) and have her made over into a society beauty. What he really wants to do is sell her to a rich American cat. He gets Tom and Robspierre drunk and sends them on a boat to Alaska. Mewsette flees when she figures out Meowrice's true intentions, but now she's alone and on her own. Tom, however, has had more luck in the Alaska than anyone could have guessed, and now he and Robspierre are on their way back to Paris to rescue poor Mewsette from ending up on a slow boat to Pittsburgh.

The Animation: Gorgeous...to a point. The backgrounds, with their glowing rainbow colors and sketchy style, look very much like the artwork Mewsette appears in at one point. Trouble is, the backgrounds remain stationary the entire time. They don't move or flow, and the characters don't always move the best, either. Chuck Jones' hand can be seen in the cats' expressive faces and wide eyes and mobile eyebrows that convey more than words ever could.

The Song and Dance: Charming enough to make me wish Garland did more animated films. She and Frees play very well off each other as the sweet farm cat looking for excitement in the big, glamorous city and the evil kitty who cares about nothing but money. Arlen and Harburg wrote a lovely score, too, with Garland calling "Little Drops of Rain" one of her favorite songs from her movies along with "Over the Rainbow." Buttons and Goulet also have a few cute moments as the country ginger cat determined to find his sweetheart and the pugnacious kitten who wishes he'd forget love and settle into chasing mice. 

Favorite Number: Goulet gives us a good start on the farm as he croons the praises of his beautiful "Mewsette." Mewsette dreams of glamor and elegance in the big city in "Paris, Take My Hand." Meowice takes Mewsette on a ride in a buggy through Paris, claiming "The Horses Won't Talk." "Little Drops of Rain" is Jeune Tom's fantasy on the boat to Alaska, as he hears Mewsette encouraging him to return to her over a gorgeous montage of water scenes; Goulet gets a lovely reprise on the ship's mast. Towards the end of the film, Mewsette laments that "Paris Is a Lonely Town" when she's lost and homeless in a gray wintry City of Lights.

Trivia: Robert Goulet's first movie. 

What I Don't Like: The cliche story is likely intended to poke fun at old-time melodramas from the late 19th century, but it just seems ridiculous nowadays. Even then, audiences didn't know what to make of it - the movie was a major flop in 1962. No wonder Mewsette complains about Tom. Other than his extraordinary mouse-catching ability, he's not exactly long on personality. Robspierre can be more than a little annoying, too. There's also the animation, which is lovely but still limited. Those artistic backgrounds remain just that, backgrounds. You never really believe the characters inhabit them. 

The Big Finale: For adults who love the cast and younger kids who'll enjoy the cats' antics and be able to overlook the occasionally dark and cliched plot and the colorful but limited animation and enjoy the excellent music and performances. 

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

DVD

Amazon Prime

Babes In Arms

MGM, 1939

Starring Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Charles Winninger, and Margaret Hamilton

Directed by Busby Berkeley

Music and Lyrics by various

We jump back a year to the first of the Garland-Rooney "put on a show" films. This one started out as a hit Broadway show in 1937. It proved to be even more popular on the big screen, bigger than Garland's other major film that year, The Wizard of Oz. Does it continue to delight audiences with it's talented teens and their barnyard show today, or should it be sent to the orphanage? Let's begin with the birth of a future trooper and find out...

The Story: Mickey Moran (Rooney) is literally born into show business. He dances with his parents in their vaudeville act, at least until the arrival of talking pictures, radio, and the Great Depression brings an end to variety shows. Many aging vaudevillians moved their families to a small town in Long Island, New York after their careers ended, including Joe Moran (Winninger). He encourages the other former vaudevillians in the town to go on tour and prove they're still relevant, before their homes and children are taken away.

Meanwhile, his son is equally determined to show that their children can be every bit the performers their parents are. After their parents claim they'll just be "baggage" on the road, he encourages his sister Molly (Betty Jaynes), his best friend Patsy Barton (Garland), and the local kids to help him put on a show in a barn. Patsy's upset when Mickey initially gives former child star "Baby" Rosalie Essex (Preissler) her role, to the point where she leaves...and there's the lady from the work houses (Hamilton) complaining that the kids should be going to school and studying for a trade, not show business.

The Song and Dance: Berkeley's first movie at MGM shows a lot of creativity, especially in dealing with the kids. There's a lot of energy from everyone, especially the ever-moving Rooney. What I really like is, unlike with Strike Up the Band, there's real stakes here. It's not just winning a contest or helping a friend. The kids are trying to keep their families together by doing what they love during the worst economic downturn anyone ever knew. It makes the melodrama later on a bit easier to take than it is in Strike Up the Band. 

Favorite Number: Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney really get things moving with their lively version of "Good Morning," sung on the piano before an interested song publisher. Betty Jaymes and Douglas McPhail are supposed to be singing a romantic "Where or When" on a moonlit boat ride, but Rooney doesn't think they're putting enough heart into it. He points to Garland to show them how to really pour passion into a song. Speaking of passion, she gets the hit ballad "I Cried for You" on the bus after arguing with Rooney over Rosalie taking her place in the show. The movie ends with a huge patriotic extravaganza, "God's Country," and Rooney and Garland parodying the popular conception of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt at the time, "My Day."

Trivia: The "My Day" Roosevelt spoof was cut after Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945. It was thought lost until the 1990's, when it was discovered on 16 millimeter film and restored. "God's Country" was originally introduced in a stage show called Hooray for What! MGM bought it, but never filmed it. 

This was Garland and Rooney's second film together after the drama Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. 

The original show debuted on Broadway in 1937 and did well for the time, running a little over 9 months, with music by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and choreography by George Balanchine. It was heavily re-written and sanitized in 1959; though the original does turn up from time to time, the 1959 version is the one usually seen in revival and performed by community theaters.

What I Don't Like: Too bad they couldn't have kept more of the original plot or songs. Garland and Rooney proved they were perfectly capable of handling gems like "I Wish I Were In Love Again" and "Johnny One Note" in the later Rodgers and Hart biography Words and Music. "The Lady Is a Tramp" can be heard in the background when Rooney's trying to woo Preissler, but it's not performed on-screen. There's also the big minstrel show number, with Rooney, Garland, and all of the kids in blackface and bad southern accents. It was nostalgia for an earlier era of entertainment then; nowadays, many modern audience members will likely be offended well before rain brings the number to a premature end. 

The Big Finale: This one isn't bad, but I think the Garland-Rooney movies got better as they went along. There's enough good numbers here for this to get a recommend, particularly for fans of the two young stars. 

Home Media: All of the Garland-Rooney musicals are easily found on DVD and streaming, the former from the Warner Archives. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Ship Ahoy

MGM, 1942
Starring Eleanor Powell, Red Skelton, Bert Lahr, and Virginia O'Brien
Directed by Edward Buzzell
Music by Burton Lane and others; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg and others

I had so much fun with the travel films last week, I'm going to continue the theme for my weekday entries. This is best-known today as the second movie to feature Frank Sinatra (as a singer with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra), but it has other things to recommend it as well, including several nifty dances by Powell and comedy bits from O'Brian, Skelton, and Lahr. How does an unusual spy story tie in with this cast of comics and the ship-board setting? Let's head to the docks in New York to find out...

The Story: Tallulah Winters (Powell) is a dancer with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (themselves). She's convinced to transport a top secret magnetic mine to Puerto Rico by government officials. Turns out that the "officials" are really Nazi spies who stole the mine and are trying to get it out of the US under the nose of the real government agent Art Higgins (Stuart Crawford). They got the idea from the adventure novels written by Merton Kibble (Skelton). He and his buddy Skip Owens (Lahr) are also on-board. Merton's looking for a way to reinvigorate his writing...but he never expected inspiration to come from being caught up in Tallulah's wild plot.

The Song and Dance: Well, it's definitely one of the more original musicals I've seen. There just aren't that many musical spy stories out there. Energetic Powell and sarcastic O'Brian have a lot of fun with the loopy plot. Skelton and Lahr also have some nice bits, especially towards the end, when they're dodging the Nazis. You don't often see a dancer tapping out Morse code, either. I give MGM credit for trying for something at least somewhat unique, even when the story gets more than a little strange.

Favorite Number:  Sinatra gets to lay into "The Last Call for Love" in the beginning, joined by the Pied Pipers and Dorsey and his orchestra. Legendary drummer Buddy Rich provides the beat for Powell's "Hawaiian War Chant" tropical-themed routine. Rich also gets in on "I'll Take Tallulah" as Powell is swung across the screen. She also does a nice Spanish-tinged "Cape Dance." The most famous number from this is the glittery "On Moonlight Bay," where yes, Tallulah does tap the location of the Nazis on the ship in More Code for Art, Skip, and Merton.

Trivia: This was Sinatra's second movie. He'd make movies mostly with MGM through the 40's.

What I Don't Like: The plot may be original, but it's also convoluted and kind of thin. It's hard to believe that the otherwise-sensible Tallulah would be naive enough to believe the spies' rather flimsy story. Those who are here for Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey will be disappointed; they have a few numbers in the beginning and the end, but otherwise have very little to do. Lahr's mugging is a little more annoying here, especially given he spends a lot of the film's running time chasing women half his age (including O'Brian).

The Big Finale: If you love Skelton, Powell, tap dancing, or big band music, this is worth checking out at least once if you can find it.

Home Media: Currently only available via the Warner Archives in a remastered edition. (My copy was dubbed off TCM by a friend.)

DVD

April In Paris

Warner Bros, 1952
Starring Doris Day, Ray Bolger, Claude Dauphin, and Eve Miller
Directed by David Butler
Music by Vernon Duke; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg and Sammy Cahn

Although it was originally released at Christmas, this fluffy Day vehicle is the perfect lightweight romantic comedy for a warm spring day. Given the title, it was practically mandatory for me to get it in this month. Is it as romantic and dreamy as Paris in the spring? Let's first take a trip to Washington DC's state department and check in with the government to find out...

The Story: Assistant Secretary Winthrop Putham (Bolger) is in a tizzy. He's putting on a huge art exposition in Paris, but the invitation he meant to send to Ethel Barrymore instead was mailed to chorus girl "Dynamite" Ethel Jackson (Day). He initially tells her about the mistake, but his boss, Secretary Robert Sherman (Paul Harvey), actually decides he likes the idea. Ethel would be happier about the whole thing if her big ocean voyage to France didn't most involved being grilled in French by stuffy government officials. She sneaks down to the galley to party with the crew, including waiter Phillipe Fouquet (Dauphin). Winthrop is order to tell her that she's done...but ends up getting drunk and marrying her, to the horror of his bossy fiancee, Secretary Sherman's daughter Marcia (Miller). Now the two have to figure out how to get out of this mess...and then if they actually want to.

The Song and Dance: There's some charm to be found in this fizzy tale. Bolger does get a few funny moments, especially spoofing the US governments' fondness for titles and underlings. Harvey's even funnier as the stuffed-shirt senator. Day has her moments as well, especially sniping with Bolger early-on and when she gets into a cat fight with Miller during the art exposition.

Favorite Number: The best song from this one by far is "We're Going to Ring the Bell Tonight," Day and Bolger's big dance routine with Dauphin and the crew in the gallery. There's more verve and energy in that number than there is in the entire rest of the movie. Bolger also has a nice solo dance in his boss' office, when he's dreaming of making it to the top of the White House.

What I Don't Like: Bolger and Day are mismatched. They have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. You'd never believe she'd fall for him so quickly, especially after the whole thing with the letter was his fault. Bolger never did work well as a romantic leading man. Dauphin is way over the top as the mischievous French waiter who causes a lot of the trouble, to the point where he's more annoying than anything. Other than Dauphin, the movie doesn't have a drop of French flavor. It looks and sounds like something that was filmed on an American sound stage in the 50's. The romantic comedy contrivances veer between cliched and ridiculous. By the end, you start to wish the two would either get a room or just part, given how long they draw it out.

The Big Finale: In the end, a few good numbers can't be redeemed by miscasting and a dull plot. Worth seeing once for fans of Day, Bolger, romantic comedies, or 50's musicals. Everyone else is probably better off looking up their favorite recording of the title song.

Home Media: The solo DVD is currently available via the Warner Archives; it can also be found as part of a Doris Day DVD set.

DVD
DVD - TCM Spotlight: Doris Day Collection
Amazon Prime

Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Finian's Rainbow

Warner Bros, 1968
Starring Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele, and Keenan Wynn
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Music by Burton Lane; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg

Top o' the evenin' to ye! We celebrate the most Irish of holidays tomorrow with a wee bit of blarney from the late 60's. This strange tale of leprechauns and magic originally debuted on Broadway in 1947, but was too odd and old-fashioned to make a dent in a changing Hollywood when it hit the big screen twenty years later. How does it hold up now? Let's head over that hill and stream to Rainbow Valley, near Fort Knox, and find out...

The Story: Finian (Astaire) and Sharon McLonergan (Clark) are Irish immigrants who just arrived in Rainbow Valley, a commune in the Deep South. The head of the commune is Woody (Don Francks), a happy-go-lucky fellow who does everything he can to try to get out of real work, including selling the mentholated tobacco his chemist friend Howard (Al Freeman Jr.) is working on. Finian has his own way to easy riches. He buries a pot of gold near Fort Knox, in the hope that it'll grow the way America's gold supply seems to have. Trouble is, the gold actually belongs to Og (Steele), a leprechaun who is rapidly becoming human - and horny - without it.

Og explains (with much wailing) that the gold grants three wishes to whomever stands near it. Sharon accidentally gets the first one when she wishes that bigoted Senator Rawlings (Wynn) would turn into a black man...and he unfortunately does and, ashamed, runs off. Now half the county thinks Sharon's a witch, and unless Og and Finian can find that pot of gold and wish everything back to normal, they're going to burn her at the stake!

The Song and Dance: Fred Astaire may have been at odds with Coppola's more modern directorial style, but they brought in some great results. Even the scenes that were obviously shot on a soundstage look terrific in the widescreen cinematography and glow with an incandescence that would make that rainbow in the song look pale. Astaire is a hoot as the grizzled Irishman who always thinks the next pot of gold is somewhere over the rainbow; Clark is even better as his exasperated but loving daughter.

Maybe it's a good thing they did wait twenty years to make this into a movie. Finian's Rainbow came out during the height of the Civil Rights Era in the US, and it openly discusses prejudice, bigotry, and stereotypes in a way they probably wouldn't have gotten away with even a decade before. There's also how Sharon and Woody's relationship is handled. "Old Devil Moon" is far hotter and more overtly sexual than most love scenes in musicals, and they're actually seen sleeping together in the finale, even before they technically get married.

Favorite Number: Astaire gets his last great solo in "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich"; he's as nimble as ever, making the whole sequence a real highlight. Steele and Clark have a grand time doing laundry outside with my favorite song from this score, "Something Sort of Grandish." There's also some nice chorus numbers, including "This Time of the Year" and "That Great Come and Get It Day." Clark has a lovely "Look to the Rainbow" over the credits; her "How are Things In Glocca Morra" is nicely-done as well.

Trivia: The original Broadway show did debut in 1947, but its themes of racial and economic equality scared quite a few people off, as did the fantasy aspects and lyricist E.Y Harburg's strong leftist politics. MGM wanted to do it in 1948, but Harburg wanted too much money. An animated version in the mid-50's and a live-action musical with Debbie Reynolds in the early 60's were eventually scrapped.

The stage version had occasional revivals in the 60's, but it was rarely seen after that until it turned up in a successful off-Broadway revival by the Irish Repertory Theater in 2004 (and would be done again by the company in 2016). A revival on Broadway in 2009 didn't do nearly as well, only running three months.

The song "Necessity" was cut from the film after the movie ran long in previews. No word on if the footage still exists, but the song is on the soundtrack LP and CD.

What I Don't Like: Rawlings comes off like every southern bigot stereotype that ever appeared in any epic about the South, and while Wynn's not bad, the character gets grating after a while. The blackface makeup he wears after his skin color changes is not only unconvincing, but will likely offend many folks today.

In fact, while the movie can be commended for dealing with the subject of bigotry at all, it makes for an awkward mix with the fantasy elements. It doesn't help that Steele's performance is too over-the-top, even for a mythical character, and wears one down after two hours. Coppola wanted everything to be real, but Astaire (and Warners) wanted old-fashioned fun...and trying to mix the two just makes a mess. The fact that a big portion of the plot hinges on tobacco and making it smoke doesn't look great nowadays, either. And yes, like most film musicals of its era, it's way too long at two hours. Several minutes, particularly towards the end, could have been trimmed.

The Big Finale: A real mixed bag, to say the least. Astaire, Clark, and some great music do help to offset the strange fantasy and occasionally iffy and dated plot. If you're a fan of either of them or want to check out a really unique fantasy tale, this is worth a look.

Home Media: I have the original DVD release from 2006, but it and the Blu-Ray are currently available via the Warner Archives. It's on a couple of streaming platforms as well.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Google Play

Cabin In the Sky

MGM, 1943
Starring Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Lena Horne, and Rex Ingram
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Music by Vernon Duke and Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg and others

MGM transferred this hit 1940 Broadway musical to the big screen as the first major directorial assignment for Vincent Minnelli and a showcase for many black performers of the time. It also wound up being Lena Horne's only leading role at MGM; Waters and Ingram reprise their roles from the stage version. Does this tale of heaven and hell warring for the soul of a shifty gambler and his kindly wife deserve the pearly gates today, or should it thrown into that whirlwind at the end? Let's head to a small all-African American town in the south to find out...

The Story: Little Joe Jackson (Anderson) is a gambler and a con-man who truly loves his faithful and very religious wife Petunia (Waters). He's shot dead by fellow gambler Domino Johnson (John W. "Bubbles" Sublett) when he's unable to pay his debts. Petunia's fervent prayers are heard by the angel "The General" (Kenneth Spencer) and Lucifer's son Junior (Ingram). The General will restore Joe to his wife, but only if he becomes a good, hardworking husband for six months. He and Lucifer will act as his consciences and guide his actions, but he has to decide how to act on it.

Little Joe does behave for a while, including remembering his wife's birthday. Not one to take losing sitting down, Lucifer brings the gold-digger Georgia Brown (Horne) around to meet him and lets him win the lottery. Petunia hears Joe talking to Georgia about the money and comes to the wrong conclusion. They run off and start a fancy nightclub that attracts some of the biggest names in jazz, including Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (themselves). Petunia's not done with her husband, though...and neither is Domino. It'll take divine intervention to finally show Joe which woman he truly loves.

The Song and Dance: There's some fine performances here you're just not going to see anywhere else. Waters really owns the two major hits from this score, "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" (which was written for the movie), and my personal favorite, "Taking a Chance On Love." Horne's sexy Georgia Brown makes you realize how badly MGM wasted her talents elsewhere, and Ingram and Spencer were hilarious as the deities warring over Joe's soul.

Minnelli does well with his first assignment at MGM, especially with the Wizard of Oz-like tornado in the finale. He builds the suspense quite well, with Horne running out into the wind screaming and the men's fight continuing even as the tornado tears their world to ribbons.

Favorite Number: "Chance" is probably the best-known standard from this show, and it gets a pretty good number, too. It kind of comes out of the blue, but is made up for with some incredible tap dancing by Bill Bailey and Waters' vocal dexterity. Horne scores with her version of the silky "Honey In the Honeycomb" and the winking "Ain't It the Truth." Some of the jitterbugging in the Joe Henry's Paradise nightclub is downright incredible. (Really wish they'd kept Horne's reprise of "Ain't It the Truth" in the bubble bath - it's really fun. Apparently, censors at the time had a fit over a black woman being seen in a bubble bath.)

What I Don't Like: Anderson may have been a popular comedian at the time in The Jack Benny Radio Show, but he's out of place here among the dignified Ingram and Spencer and dynamic Horne and Waters. He gets a nifty dance routine in "Taking a Chance," but he can't sing worth a darn. He's so goofy and shiftless, you wonder what either woman sees in him.

Though Minnelli and producer Arthur Freed took pains to talk to black groups and make this as respectful of African-Americans as possible at the time, some aspects of this movie still come off as a little dated nowadays. Joe and some of his buddies can seem like lazy stereotypes to many audiences, and the religious aspect is a bit awkward.

Wish they'd done more with Louis Armstrong (the Trumpeter) and Ellington. Armstrong's only solo was cut, and Ellington has one number at the nightclub and is barely seen. I also kind of wish they'd ended with Petunia and Joe going to the pearly gates; darker, yes, but more in line with the rest of the story. The happy ending seems like a bit of a cop-out.

The Big Finale: This isn't the easiest movie to discuss nowadays, but it is a powerful and relatively positive portrait of African-Americans during World War II. If you love the cast or the music or Minnelli and can handle the stereotypes, this is a really interesting movie that's definitely worth a look.

Home Media: Not the easiest movie to find; the DVD is currently available through the Warner Archives, and it's on several streaming platforms.

DVD
Google Play

The Wizard of Oz

MGM, 1939
Starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, and Margaret Hamilton
Directed by Victor Fleming and others
Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y Harburg

And now, we travel over the rainbow to take on one of the most famous films - in any genre - of all time. While not a huge hit when it first came out, it's become a classic in re-releases and on TV. The tale of Dorothy and her companions and their journey to the Emerald City has become a touchstone to families and children of all ages. Let's head to Kansas to see if the movie is truly worthy of that legacy...

The Story: Dorothy Gale (Garland) is not having an easy time in dull Sepia-toned Kansas. Her aunt, uncle, and their farm hands don't listen to her when she tries to explain that the local grouchy old lady Mrs. Gulch (Hamilton) has threatened to take her beloved dog Toto away. To Dorothy's horror, they don't have a choice about letting him go when Gulch shows up with court orders. Toto escapes, and Dorothy runs away to save him. She's found by a traveling fortune teller (Frank Morgan) who encourages her to go home. She gets back just in time to run inside just as the farmhouse is hit by a tornado.

The twister lands her and Toto in the Technicolor land of Oz, where she's greeted by tiny little people called Munchkins. They're celebrating because her house landed on the Witch of the East, who had been persecuting them. Glinda, the pretty Witch of the North (Billie Burke), sends Dorothy along the Yellow Brick Road to ask the Wizard who rules Oz to help her find her way home. Along the way, she meets three familiar friends who join her on her journey, a goofy cowardly lion (Lahr) who wants courage, a wobbly scarecrow who wants brains (Bolger), and a very sentimental tin woodsman (Jack Haley) who wants a heart. They're dogged every step of the way by the nasty Witch of the West (Hamilton again).

The witch captures Dorothy when the Wizard sends them to her domain to get her broomstick. Dorothy doesn't really want to kill anyone, but she doesn't have a choice. She's not happy with what the Wizard turns out to be, either. He does offer her a ride home, but Dorothy misses the trip. It's Glinda who helps her see that she had the way home all along...and that no matter how far over the rainbow we go, home is never far from our hearts.

The Song and Dance: Making this movie was a long and arduous process, but it was absolutely worth it. The Sepia and Technicolor cinematography both glow with an incandescence that makes that rainbow pale. Everyone puts in fine performances; Garland won a special award for best child performer at the Oscars. Hamilton's green-faced witch has frightened generations of children with her fireballs and cackling voice. Bolger, Haley, and especially Lahr are delightful as Dorothy's beloved companions. The movie has one of the most famous scripts in film history, and probably some of the most quoted lines. ("People come and go so quickly here!" "There's no place like home!")

Favorite Number: Thank goodness Harburg insisted they keep "Over the Rainbow!" The executives thought it was too slow, but it really defines the whole movie, well before Dorothy hits Oz. Garland sang it frequently throughout her career, and it's still associated with her to this day. I've always enjoyed the three versions of "If I Only Had...," sung by each of Dorothy's friends when she meets them.

Trivia: There was originally supposed to be another number, "The Jitterbug," which had Dorothy and her friends being attacked by a bug sent by the Witch on the Yellow Brick Road. It was deemed extraneous and was deleted, along with reprises of "Over the Rainbow" and "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead." The footage for all three numbers is now lost, but the audio recordings survive and are frequently included as extras on DVDs and CD soundtracks.

What I Don't Like: Unfortunately, deleting the "Ding Dong" and "Rainbow" reprises does mean that there's no musical numbers in the last third of the film. The two songs might have added a little more meat to the second half. Some people today consider the basic message of never leaving home to be a bit on the dated side. And yeah, there are times, especially with the moving trees and the obvious painted backgrounds, where the older effects are pretty obvious.

The Big Finale: Not my all-time favorite musical, but I like it enough to understand why it's so beloved. I probably don't need to recommend this one to anybody. If you haven't seen it yet, do so, especially if you have young children.

Home Media:  Goes without saying that this one is pretty easy to find. While it's no longer an annual TV event, it turns up fairly frequently on Turner Classic Movies, and it's available on most formats.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime