Animation Celebration Extra - Shinbone Alley

Allied Artists, 1970

Voices of Carol Channing, Eddie Bracken, Alan Reed, and John Carradine

Directed by John David Wilson

Music by George Kleinsinger; Lyrics by Joe Darion

Cockroach poet Archy and his alley cat girlfriend Mehitabel go back to 1916, as comics by Don Francks in the New York Tribune spoofing city life in the 1910's and 20's. The comics remained popular in the 1950's, enough for a concept album based around the characters featuring Bracken, Channing, and David Wayne to be released in 1954. It was expanded for the stage in 1957, retaining Bracken as Archy and with Eartha Kitt replacing Channing as Mehitabel. Despite featuring some of the first stage work of Mel Brooks and the use of animal characters and an integrated cast, it was not a success, but the songs and the original stories retained enough fans for British animator Wilson to try them as an animated film. How well does he do bringing the trials and tribulations of two very different animal friends to life? Let's begin with a splash, and the voice of Archy (Bracken) as he jumps off a bridge, and find out...

The Story: Archy's suicide attempt ends with him being reincarnated as a cockroach. He's horrified by this at first, until he figures out how to write poetry by jumping on the keys of a reporter's (Byron Kane) typewriter and finds a muse in alley cat Mehitabel (Channing). He and Mehitabel become friends, despite her going off with tough tomcat Big Bill (Reed). Archy tries to convince her to get a better job after Bill drops her, but she just goes off with shady producer cat Tyrone T. Tattersall (Carradine) instead. 

Tattersall finally kicks her out when he's angry over her upstaging him by singing Romeo and Juliet. Mehitabel briefly ends up back with Big Bill, inspiring heartbroken Archy to lead the other bugs to a near-revolution. He eventually learns that Mehitabel has been abandoned with kittens and finally convinces her to take a respectable job as a house cat. Her children have a home, but she's bored, and Archy isn't allowed in the house. He takes up with decidedly unladylike ladybugs before he finally realizes that being a real friend means accepting your friends for what they are, bad choices and all. 

The Animation: The sketchy style is pretty common for animated films from this era. The characters move very well, and the backgrounds in particular are quite detailed, with its depictions of down-and-dirty New York in the 1910's from an animal's point of view. The animation is bumped up for the musical numbers. Archy's attempt to incite his fellow bugs to revolt against humankind is drawn in the sparer style of the original George Herriman artwork, indeed looking like a hand-drawn strip literally come to life.

The Song and Dance: Terrific performances anchor this odd adult animated musical. Bracken comes off better (and a lot less annoying) here than he ever did in live-action, especially screaming for bugs to riot in that revolution number! Channing more than matches him as the wild and fickle kitty who follows her heart - and her libido - first and her best friend a distance second. Alan Freed is so good as self-centered Bill, you'd barely recognize him as the long-time voice of Fred Flintstone. The animation is limited but occasionally gets fairly creative, as in that revolution sequence. And honestly, just the unique subject matter of a poetry-writing cockroach falling for a wild-living alley cat makes this more interesting than most animated films from this era.

The Songs: We open with "I Am Only a Poor Cockroach" as Archy explains his situation and how he ended up in a roach's body. Mehibital and her ladies sing "Come to Meeoww" as their introductory and the introduction to life as an alley cat. Big Bill and his buddies have more positive feelings about their home in the jaunty ragtime title song. "Archy's Philosophies" covers everything from the human race to poetry, which segways in to "The Moth Song" as he describes what happens to a moth when they do "the conventional thing" and play with fire. 

Mehitabel comes back after Bill drops her, determined as ever to say "Cheerio My Deario" and sing and dance her trouble away. Reunited, the two claim "Who Cares If We're Down and Out?" "Ah the Theater, the Theater" introduces Tyrone and shows him to be the fake we and Archy know him to be and Mehitabel doesn't want to believe he is. Her version of "Romeo and Juliet" is hilarious, singing her idea of the words and annoying Tyrone more and more.  

The background cat girl singers croon a "Lullaby for Mehitiabel's Kittens," even as the mother herself laments constantly having to sacrifice her career for children. "Blow Wind Out of the North" finally convinces her to take a real job and seek shelter for herself and her children. "The Lightning Bug Song" is another bittersweet Archy story, this one about a flashy lightning bug who got above his station. Mehitabel is used to the wild life and gets very tired of the constant "Here Pretty Pussy" from her new owners. Archy ends up dancing with "Ladybugs of the Evening" when he gets drunk after his best friend throws him out, reminding him that roaches aren't allowed in the house. Mehitabel reprises "Cheerio My Deerio" when she returns to Shinbone Alley with her buddy Archy, then goes into the finale reprise of the title song.

Trivia: As mentioned, the stage Shinbone Alley was even less of a success than the film, barely lasting three weeks. It was filmed for TV in 1960 under the Shinbone Alley title with Bracken and Tammy Grimes, but only audio survives. 

Director John David Wilson mostly did shorts in England. This would be his only feature.

What I Don't Like: No wonder this never seems to have worked as anything but a concept album. What audience did they intend this for again? The semi-cute animated bugs and their antics are for kids, but the subject matter - including two attempted suicides and kittens born out of wedlock to parents who don't want them - is decidedly adult. They couldn't figure it out in 1957 onstage or on film in 1970, and I doubt anyone could now. The songs are ok, not horrible, but nothing that memorable, and the animation leans heavily on the barely-moving sketchiness that was common in this time period. Not only that, but frankly, neither Archy nor Mehtiabel - or anyone they meet - are all that pleasant to begin with. 

The Big Finale: If you can talk your young teens into an animated film with singing animals or are intrigued by the cast or are familiar with the comics this is based on, the performances here are good enough to make this worth checking out at least once. 

Home Media: The DVD is in print, but is currently expensive. You might be better off looking for copies on YouTube or elsewhere. 

DVD

YouTube

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

Monogram/Allied Artists Productions, 1947

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

Directed by Roy Del Ruth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Blu-Ray

Tubi

Silver Skates

Monogram Pictures, 1943

Starring Belita, Kenny Baker, Patricia Morrison, and Irene Dare

Directed by Leslie Goodwins

Music by Dave Oppenheim; Lyrics by Roy Ingraham

By the early 40's, Sonja Henie was far from the only skater in Hollywood. The "B" studios seemed to have more luck finding their own European ice queens than the majors. This was the first vehicle for British ice skater Belita Jepson-Turner, whom Monogram wanted to build into a star after featuring her in the 1941 film Ice Capades. They also acquired child prodigy skater Irene Dare from RKO and singer Kenny Baker for this bit of backstage fluff about a singer who finds himself caught in a romantic triangle while trying to keep the star from leaving the show. How does all this look today? Let's begin on the ice, with said star Belita front and center, and find out...

The Story: Claire Thomas (Morrison) is the owner of an ice show that may shut down if she can't keep her star attraction Belita (herself) from leaving to get married. The show's singer Danny Donovan (Baker) has been proposing to her for months, but she's always let him down. She finally changes her mind when she needs to be married in order to adopt Katrina (Dare), a Dutch orphan and amazing skater. Trouble is, Danny is also courting Belita, who goes along with it in order to make her fiancee Tom (Henry Wadsworth) jealous. He proposes to Belita to keep her in the show, but he's also still engaged to Claire. Now he has to figure out whether to go with his heart, or what's good for the show.

The Song and Dance: I have to admit, I like Belita a lot more than Henie. She's just as charming off and on the ice and is a somewhat better actress. I don't think Henie could pull off the thrillers Belita appeared in a few years later. I wish she'd continued with these ice skating musicals. This was a lot of fun, with some lovely numbers for Belita and Dare. Frank Faylen also has a few good moments as one of the comics at the show who is in pursuit of skater Lucille (Joyce Compton), and there's European comics Frick and Frack literally kicking the producer Claire invited to see the show out.

Favorite Number: We open with the Beaux Arts Ball number "Lovely Lady." Baker sings the dreamy ballad before skaters in gorgeous gowns glide across the ice. 1941 male skating champion Gene Turner gets a solo in a tux before Belita joins him. Katrina gets a brief but very cute dream in which she skates across a lake in the peasant costumes of her native Holland, with chorus children in equally sweet costumes joining her. Katrina is more taken by boy skater Billy Baxter (Danny Shaw) doing rope tricks and skating under legs in the cowboy chorus number "Cowboy Joe of Carnegie, MO." 

Frick and Frack show off more of their antics with chorus girls in lederhosen as they hear "Calling From the Mountain," and end up sliding down it. Danny reminds Claire that "A Girl Like You, a Boy Like Me" ought to get married in a sweet off-ice ballad in the office that ends with them admiring miniatures of a house and a laundry scene. Katrina and Billy are the cutest couple on the ice in a short instrumental number while Danny is trying to keep Belita in the show. Katrina is also the world's cutest Inuit princess when she's "Dancing On Top of the World" with the chorus in glitter and feathers and a real (and really adorable) little penguin. 

"Love Is a Beautiful Song" begins with Baker crooning the ballad to Belita, but it quickly turns into an elegant Fred-and-Ginger duet on ice when she joins Gene Turner in a tux, and they glide and spin together. Oddly, though they're listed in the playbill we see someone opening, Billy and Katrina don't appear in the big patriotic finale "Sing a Song of the Sea." (I wonder if their sequence was cut for time?) Belita and Turner do get big solos in this sailor-themed number set on a rather claustrophobic battleship that also includes "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean." 

What I Don't Like: Though Monogram spent more money on this than usual for their movies, this is still a fluffy B movie from World War II. The sets frequently look like the cardboard they are, especially that rather silly igloo in Katrina's "Dancing On Top of the World" routine. The plot is piffle, the songs forgettable. Morrison could do a lot more than one number and turn down Baker's proposals. Baker is annoying and not too bright for leading the ladies on when he's not singing. Wish we could have seen more of the kids, too. Other than their numbers, they pretty much disappear during the second half (and as mentioned, don't appear at all in the finale). 

The Big Finale: This and Belita's other big full ice musical Lady, Let's Dance are highly recommended for fans of figure skating, Belita, or 40's musicals.

Home Media: Seems to be streaming only at the moment. Amazon Prime has it for free with a subscription.

Amazon Prime

Swing Parade of 1946

Monogram Pictures, 1946

Starring Gale Storm, The Three Stooges (Moe and Curly Howard and Larry Fine), Phil Regan, and Edward Brophy

Directed by Phil Karlson

Music and Lyrics by various

Jukebox musicals go back much further than most people realize. Many very early stage musicals had songs culled from the popular hits of the day. As late as the early 30's, musical comedies on stage, even ones that weren't revues, often tended to be jumbles of whatever hit songs the producers could get their hands on. The situation was changing in New York by the 1940's as more composers followed Rogers and Hammerstein's lead and wrote all of the music for the whole show, but the Poverty Row studios frequently couldn't afford this route. 

Monogram did manage to get popular radio singer Storm and borrowed the Three Stooges from Columbia for what is a relatively lavish affair for them. How does the story of a singer who finds herself mixed up with a new nightclub and three very goofy waiters look today? Let's begin with Carol Lawrence (Storm), the young lady in question, as she's being evicted from her apartment for not paying the rent and find out...

The Story: Carol goes to millionaire Daniel Warren (Russell Hicks) for a secretarial job. He ends up hiring her to deliver an eviction notice to his son Danny Warren Jr. (Regan) that would close the nightclub he's been working on. Warren Sr. wants his son to join him in the family business. Gale is first hauled off by the three dishwashers (The Three Stooges) Danny hired, then faints from hunger. 

After she realizes how kind they've all been to her and that Danny never touched her, she agrees to audition as a singer. She passes...but she still hasn't served that eviction notice. Daniel Sr. goes to the club to find out what's going on, but after the Stooges throw him out, he's more convinced than ever that his son needs to close down and come home. Wealthy patron Marie Finch (Mary Treen) is the one who finally gets through to him and makes him understand that there's no harm in going out and having a little fun once in a while.

The Song and Dance: This was much better than I figured it would be from the low-budget pedigree. Storm is reasonably charming. Brophy plays it to the hilt as the stage manager determined to keep the Stooges in line and process servers out, while Treen runs with her rare chance to portray a relatively sophisticated lady instead of a maid or secretary. Curly Howard is a bit peppier and like his old self here than he was in the shorts the Stooges made at Columbia around this time, maybe because they aren't the whole show. Monogram even brought in a couple of real hit bands and singers, including Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five and Connie Boswell. 

Favorite Number: We don't get our first real number until almost 15 minutes in, but it's Storm singing "Oh Brother" at the audition. Almost all of the other songs are performed at the nightclub. Boswell ladles her throbbing contralto into "Stormy Weather" twice, in her solo performance and in the big finale. Louis Jordan and his boys are really glowing when their instruments light up for "Don't Worry 'Bout That Mule." They have the hit "Caldonia" earlier. 

"On the Sunny Side of the Street" turns into one of the show's big numbers, with dancers swinging in glittery star-trimmed costumes as they swing around Storm. Treen gets to join Will Osborne and His Orchestra to remind Carol and Danny that "A Tender Word Will Mend It All" and "Just a Little Fond Affection" will do their relationship a world of good. Danny's big ballad is "Small World." He finally joins Carol for "After All This Time" in the finale.

Trivia: There's a colorized version (which is what I watched). 

Rifftrax did a show around this as Swing Parade. 

What I Don't Like: Many Stooge fans aren't really big on this film and wish they had more to do besides chasing Storm off a few times. I wish Regan was as much fun as them. He's about as interesting as the cardboard nightclub sets. Obviously, this isn't for someone who wants a stronger story. It's also not for those who aren't fans of the Stooges or the big band and swing music of the 30's and 40's. 

The Big Finale: Fun time-waster if you're a big Stooge fan or really love big band and swing music. 

Home Media: On DVD from the Warner Archives. It can currently be found streaming for free on Tubi.

DVD

Tubi

Lady, Let's Dance!

Monogram Pictures, 1944

Starring Belita, James Ellison, Walter Catlett, and Lucien Littlefield

Directed by Frank Woodruff

Music and Lyrics by various

Lower-budget studios seemed to have more luck finding their own European ice queens. Monogram started out as three B-studios in the late 20's and early 30's, Sono Art-World Wide, Allied, and Rayart. These merged in 1933 to form one of the busiest "minor" studios in Hollywood. They became part of Republic for a while in 1935, but broke off again in 1937. By 1944, they were one of the top "B" studios in Hollywood, mostly specializing in action and comedy series and moody but inexpensive film noir. Belita was a British figure skater who came over to appear in their 1941 Ice Capades musical. By 1944, they were ready to build her up as a major musical star and their answer to Henie. How well does her multi-faceted showcase come off today? Let's begin at a hot springs resort in California and find out...

The Story: Jerry Gibson (Ellison) needs a new dancer for the resort's theater after one of them left to get married. Stuffy manager Mr. Snodgrass (Littlefield) and the resort's robust cowboy-loving owner Timber Applegate (Catlett) find her in Belita (Belita), a refugee waitress who literally stumbles into their office. After learning she was once a champion skater and dancer in Holland, they sign her up as the new partner for dancer Manuelo (Maurice St. Clair). 

She goes over so well there, two producers of an ice show in Chicago spot her and want her to appear in their show. She's not willing to go at first, as she's fallen for Jerry, but he pushes her into going. Her skating routines are such a hit, she's even able to bring over the two chefs from the resort kitchen to fill in as a comic ice skating pair. Snodgrass is angry at Jerry for letting her go and fires him. He looks for work at other resorts, but ends up getting drafted. Belita just wants him back...but it takes intervention from Timber to bring the two together again.

The Song and Dance: This is surprisingly good for a B-level ice skating musical. Belita does have charm, and even pulls off the dramatic moments later in the film well enough. She's also a wonderful skater - check out her big Liberty number in the end, with its impressive jumps and spins. She's so good, it's the one time a figure skating film ended on a solo perfomer, no chorus routines or pageantry, and it really works. European comic ice skating duo Frick and Frack have some decent moments in their numbers towards the end. Catlett and Littlefield also come off fairly well as the western-loving resort owner and snobbish hotel manager. The music's also pretty decent for a B film. "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams" got nominated for an Oscar.

Favorite Number: Oddly, the movie doesn't open with Belita at all, but a series of bathing beauties doing a Busby Berkeley-esque water ballet in the hotel swimming pool. They're actually not bad, a foreshadowing of what Berkeley and others would do with Esther Williams' swimming vehicles starting later in 1944. 

Our first instrumental dance number comes via Henry Busse and His Orchestra. Belita and Manuelo perform a lively rhumba in their street clothes. It goes over so well, it gets her the job. That leads to "Salamente una Vez," the ballroom routine where Belita makes her debut. She and Manuelo do even better here, especially with her swirling floral skirts and his death defying lifts and swinging her around in the end. Once she makes it into the big show, her first number is "The Snow Queen Ballet." She and the dancers perform their leaps and pirouettes in brief ruffly costumes that admittedly say "snow" less than "off-rack at a strip joint costume closet." 

The skating routines are surprisingly lavish for a Poverty Row film. The lovely "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams" is a pair routine for her and a male skater. It's elegant and flowing as the song itself. "Days of the Beau Brummel" is the Currier and Ives 1890's skating routine, with everyone in period dress and Frick and Frack wowing the crowds as an elderly man and a skating instructor. The duo return for an instrumental Swiss-themed number with the chorus, this time playing drunks. The title song is the men-in-tuxes chorus routine, with Belita not only skating with them, but tap-dancing on ice skates, too. As mentioned, the film ends with her genuinely stirring "Victory" solo routine in front of a massive cardboard Statue of Liberty.

What I Don't Like: First of all, Ellison may be handsome, but he lacks Belvita's charm and can often come off as a jerk rather than a well-meaning promoter. The two have absolutely no chemistry, making her search for him feel more like an afterthought. Yeah, the melodramatic plot isn't always the best, either. They're not helped by dialogue that's stiffer than the ice Belita skates on. There's also times when this being a Poverty Row quickie comes to the fore, like that finale with the cardboard Lady Liberty and just Belita skating. Her skating is great, but the set's slightly chintzy. 

The Big Finale: This wound up being a major surprise. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did! Highly recommended for figure skating fans, fans of Belita or Catlett, or those looking for a somewhat lower-key skating fest.

Home Media: DVD only via the Warner Archives.

DVD

Back to School Again Double Feature - All-American Co-Ed & Let's Go Collegiate

Having done a big-budget extravaganza, we go to the opposite extreme with these low-budget tuners. Monogram Studios was one of the infamous "Poverty Row" B-movie specialists who churned out hour-long filler as the second half of double bills from the 20's through the 50's. United Artists released films from independent producers like Hal Roach. They did make occasional forays into musicals, often featuring popular bands or singers who were mostly used as cameos in A-list films. This is one of Monogram's earliest forays into movies for the brand-new teen market. Hal Roach went the radio route and recruited popular recording artist and radio star Frances Langford for their school story. How different - and similar - are these tales of higher learning over 70 years ago? Let's begin at Quinceton College with a line of very unique, er, ladies, and find out...

All-American Co-Ed

United Artists/Hal Roach Pictures, 1941

Starring Frances Langford, Johnny Downs, Noah Beery Jr, and Marjorie Woodworth

Directed by LeRoy Prinz

Music and Lyrics by various

The Story: Quniceton's all-male revue in drag attracts the attention of dean of all-girl's agricultural college Mar Brynn Hap Holden (Harry Langdon). He suggests to Matilda Collinge (Esther Dale), the school's president, that she bump up her failing school by giving scholarships to the winners of pageants with the names of produce and showcase them at their upcoming Fall Festival. He and her niece Virginia (Langford) convince her to make fun of Quinceton's Zeta fraternity as "the least likely to succeed" and ban them from campus. In revenge, the Zeta president Bob Sheppard (Johnny Downs) dresses in drag and enters the contest...but he never expected to fall for Virginia...

The Song and Dance: Decent music and a few funny performances highlight this battle of the sexes. I also love the costumes at the actual pageant that makes the ladies look like the fruits and vegetables they represent. Downs in particular is hilarious as the young man trying to navigate in an all-woman's world, including getting into a girdle. And at least they're honest about how little this resembles actual college life, even adding it as a disclaimer in the opening. This is also one of the few college movies I know of that doesn't revolve around sports or a big dance. The Fall Festival and pageant more-or-less replace both.

Favorite Number: We open with long lines of legs under the credits...until Downs comes out to reveal that those "legs" belong to attractive guys! He sings "I've Got a Chip On My Shoulder" dolled up in an incredible long gown and wig. Langford does a more traditional version later at Mar Brynn. She also gets the sole ballad, the Oscar-nominated "Out of the Silence." Downs in drag and the Tanner Sisters join Langford for the very funny "Up at the Crack of Dawn." The film ends with the girls singing the tale of "The Farmer's Daughter" in nifty overalls and gingham costumes at the pageant. 

Trivia: This is the only film directed by long-time Warner Bros choreographer LeRoy Prinz.

What I Don't Like: The story may be relatively original for collegiate musicals, but it's also pretty silly, even for collegiate musicals. Two colleges get into a pranking war that involves a guy running around in drag? Most of the supporting cast, including silent comedian Langdon and Alan Hale Jr. and Noah Beery Jr. as jocks pursuing Downs, are saddled with dull material or don't have that much to do. It's also marred by a few black stereotype jokes with a porter (Dudley Dickerson) near the end. 

The Big Finale: The not-bad numbers alone makes this worth checking out for fans of Langford or the music of the 30's and 40's. 

Home Media: It's in the public domain, so it can pretty much be found anywhere, including streaming for free on Tubi and Pluto TV.

DVD

Pluto TV On Demand

Tubi

Let's Go Collegiate

Monogram Pictures, 1941

Starring Frankie Darro, Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran, and Frank Sully

Directed by Jean Yarbrough

Music by Edward Kay; Lyrics by Harry Tobias

The Story: Frankie (Darro) and Tad (Moran) are members of Rawley College's rowing crew who eagerly await the arrival of star rower Bob Terry. When they learn Terry's been drafted, they desperately recruit truck driver Hercules "Herk" Bevans (Sully) to pose as Terry. It works for the party their girlfriends Bess (Jones) and Midge (Gale Storm) hold for Terry, but Bevans gets terribly seasick and hasn't had a high school class in years. The boys bring him seasickness pills and put their own academic careers on the line to help tutor him. Despite this, he ends up very popular with the kids on campus. Bess and Midge even get "engaged" to him at the same time. As it turns out, not only does Bevans have a criminal background, but Frankie may risk losing the big Regatta  

The Song and Dance: Once again, we're offered a nice variation on some school movie tropes. I don't think I've ever seen another college movie that revolves around rowing. Rawley is also a surprisingly diverse campus for 1941, with Asian Keye Luke prominent as Tad and Frankie's good friend and the assistant for Coach Walsh (Barton Yarbourough) Buck Wing (and not played for stereotypes) and African-American driver Mantan Moreland basically considered to be one of the gang. Look for Frank Faylen of It's a Wonderful Life as one of the men who eventually call Bevans out as a crook. 

Favorite Number: Storm does get into the bouncy uptempo ballad "Look What You've Done to Me" with Moran's band at the party to introduce "Terry." Jones and Moran join Moreland and sassy maid Marguerite Whitten for "Let's Do a Little Dreamin'." 

What I Don't Like: This movie has the (slightly) stronger story, but the music is limited to three dull band numbers shoehorned in to give Moran's orchestra something to do. Darro still looks too old to be playing college kids, though the rest of the cast is more passable. Some of Moreland's stereotypical lines are pretty wince-inducing today, especially compared to how well Luke is treated. And considering Bevans is neither attractive, nor an especially pleasant character, the entire side plot with how both girls dump their boys to marry him comes off as ridiculous rather than romantic. 

The Big Finale: I mildly recommend Co-Ed over this for the better music and cast, but they're both enjoyable enough time-wasters for fans of 40's musicals or people looking for something fluffy and fun to watch on streaming. 

Home Media: Though it's also in the public domain, streaming seems to be your best bet for this one. It's free with a subscription to Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime

Junior Prom

Monogram Pictures, 1946

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

Directed by Arthur Dreifuss

Music and Lyrics by various

From 1946 to 1948, B movie specialists Monogram Pictures churned out The Teen-Agers, a series of hour-long musicals revolving around a group of typical swing-loving high schoolers (and later, college students) of the time. This was the first, and is probably the best-known today. Teenagers had started to come into their own as early as the 1920's; by the end of the war years, they had their own language, culture, and world view. The newfound prosperity of the late 40's and 50's suddenly gave them more money to spend, and companies responded with literature, clothing, beauty products, and even movies designed just for them. This is one of the earliest responses to that new culture. Does it still win the vote today, or should it thrown out of the race? Let's begin in music class, where a couple of hep cats are getting bored with opera and its crazy plots, and find out...

The Story:  Freddie Trimball (Stewart) is so upset when a local businessman says he'll withdraw his funding if his son Jimmy Forest (Jackie Moran) doesn't become student body president, he drops out of the race. Freddie rethinks his stance and throws his hat back in the ring when he overhears the cocky Jimmy trying to ask his girlfriend Dodie (Preissler) to the big Junior Prom at the Teen Canteen. Jimmy's campaign manager Roy Dunn (Frankie Darro) courts Dodie's sister Betty (Neill), the head of the school newspaper, and convinces her to write articles in favor of Jimmy. This starts trouble not only between Betty and her sisters, but between the two candidates, too. Now Betty has to decide where her heart lays, before the competition gets too hot for the school to handle.

The Song and Dance: They may not be actual "teen-agers," but there's still a talented core cast around this goofy school tale. Preissler shows off the same knack for comedy and amazingly limber dance moves she displayed in the first two Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movies at MGM, Stewart has a gorgeous voice (he was originally a singer), and Neill is just as feisty here as she would be a decade later playing a more famous reporter, Lois Lane, in The Adventures of Superman. 

Favorite Number: We open in music class, as the kids give their teacher a hard time about the plots of opera being unbelievable. They'd rather listen to Harry "The Hipster" Gibson "Keep That Beat" and teach them how to swing dance. Freddie and the Clark sisters extoll "Trimbull for President" with their supporters to drown out Jimmy's speech. The kids' record of Eddie Heywood and his orchestra performing "Loch Lamond" turns into what amounts to a video of the real orchestra performing the number. Freddie shows off his singing pipes with "All of a Sudden My Heart Sings" at the Prom. The film ends with a nifty swing dance routine as the kids sing about what happens at the "Teen Canteen."

What I Don't Like: First and foremost, teens have changed a great deal in the past 70 years. Sure, they still chatter away on cell phones, get involved in school elections, and drool over crushes, but most real teens probably would have seen this as somewhere between corny and insulting then, let alone now. Second, none of the actors are actually teens. Granted, most of them can still pass for younger, but Darro's pushing 30 and looks it. Third, this is a low-budget production. It's as fluffy as you can get for a "teen pic," with cheap sets and a silly plot. It's not for someone seeking a darker take on teen life in the 40's or something bigger or higher-budgeted.

The Big Finale: Recommended for some catchy numbers alone if you enjoy the B-films of the 1930's and 40's or swing music. 

Home Media: Not on DVD at press time, but can be easily found on streaming. Tubi has it for free with ads. 

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