Beware! (1946)

Astor Pictures, 1946

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

Directed by Bud Pollard

Music and Lyrics by various

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tubi

Hollywood Hotel

Warner Bros, 1937

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

Directed by Busby Berkeley

Music by Johnny Mercer; Lyrics by Richard A. Whiting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - Something to Sing About

Grand National Pictures, 1937

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

Directed by Victor Schertzinger

Music and Lyrics by Victor Schlesinger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DVD

Tubi

The Stork Club

Paramount, 1945

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

Directed by Hal Walker

Music and Lyrics by various

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DVD

Tubi

The Five Pennies

Paramount, 1959

Starring Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, and Harry Guardino

Directed by Melville Shavelson

Music and Lyrics by various

Our next big band leader may not have had the lengthy career that Goodman did, but he frankly had the more interesting story. Red Nichols began playing in his father's brass band at 12 before falling in love with early Dixieland recordings. By the early 20's, he'd joined bands in the Midwest, then moved out to New York. His own band was hugely popular...but first the hot jazz he loved was replaced by swing, then his beloved daughter came down with polio, and he left show business to help take care of her. His comeback in the early 50's made him a hit all over again. 

Danny Kaye was also trying for a comeback after his last three films hadn't done well at the box office. How well does his manic style work with Nichols' hot jazz? Let's start at a speakeasy in New York as Nichols (Kaye) brings his date Willa "Bobbie" Stutsman (Bel Geddes) to hear Louis Armstrong (himself) play and find out...

The Story: Nichols works with crooner Will Paradise (Bob Crosby) and his band, but he makes jokes about their softer style. He starts a band with his buddies Jimmy Dorsey (Ray Anthony), Glenn Miller (Ray Daley), Artie Schutt (Bobby Troup), and Dave Tough (Shelly Manne) that he calls The Five Pennies. They tour the United States and become wildly popular, especially among jazz-loving college students. 

He marries Bobbie, the band's singer, and they have a daughter, Dorothy (Susan Gordon). Dorothy is the darling of every musician in her father's band, until she contracts polio. Nichols gives up the band to settle in Los Angeles and help Bobbie take care of her. As World War II rages, he takes a job in the West Coast shipyards. Years later, the now-teenaged Dorothy (Tuesday Weld) hears his music and is shocked at how good he is. He claims he's no good anymore, but his wife and daughter know better. If Dorothy can walk at least somewhat well, her father can reclaim his place among the jazz greats.

The Song and Dance: This ended up being very sweet. I love how believable manic, goofy Kaye and warm, down-to-earth Bel Geddes are as a couple. Their up and down relationship is one of the best things about this movie, especially the first half, when they're still on the road. Kaye also works well with Gordon and Weld, and doesn't do too badly later either when he thinks he can never play again. 

The cameos here are pretty cool, too. Bob Crosby was a famous bandleader in his own right, Ray Anthony was an actual trumpeter, and Bobby Troup was a musician and songwriter. Honestly, the movie's worth seeing just for Kaye's delightful two numbers with Louis Armstrong. There's also the gorgeous (and for once, relatively period-accurate) costumes and sets. They and the sound were Oscar-nominated. 

Favorite Number: We open with three early songs turned into jazz hits by Louis Armstrong and his band at the speakeasy. Bel Geddes tries to get Kaye to move along with "Ja-Da," After they've joined their friend Tony Valani (Guardino) and his date at a table, Armstrong moves into "After You've Gone" and "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?" He doesn't think Nichols can play, but the younger man shows him otherwise with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Crosby croons "My Blue Heaven" as Nichols rehearses with his band, but Nichols finds his crooning absurd and makes fun of it. Nichols is far happier singing his own "The Five Pennies" to Dorothy. Bobbie (dubbed by Eileen Wilson) sings it again for her husband in the finale, when he also reprises "Battle Hymm."

Kaye joins the real Red Nichols for three very odd variations on "Back Home Again In Indiana" as he moves to different radio shows with very different sponsors and their national stereotypes! After the band becomes popular, we head to one of the college dances they would perform at and hear "Runnin' Wild" and "Washington and Lee Swing." Nichols is a little bit more worried about his wife bouncing around with the kids to "Follow the Leader" after he finds out she's pregnant! 

We see them take baby Susan on the road, singing "Lullaby In Ragtime" to calm the crying baby. Susan, now about 6, joins her father for "The Music Goes 'Round and 'Round" as he teaches her about his coronet. Hoping to get her to sleep, her father takes her to see Louis Armstrong. This turns into the delightful "When the Saints Go Marching In," with hilarious new lyrics written by Kaye's wife Sylvia Fine. The only way poor Susan can hear her parents at Christmas is to listen to her father sing "Jingle Bells" on the radio. Her father cheers up the children in her hospital room with the comic German novelty "Schnizelbank."

Trivia: That was the real Red Nichols playing his solos in the film. Nichols' comeback was, indeed, a success. He would continue to play venues across the US with his newly-formed orchestra until his death in 1965. 

Nichols' wild Charleston with the dancer (Lizanne Truex) in the opening wasn't scripted. She was only supposed to dance. He grabbed her and joined in. Shavelson liked it so much, he kept it in.

Keep an eye out for the quick cameo by Bob Hope - and the joke Nichols makes about him - as he and his wife and daughter wait to enter The Brown Derby Restaurant. 

Silent and early sound actress Blanche Sweet's last movie (she was the headmistress of the boarding school in the Christmas sequence). Danny Kaye's last film musical. 

What I Don't Like: This is about as sentimental as you can get, especially in the second half, after Susan contracts polio. Though the plot gets a lot closer to the truth than The Benny Goodman Story, it's still a huge pile of biographical cliches. Red played in a lot more bands before he formed his own. After swing supplanted hot jazz, he played in a lot of stage show orchestras and pit bands, which you don't really see. Willa was a dancer and chorus girl, not a singer, when she married Nichols. 

The Big Finale: This is a warm and loving look at a jazz legend who deserves to be better-known. Highly recommended for fans of Kaye or jazz. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

The Benny Goodman Story

Universal-International, 1956

Starring Steve Allen, Donna Reed, Berta Gersten, and Herbert Anderson

Directed by Valentine Davies

Music and Lyrics by Benny Goodman and others

This week, we're jumping into that big band sound with biographies of two influential band leaders. The Glenn Miller Story was a huge hit for Universal in 1954 and proved, despite rapidly changing taste in music, there was still an audience for big band movies. Allen was influential in his own right. An accomplished comedian and pianist, he wrote thousands of songs, recorded hundreds more, and wrote novels, children's books, and essays. Today, he's best-known for his TV work, and in fact, was hosting the original The Tonight Show and about to star in his first of many prime-time variety shows. How well does he do playing another famous musician, the "King of Swing" who anchored one of the most beloved orchestras of his day? Let's begin at Chicago in 1919 and find out...

The Story: Benny Goodman (Allen) starts playing the clarinet for music teachers when he's 10. By the time he's 17, he's traveling with Ben Pollock (Himself) and his band. Near the end of the 20's, he breaks out and forms his own band. Though it's not successful at first, he does meet wealthy jazz lover John Hammond (Anderson) and his sister Alice (Reed). They invite him to their home, where he impresses Alice by playing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto.

Benny courts her, but she's considered too high-brow for him. His mother (Gertson) wishes he'd find someone closer to his station. Meanwhile, his swinging sound has slowly become wildly popular, especially on the West Coast. Now, his band is doing extensive touring, have their own radio show, and will even be appearing in a movie. Even as he prepares to appear at Carnegie Hall, he still has Alice on his mind. Alice for her part is ready to concede, not only to her feelings about Benny, but to the fact that brassy American jazz can be as powerful and heartfelt as European classical concertos.

The Song and Dance: The real reason to see this is the wide variety of cameos from jazz and big band greats whom Goodman actually worked with. That's the real Ben Pollack he plays for, and the real Gene Krupa, Lionel Hampton, and Teddy Wilson performing in his band. One thing that's not often brought up about Goodman that many people would appreciate more nowadays is his racially integrated band. Though it's not heavily discussed in the film, just seeing black and white musicians playing together at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was picking up steam and most bands were still segregated - and black and white artists get equal respect for their music - is revelatory. 

Favorite Number: We open with Goodman's first attempt at playing the clarinet (and the only time we actually hear Steve Allen playing). Soon enough, he's so good, he joins Pollock's band for "By the Beautiful Sea" during a cruise gig...but it's the black band playing "King Porter Stomp" he really loves. His own band starts off with "Original Dixieland One-Step." Alice is impressed with how Goodman manages to tamp down the jazz and do an excellent "Clarinet Concerto" at her brother's home. "Stompin' at the Savoy" becomes a literal stomp when the teens listening get so into it, they start dancing in the aisles. One even grabs a bewildered Alice for a dance! We hear Wilson do "On the Sunny Side of the Street," while Krupa and Harry James go to town on "Sing, Sing, Sing" and James solos on "Shine." 

The last 20 minutes of the film is given over to that famous Carnegie Hall concert. Among the songs heard here, much as they were in the actual concert, are "Sensation Rag," "Avalon," "Don't Be That Way," and "And the Angels Sing."

Trivia: Unlike Glenn Miller, Goodman was still very much alive and active when this film was made. After his band dissolved in 1944, he segwayed into smaller bands and experimented with be-bop and classical. He continued with large and small bands until shortly before his death in 1986. 

Goodson plays all the clarinet solos heard in the movie. The only time beginner Allen actually played was in the first scene, where the young Goodman plays the clarinet for the first time.

What I Don't Like: Despite the wonderful music heard here, everything else is a snore. Though Allen does resemble Goodman, he's otherwise nothing like the reputedly temperamental and hot-headed band leader. The story is cliched to the max, and not only barely touches on many real details of Goodson's life, pretty much whitewashes everything but the racial aspect. Alice, for instance, had already been married and had children before she married Goodson, which isn't mentioned. Reed does what she can with a dull and thankless role. And as with most so-called "historical" musicals of the 40's and 50's set in the recent past, there's no attempt at historical accuracy after the first 20 minutes. Once they get into the late 20's, it looks like 1954 for the rest of the movie. 

The Big Finale: Terrific music aside, I found this to be overwhelmingly dull. Unless you're a huge fan of Allen, Reed, Goodman, or the musicians involved, you're better off looking up Goodman's real recordings and passing on this one. 

Home Media: DVD only at the moment. 

DVD

Cult Flops - The Color Purple (2023)

Warner Bros, 2023

Starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Colman Domingo

Directed by Blitz Bazawule

Music and Lyrics by various

Few female characters on stage or in literature go through a more traumatic transformation than the three women in our next review. Alice Walker's decades-spanning epic about an abused black woman who eventually takes control of her life won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. Steven Spielberg directed the Oscar-winning non-musical film version in 1985, with Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in star-making roles as Ceile and Sofia. The Broadway musical debuted in 2005; it and a 2015 revival did so well, it began talk of returning the story to film. How well does the musical retelling of Miss Celie and her heartbreaking life come off? Let's begin with the young Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and her sister Nettie (Halle Berry) singing a hand-clapping game in a tree and find out...

The Story: By the time she's playing with Nettie in the tree, Celie has already had one child by her brutal father Alfonso Harris (Deon Cole) and is pregnant with another. Alfonso gives both children away, then forces her to wed local farmer Albert "Mister" Johnson (Domingo). Nettie tries to follow after her father attacks her too, but Mister drives her off. The two sisters swear they'll write as often as they can.

In 1917, Alfonso's grown son Harpo (Corey Hawkins) marries no-nonsense Sofia (Brooks). He builds them a house in the swamp, but ends up turning it into a juke joint. Everyone is excited when singer Shug Avery (Henson) returns to town. She thrills Celie (Barrino), who falls hard for her. Sofia's not as happy with Harpo having taken a mistress, diminutive Mary "Squeak" Agnes (H.E.R), and ends up starting a fight with her on the night of Shrug's debut. Shug finds a letter from Nettie, who now lives with a missionary in Africa and is taking care of Celie's children. They find others Mister hid in the house.

Sofia runs into trouble during the start of the Great Depression when she gets into a fight over not wanting to work for the Mayor's wife (Elizabeth Marvel). She ends up in jail and is forced to work for her anyway. Meanwhile, Ceile has had enough of Mister abusing her and cheating on her. She finally calls him on it during Easter 1943 and leaves him with Shug and her husband Grady (Jon Batiste) to Memphis. After she inherits her late father's shop, she turns it into a store for women's pants and hires Sofia, Shug, and Mary Agnes to work there. Mister,  now a worthless drunk with a failing farm, finally decides it's time to make amends with his wife by bringing her and her long-lost sister and children back together.

The Song and Dance: Henson, Barrino, and Harris dance off with the film as the central trio who fight, feud, take abuse, and ultimately triumph. Harris got an Oscar nomination as the spitfire who loses her vivacity after ending up in jail, but finds her spirit again when Celie stands up to Mister. Berry's nearly as good in the early goings as the stronger sister who doesn't put up with the abuse Celie does. Pitch-perfect period costumes and gorgeous cinematography with some great touches that aptly show how the ladies and their lives change with the times. I also love how well they manage to make the two different musical approaches - the characters singing in normal time and in their heads - work together. Fatima Robinson's choreography brings life to a vibrant all-black community in the many ensembles. 

Favorite Number: We open with the girls' hand-clapping routine in the tree, "Huckleberry Pie." Everyone in town talks about the lord's "Mysterious Ways" as Celie looks forward to the birth of her second child. Celie dances with women doing wash in her mind as she admits that "She Be Mine," and her sister is all she has. Nettie and Celie admit that they have to "Keep It Movin'." Harpo's proud to be "Workin'" on his new home, even if his father just thinks it's noise. 

Sofia says "Hell No!" when Harpo tries abusing her...and says it again when the Mayor's wife wants her to be a maid. The entire town is excited about the arrival of singer "Shug Avery," especially Mister. Celie isn't as thrilled about her being in her home at first. She explains her feelings on religion in "Dear God - Shug." Shug's big number at the juke joint is "Push De Button." Celie imagines them singing "What About Love?" in an art deco fantasy on top of Shug's gramophone, complete with dance and kiss. 

"Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)" was written for the 1985 film; here, it's Shug's number for Celie on her birthday in Memphis. "Miss Celie's Pants" has all the ladies' feet tapping as they make the title garments and happily run their shop together. "I'm Here" says Celie triumphantly after she's able to turn down Mister when he tries to get back in her life. Shug finally returns to her father Reverend Avery (David Alan Grier) as they admit "Maybe God Is Tryin' To Tell You Something." We end with the title song as Celie is reunited with her entire family at a picnic and everyone rejoices that they're all together and happy at last.

Trivia: The Broadway show wasn't popular with critics in 2005, who found it lumbering and watered-down. It managed to be a huge hit anyway, running for over three years. A well-received off-West End limited run in 2013 led to it returning to Broadway in 2015. The revival was almost as big of a hit, this time with audiences and critics. It ran for two years and picked up a Best Revival Tony and Tonys for its Celie, Cynthia Erivo.

Danielle Brooks also played Sofia in the revival and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She got a Best Supporting Oscar nomination as well, the only Oscar nod the film received. Fantasia Barrio played Celie in the original 2005 production, having taken over from original Celie LaChanze. 

Feature film debut of H.E.R. 

What I Don't Like: All of the joyful, upbeat chorus numbers can't mask that this is one of the darkest recent musicals. Once again, if you're looking for something fluffy and light, this is not going to be your show. Like the book and original film, it's also very women-oriented. Men generally do not come off well here. Most of them are jerks, abusive, violent, ignorant, or some combination of the above. I have the feeling from some of the reviews online that a lot of people, particularly those who aren't fans of musicals to begin with, found those light jazz numbers to be out of place with the extremely downbeat drama. 

The Big Finale: First of all, I'm going to admit this is my first encounter with this material. I have neither seen the 1985 movie, nor read the book. That said, I did enjoy it. The up-and-down tone is overcome by a terrific production and fabulous performances. See this on its own terms for the ladies and the great numbers.

Home Media: As a brand-new title, this is easily found in all formats.

DVD

Blu-Ray

4K

Amazon Prime

Hi-De-Ho (1947)

All-American Entertainment, 1947

Starring Cab Calloway, Ida James, Jeni Le Gon, and William Campbell

Directed by Josh Binney

Music and Lyrics by Cab Calloway and others

Cab Calloway's career went back to the late 20's, when he got started playing at night clubs and cafes in Chicago. His band eventually moved to New York in 1929, where they were a hit in Harlem show spots like the Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club. Calloway became the first African-American to have his own radio show, and one of the first to lend his voice to cartoons. He appeared in small roles in movies like The Singing Kid with Al Jolson and larger ones in short subjects with his name on the title. He even released a dictionary of "jive" in three versions. By 1947, however, his gambling and bad financial decisions had caught up with him, which is likely the reason for his starring in this smaller independent B musical. Is it worthy of "Minnie the Moocher," or should it be left standing at the club? Let's begin with Calloway (himself) and his girl Minnie (Le Gon) and find out...

The Story: Minnie is furious when Calloway hires Nellie (James), a female manager, to help him get his band going. Nellie's doing good things for him, including getting him and his eight-man band booked into a brand new club. Minnie would rather he focused on her and spent a lot less time with his very pretty manager. She goes to local gangster Boss Mason (George Wiltshire) and his hit man Mo the Mouse (James Dunmore) to eliminate Cab, while she tries to head off Nellie. As it turns out, Minnie is wrong about Cab and his feelings for Nellie, but she may be too late to fend off Mo before tragedy strikes.

The Song and Dance: Calloway's ongoing financial problems don't prevent him from really getting into his numbers here. He even had a hand in most of the songs. Wiltshire and Dunmore are the only ones who get near him as the menacing "fixer" and his ice-cold hired killer. I also give them credit for going a little darker than usual for these "race" musicals. I did not expect the hit man subplot or the tragic twist near the end of the film.  

Favorite Number: "Minnie was a Hepcat," supposedly  his song for Minnie, is played at least three times during the film, including in the night club after Calloway and his orchestra get the job there and for Minnie after tragedy strikes. Calloway really romps through the more dramatic "St. James Infirmary" and "At Dawn Time." "Hey Now" is his first number with his expanded orchestra. 

He opens the big finale with his hit "Hi-De-Ho Man," then joins singer Elton Hill to sing about how "I Got a Gal Named Nellie." Dusty Fletcher gets "Open the Door, Richard." The ample and ample-voiced Peeters Sisters sing "Little Old Lady From Baltimore." One then dances with one of the male dancers while singing about "A Rainy Sunday" before finally shoving him off the set! We also get some decent tap routines by The Miller Brothers and Lois done on top of blocks and stands in front of the orchestra.

What I Don't Like: Calloway's music may be terrific, but he's no great shakes as an actor. His reaction to that dark twist is too hammy for words. Most of the cast isn't even at that level. The ladies are especially stiff, with Le Gon wavering between waxy and shrill and James fading into the woodwork. The music is the only reason to see this. The costumes aren't bad, with some decent suits for the guys and James and gowns for Le Gon, but the sets are obviously B-movie level. While the copy currently at Tubi is slightly better than what they have for Boarding House Blues, it's still not great. Wish someone would take a crack at preserving these bits of black cinema history.

And I wish the movie had ended with Calloway holding Minnie. The montage of his success and big happy finale directly afterwards rings false after the violence and darkness earlier. 

The Big Finale: If you like Calloway or the "race" films of the 1930's and 40's, you'll want to give this a try for the musical numbers alone. 

Home Media: It's in the public domain, so it's easy to find anywhere. It's currently free with commercials on Amazon Prime and Tubi.

DVD

Tubi

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

Back to School Again - Sweetheart of the Campus

Columbia Pictures, 1941

Starring Ruby Keeler, Ozzie Nelson, Harriet Hilliard, and Gordon Oliver

Directed by Edward Dmytryk

Music and Lyrics by various

Ruby Keeler had been one of the biggest musical stars of the early 30's in Warners' Busby Berkeley extravaganzas. By 1941, Berkeley had moved to MGM, and Keeler was dropped by the studio. She did two movies for Columbia before ending her career to focus on her family; this is the only musical. 

At this point, Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hillard had been married and traveling together with his band for six years and were still three years from major stardom in their radio sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie's band appeared in several short-subjects and B films, including this one. How do these three very unlikely college students do with the story of a big band that joins a college to save it from being closed? Let's begin with Ozzie Norton, his orchestra, and their singer and dancer Betty Blake (Keeler) at the College Club nightclub near Lambeth Technical College and find out...

The Story: The club is closed by Minnie Lambeth Sparr (Kathleen Howard), the wealthy and prim daughter of the college's founder. She thinks the band's presence is detrimental to the student body. The band pickets the school, only to be arrested. They're sprung from jail by Harriet Hale (Hillard), the daughter of the president of the school. She wants them to help her raise applications and keep the school from closing. They encourage Betty and the orchestra members to join up; their music will encourage applicants. It works...until Sparr loads the newcomers with impossible exams, and Betty realizes that Ozzie has fallen for Harriet. 

The Song and Dance: While no Busby Berkeley spectacular, this is still a nifty little musical. It may be one of the earliest musicals to include a TV production as part of the plot. One of the ways the band spreads the word about the college needing applications is on their own early television show. We briefly see early TV recording and a transmitter; wish they did more with this. Keeler is really the thing here, and she runs with it. She's no sweet ingenue anymore, coming off as funny, tough, and even sexy, and dances up a storm. 

Favorite Number: We start off with the film's strongest assets, Nelson's band and Keeler's dynamic dance to the driving "Beat It Out" during a rehearsal at the Club. "When the Glee Club Swings the Alma Mater" is the picket number when the band marches on the school, demanding better treatment. Keeler gets a brief solo instrumental number tapping away in her jail cell, trying to annoy the sheriff into springing them. Hillard performs the gentle ballad "Where" with the band during the broadcast. 

Keeler's big number is "Tap Happy," and while she was dubbed (for the only time in her career), she still means every word with her fast-paced routine. Zoot Watson, the black janitor, joins the broadcast later with his band for the lively "Tom-Tom." Hillard's second ballad, "Here We Go Again," comes right before the announcement that the students must take those exams.

Trivia: Also released under the title Broadway Ahead.

What I Don't Like: Neither Oliver as Keeler's love interest nor Ozzie and Harriet are terribly interesting. Harriet in particular has little to do other than her two numbers. I really wish they'd gone further into those early TV broadcasts. They were honestly more unique and enjoyable than the cliche "save the college" story. It sounds more like a musical version of the slobs vs snobs comedies in the 1980's. The plot is of such little consequence, the film ends with a random montage of earlier musical numbers. 

The Big Finale: Cute enough time-waster if you're a really big fan of Keeler, the Nelsons, or big band music; unnecessary for anyone else. 

Home Media: Not currently on disc, but easily found online. It's free with ads at Tubi.

Tubi

Amazon Prime

Private Buckaroo

Universal, 1942

Starring The Andrews Sisters, Dick Foran, Shemp Howard, and Jennifer Holt

Directed by Edward F. Cline

Music and Lyrics by various

We jump back two decades to begin our All-American weekdays with this wartime romp. Universal's musical output during the war consisted mainly of Deanna Durbin operettas and low-budget, high-energy programmers like this one. The Andrews Sisters were one of the most popular acts of the war years. While their main fame was on records and radio, they also occasionally turned up in B-films like this one. They're not the only star names of the big band era who can be found here, either. We also get Harry James and His Music Makers and Foran, a then-popular radio crooner. How does all of this fit in with the story of radio singer Lon Prentice (Foran), whose high-and-mighty attitude doesn't make him popular with his fellow GIs? Let's begin at a nightclub, where Prentice is singing with Harry James and his band, and find out...

The Story: Prentice is furious when he's rejected from the draft due to one flat foot. He manages to get surgery...and not only is he accepted, but so are James and his orchestra. They're all under the dubious leadership of one Sargent Mugsy Shavel (Howard). Shavel is furious when Lieutenant Howard Mason (Richard Davies) lets Prentice get away with not training, as he thinks it's a waste of time. No one else is happy about that, either, least of all Mason's daughter Joyce (Holt). While he tries to show her he's worthy of being a soldier, Shavel competes with singer Lancelot Pringle "Biff" McBiff (Joe E. Lewis) for the love of his fiancee, Bonnie-Belle (Mary Wickes). 

The Song and Dance: With a story that goofy, song and dance are the main things of interest. I do like that this doesn't take itself seriously for a second. Everyone knows this is low-budget fluff and just has fun with it. Look for that incredible dance routine featuring the Jumping Jacks and Jills (along with Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan) towards the end of the movie. I also think this has one of Shemp Howard's best performances away from the Three Stooges. He's hilarious with the soldiers and gets some of the film's best lines. Mary Wickes has a fine time as the woman who isn't used to all these guys being after her, too. 

Favorite Number: We open at the nightclub where Foran sings the lively title number and "I'm In the Army Now." The Andrews Sisters get "Three Little Sisters" and "Johnny Get Your Gun Again" with James. Singer Helen Forrest joins James and his orchestra for "You Made Me Love You." The trio sing "Steppin' Out Tonight" and "Six Jerks In a Jeep" with their driver on the way to camp. James, now the camp bugler, gets a "Concerto for Trumpet." Foran performs the bluesy "Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Seen" to convince Holt he really is a good singer. Lewis' main solo is "I Love the South." 

The big number is in the finale. It starts off sweet and romantic, with the Andrews Sisters putting over what would become one of their most popular songs, "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree." This goes straight into James and the orchestra's instrumental jam session. O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, and the Jacks and Jills show off some pretty darn amazing jitterbugging as they whirl up a storm over the dance floor. It ends with the Sisters insisting "We've Got a Job To Do" as the men shove off for overseas...including Donald and Prentice.

What I Don't Like: For all their star status, the Andrews Sisters don't really have much to do beyond their numbers. Surprisingly, given their popularity in other Universal programmers of the time, neither do Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan. Foran never did develop much personality. He comes off as smarmy and entitled, and it doesn't get much better once he reforms. 

The Big Finale: If you love wartime musicals, the big band era, or the Andrews Sisters, jump in the jeep and head off to camp to check this out.

Home Media: This is in the public domain, so it's easy to find anywhere. Tubi currently has it for free with ads.

DVD

Tubi

Reveille With Beverly

Columbia Pictures, 1943

Starring Ann Miller, William Wright, Dick Purcell, and Franklin Pangborn

Directed by Charles Barton

Music and Lyrics by various

During World War II, Miller starred in a series of inexpensive B musicals featuring her dancing and the music of various big bands and singers. Reveille With Beverly was unique among those films, and even among musical films period. It was an adaptation of a hit music show that became an enormous favorite with soldiers during the war years hoping to hear a friendly voice and familiar music from home. How does this somehow translate into the story of a young woman who finally gets her chance to break into radio when she becomes the soldiers' favorite DJ? Let's start at that radio station with our first act and find out...

The Story: Beverly Ross (Miller) is supposed to be the switchboard operator at KFEL, but she would give anything to be on the radio. Her boss Mr. Kennedy (Tim Ryan) won't listen to her many ideas about getting a show focusing on swing and jive on the air. He prefers classical music. He fires her after she abandons the switchboard to do a commercial on the air, but then lets her take over for the dull early morning host Vernon Lewis (Pangborn) while he's on vacation. She turns his sleepy early-morning classical show into a showcase of the latest swing music and becomes wildly popular with the GIs just getting up for reveille. 

Her brother Eddie (Larry Parks) introduces her to two of his fellow soldiers, Barry Lang (Wright) and Andy Adams (Purcell). Andy used to be the wealthy Barry's chauffeur, but them getting into the same unit puts them on far more equal footing. Barry makes a bet with Andy that he can't get a girl with his millions and tells Beverly he's Andy. He even suggests the name for her show, Reveille With Beverly, and ponies up the cash to sponsor her when Lewis returns and wants his job back. The guys think she'll never know...until she announces a tour of camps to boost morale and wants to see both of them...

The Song and Dance: With a story that slim, the real highlights are Miller as the determined Beverly and the musical numbers. They're more like early music videos or musical shorts of the time, with the real singers on Beverly's records performing the actual songs they made famous. We even get a cameo from Frank Sinatra. It's almost like a black-and-white version of early MTV with a thin plot tying it together. Miller gets to show off her comedic side as she dashes from job to job and throws out comic patter between numbers for the boys in Europe and Asia. Pangborn and Ryan have a few good moments as the snobbish classical DJ and her blow-hard boss, who doesn't get her music, but does understand the bottom line.

Favorite Number: In fact, the film opens with one of those "illustrated" numbers, the Mills Brothers singing the Latin "Cielito Lindo." Once Beverly starts her show, the music really kicks in. Bob Crosby and His Orchestra give us a nice "Big Noise From Winnekta," while Duke Ellington and his folks, along with singer Betty Roche, give us a really swinging version of "Take the 'A' Train." Beverly plays Sinatra's heartfelt version of the Cole Porter standard "Night and Day" after she loses her show to Lewis; when she gets it back, she gives the boys "Cow Cow Boogie," sung by Ella Mae Morse with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra. 

A trio called "The Radio Rogues" do imitations of popular radio singers then on the air during the show at the military camp, including Kate Smith singing "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" and Irish tenor Morton Downey Sr. doing "Wabash Moon." The Mills Brothers return, this time with the more traditional "Sweet Lucy Brown." The movie puts its best foot forward for its big finale and only large-scale production number. Miller taps up a storm for the boys with "Thumbs Up and V for Victory."

Trivia: Look fast for Irene Ryan as Mr. Kennedy's whiny switchboard operator and secretary.

Beverly's former boss Mr. Smith (Andrew Tombes) claims that clumsy record store clerk Elmer has "broken more records than Whirlaway," the horse who won the Triple Crown in 1941. 

Reveille With Beverly was indeed a real-life early-morning radio program on KFEL from Denver that ran from 1941 to 1944 and was broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio. Jean Ruth was the actual hostess and creator of the show.

What I Don't Like: Did I mention how thin the plot is? It's so thin, and Wright and Purcell are so interchangeable, no wonder they go to war before Beverly has to choose between them. It's barely of consequence which guy she ends up with, or really who sponsored her show. Miller, for all her screen time, doesn't get a chance to dance or sing beyond her big number in the finale. Like Carolina Blues, many, many references to the World War II home front - from rationing to the Radio Rogues' spoofs of then-popular radio performers - may baffle people today who aren't familiar with the era. And the gag with Miller running back and forth from the record job to the station and back again when she gets her radio gig back runs on for way too long and may annoy viewers as much as Mr. Smith. 

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of Miller or the big band, swing, and jazz music of the World War II era, this movie is worth tracking down for the numbers alone. 

Home Media: This rare musical can only be found on YouTube at the moment and occasionally on TCM. 

YouTube 

Carolina Blues

Columbia Pictures, 1944

Starring Kay Kyser, Ann Miller, Victor Moore, and Jeff Donnell

Directed by Leigh Jason

Music by Jules Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn and Dudley Brooks

No big band leader made more of his association with films (and radio, too) than the enterprising Kay Kyser. He started out as a musician in Chicago in the late 20's, but his real metier was as a bandleader and announcer. By the 1940's, his Kollege of Musical Knowledge game show was a major hit on radio and his records sold in the thousands. Unlike most big bands in movies, who played a few numbers and didn't figure much into the action, Kyser and his band were entertaining enough to be front and center. This is the last in a series of movies revolving around his wacky adventures with and without his orchestra. How does Kay's trip to his home state of North Carolina look nowadays? Let's start with Kyser and the band as they arrive at the airport after a long USO tour and find out...

The Story: Kay and his band are supposed to be resting after their big show. Instead, they end up playing gigs at a local shipyard to boost plant workers' morale. This proves to be a bit of a problem for Kay, as his vocalist Georgia Carroll (herself) just left to get married. The owner of the shipyard, Phineas Carver (Moore), offers his talented daughter Julie (Miller), as a replacement. Kay's not too keen on the idea, until he sees what Julie can really do. Meanwhile, his publicist Charlotte (Donnell) is quite happily chasing his dour coronet player Ish Kabibble (M.A Bogue). 

The Song and Dance: It's all about the music and dance here. They rounded up some terrific performers, including a rare solo routine by Harold Nicholas without his brother. Miller's charming and funny as ever as the ambitious singer and dancer, and Moore has a few funny bits as her father who wants to push her hard into the spotlight. Check out the scene at the concert where he plays every member of the Carver family - including the women! Donnell and Ish Kabbible have a few amusing moments too, especially when he gives her a grenade and she throws it away, only for it to make their first kiss more explosive than he planned. 

Favorite Number: Our first number is Kyser's lament about the tiniest state in the US, "Poor Little Rhode Island," with singers Sully Mason, Harold Babbitt, and a vocal quartet. Carroll gets the lovely ballad "You Make Me Dream Too Much" early-on, before she's due to leave the band. Miller's big tap solo is the lively "Thanks a Lot" as she shows everyone, including her family, what she can do. "Mr. Beebe" is the number for Harold Nicholas, the Four Step Brothers, and dancer and choreographer Marie Bryant. Nicholas gets a rare but enjoyable chance to show off his solo moves. Carroll joins Julie for "Thinkin' About the Wabash" as she finally goes on officially as band singer.

Trivia: Carroll's last movie; Kyser's last full-length film. He'd make one more appearance in a short discussing his radio show before putting more focus on his band and his business opportunities elsewhere. 

Carroll did eventually get married...to Kyser. Their union lasted until his death in 1985.

What I Don't Like: This is very much a movie of its time. Miller's name is the only one most people will recognize unless they're big fans of big band music, tap, or old-time radio. Ish Kabbible, for instance, was a popular comedian with Kyser's band and elsewhere on radio, but most people nowadays probably won't remember his name nowadays, or even get his sarcastic shtick with his goofy poems. There's a lot of references to the time period, from workers in defense plants to the need for big bands to tour constantly in order to boost morale, that those who don't know anything about the time period probably won't get. 

The Big Finale: It's all cheerful fun if you're a fan of Kyser, big band music, or the small-scale big band musicals of the 1940's. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, including as part of a 20-musical film collection from Mill Creek.

DVD

DVD - Musical 20 Movie Collection

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Puppetoon Movie

Expanded Entertainment, 1987

Voices of Rex Ingram, Paul Frees, Dallas McKennon, and Art Clokey

Directed by Arnold Leibovit

Music and Lyrics by various

George Pal was a pioneer of stop-motion animation who began his career in Germany during the early 30's, making shorts in his native Hungary, then Germany. He did two short ads for Dutch electronics company Phillips in the mid 30's, and five more for Horlick's Malted Milk in England before coming to the US in 1940. From 1941 to 1947, he continued the shorts for Paramount. He used wooden dolls in a wide variety of expressions and poses and meticulously detailed backgrounds to create his "Puppetoons," which were especially popular during and directly after the war years. By 1987, stop motion animation had made a comeback on television with advertising characters like the California Raisins, and the Puppetoons were a staple of cable and video showings. Are they still unique today, almost a century later? Let's begin with another favorite stop-motion character, Gumby (McKennon), making a film and find out...

The Story: Gumby is frustrated when Arnie the dinosaur (Frees) won't eat the deer in the film like he's supposed to. Arnie explains he was inspired by George Pal and his creations to not eat meat. Gumby doesn't know who Pal was or why he was important. Arnie and Pokey (Clokey) introduce Gumby to twelve of his most famous shorts (including three Oscar nominees) to explain what he did and how he pioneered techniques that continued to be used for stop-motion cartoons like Gumby's and beyond.

The Animation: You can see shades of everything from Wallace and Gromit to recent Latika releases like Kubo and the Two Strings in Pal's embryonic work. Though sometimes the characters can be a little too creepy when they're supposed to be joyful or cheerful, especially in the earlier shorts, they're generally very expressive for wooden dolls. 

The Song and Dance: The shorts and their accompanying songs are a real mixed bag. The two early Phillips ads has some nice music and nifty glow-in-the-dark effects, but not much else. "John Henry and the Inky Poo" is a largely respectful look at an African-American folk legend, complete with tragic ending and Rex Ingram's touching narration. "Hoola Boola" and "South Seas Sweethearts" are the Horlick's ads, with some really nice water effects for the time along with the obvious product placement. "Tubby the Tuba" is a very sweet adaptation of the famous orchestral song, and Peggy Lee gets to really go to town with a lively orchestra in "Jasper In a Jam."

Favorite Number: Redheaded male puppet Jim Dandy turns up twice, as the young orchestra leader with the glow-in-the-dark instruments in "The Little Broadcast" and a south-seas island beachcomber who falls for a lovely native in "Hoola Boola." Another orchestra livens up the "Phillips Broadcast of 1938" with "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?" Those musical instruments moving by themselves may have freaked Jasper out, but they sure could put on a show! Peggy Lee performs "Old Man Mose Is Dead" as clarinets toot by themselves and totem poles grab at poor Jasper. The film finishes with "Tubby the Tuba" and his frog friend, who want to show that deep voiced animals and instruments are ready for their big solos.

Trivia: In the finale, look for advertising icons Speedy Alka-Seltzer, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and Mr. Peanut, along with Spike from Gremlins in the last seconds. 

What I Don't Like: Some of the shorts are more than a little dated. The South Seas shorts feature native stereotypes that may offend some folks nowadays. Jasper was a controversial character even in the 40's; this is actually one of his less-offensive shorts. Pal later said he didn't mean anything bad by him, but his big-lipped design looks a little too much like blackface and may sit even less well with folks now. That "When Tulips Grow" begins and ends happily doesn't make the middle any less depressing, or make it less of an obvious allegory for what the Nazis were doing to Europe in 1942. And while it's great to learn about the pioneering Pal, we never do see a dinosaur in any of the shorts, nor learn why they inspired Arnie to stop eating other animals.

The Big Finale: Worth checking out if you love stop motion or Pal's other work, or want to teach your kids about animation history...but make sure you're around to explain the stereotypes and some of the darker moments in "John Henry" and "When Tulips Grow." 

Home Media: This and its follow-up The Puppetoon Movie Part 2 are out of print and incredibly expensive on disc, but can often be found for free on streaming. 

Amazon Prime

Tubi

A Song Is Born

Samuel Goldwyn Productions/RKO, 1948

Starring Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, and Hugh Herbert

Directed by Howard Hawks

Music and Lyrics by various

Kaye's movies had been among the top moneymakers for their year since Up In Arms debuted...but A Song Is Born ran into unexpected problems. Kaye was separated from his wife Sylvia, and he wouldn't sing anything that she didn't write. Hawks wasn't happy about remaking his 1941 non-musical comedy Ball of Fire and only did this because Goldwyn offered him a hefty paycheck. With all this going on, how well does the story of seven music professors who protect a nightclub singer come off? Let's begin at the old Victorian mansion that houses the Totten Foundation and find out...

The Story: Professor Hobart Frisbee (Kaye) and seven other professors have been writing a musical encyclopedia for the past nine years. They realize there's types of music even they don't know about when two window washers (dance team Buck and Bubbles) tell them about pop music - jive, big band, blues, swing, and be-bop. Frisbee goes to nightclubs in search of performers who can represent these types of music in their albums.

He returns with some of the most beloved musicians of the day, along with singer Honey Swanson (Mayo). Honey has her own reasons for being there. She wants protection from her gangster boyfriend Tony Crow (Steve Cochran), who wants to force her into marriage so she can't testify against him in court. Hobart and their stuffy housekeeper Miss Bragg (Esther Dale) object to Honey's hotter and sexier type of music at first, until she teaches Hobart about kissing. Hobart enjoys it so much, he falls for her and wants to marry her. Not only does Miss Bragg not approve and wants Honey out, but Crow and his boys are hot on her trail, too!

The Song and Dance: For all the trouble they had making it, this turned out to be unexpectedly fun. Kaye is an adorable befuddled professor, and while Mayo isn't Barbara Stanwyck, she's not bad as the tough-minded tootsie who causes a lot of the trouble. The big attraction here, of course, are the orchestras and singing groups brought together to jam in the second half. If you love swing or big-band music, you'll probably see at least one favorite musician here. Look for drummer Lionel Hampton, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra (and references to his brother Jimmy), The Golden Gate Quartet, and Charlie Barnet and his group. 

Favorite Number: We open with the title number, which is heard over the credits and performed by Virginia Mayo (and dubbed by Jeri Sullivan) at the nightclub. Benny Goodman, who plays one of the professors, joins Ford Washington Lee (Buck) for "B-A-C-H Boogie" and "Anitra's Boogie." Tommy  Dorsey and his band lay into "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," while Mel Powell gets "Muskrat Ramble." Lionel Hampton and Louis Armstrong show off the "Goldwyn Stomp" at the nightclub, while Charlie Barnet and his orchestra go on a "Redskin Rhumba." The professors all sing the old hit "Sweet Genevieve" for Honey, while the Golden Gate Quartet sing "Old Blind Barnabas." 

All the bands join in to ultimately fight off the bad guys - and bring down a drum on them - with the traditional spiritual "Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho." The Quartet performs it first, but when that doesn't make the drum go in the right way, everyone joins in...including Hampton and Kaye's smashing performance on the drums!

What I Don't Like: This is actually a rather unusual role for Kaye. His rift with Fine means we don't get one of his usual patter numbers, and with the exception of the opening folk dance routine with Miss Totten (Mary Field) and the big finale, seems oddly detached from the proceedings. While it's not nearly as bad as Hawks made it out to be later, it lacks a lot of the sharper comedy in the original, as well as the odd juxtaposition between slangy Stanwyck and drawling Gary Cooper. 

The Big Finale: If you love the jazz and big band music of the 40's and early 50's, this is recommended for the cameos by many famous orchestras and musicians alone. 

Home Media: The solo DVD is currently very expensive, but it is available bundled with the other early Kaye Goldwyn movies on a Warner Archives set, and can be easily found streaming for free. 

DVD - Danny Kaye: The Goldwyn Years

Amazon Prime

My Sweet Valentine - Sepia Cinderella

Herald Pictures, 1947

Starring Billy Daniels, Sheila Guyse, Tondeleyo, and Jack Carter

Directed by Arthur H. Leonard

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's celebrate Valentine's Day this year with one of the most charming of all "race films." These independent B flicks were made from the 20's through the late 40's for black audiences in smaller, segregated houses. They didn't have the resources of even the "Poverty Row" studios in the era, but what they lacked in largess, they often made up for in vitality...and that's true of this year's Valentine's Day romance. How does the fairy tale look as the story of an up-and-coming songwriter and the girl who truly loves him? Let's start at the boarding house where Barbara (Guyse) and Bob (Daniels) live and find out...

The Story: Barbara helps Bob write what becomes a hit song, "Cinderella." It becomes a hit, but the success goes to Bob's head and he abandons his friends and seldom comes home to the boarding house. He falls for the wiles of devious rich club owner Vivian (Tondeleyo), who sets him up in his own club and milks his popularity for all its worth. Not only does this upset Barbara, but Vivian's fiancee Ralph (Jack Carter) isn't happy, either. When it seems the public's losing interest in Bob, his press agent (Fred Gordon) sets up a contest where he'll choose a woman's shoe out from the dozens entered, then sing with her. Barbara and the residents of the boarding house are determined that she should be the one he chooses...and that he should realize how much she really means to him.

The Song and Dance: "Adorable" isn't a word that comes up often in B-musicals with any kind of cast, but this is just so sweet. Guyes is so lovely and charming, one wonders how Bob can ignore her for so long, and Tondeleyo has just as much fun seducing him. Carter gets a few good moments as her scorned lover mid-way through the film, including a club number of his own. Look for a now-grown Freddie Bartholmew as himself in the audience near the end of the movie. There are some decent numbers, too, including the "Cinderella" song that causes all the ruckus. It's also not as obviously cheap - some of the ladies' gowns are lovely

Favorite Number: "Cinderella" turns up four times, starting with when Bob and Barbara write it in the beginning. Bob sings it at least twice, once in his own "Cinderella Club," while Barbara gets to solo on it near the end. We kick off with Bob's band really tearing into a jiving instrumental routine. They're so good, they get a major ovation from Barbara and Mama Keyes (Hilda Offley). Bob's other big number at the nightclub is the more upbeat "Ring Around My Rosie." Deek Watson and the Brown Dots get two numbers at the contest later, wondering "Is It Right?" and singing about "Long Legged Lizzie." Even the press agent gets to lay into "Oh Ho, It's a Lovely Day." 

Trivia: Bartholmew went to World War II when his voice changed and ended his career. He attempted a comeback on TV and in smaller movies in the late 40's and early 50's, but it never stuck, and he finally gave up acting for television directing and producing in 1952. 

Billy Daniels' first movie. He'd have a real-life hit a year later with his rendition of "That Old Black Magic."

Look fast for Sidney Poitier as an extra. 

What I Don't Like: The cliches fall hard and fast here. Bob's one of the most naive, oblivious idiots you've ever seen, and not just because he fell so hard for the extremely obvious Vivian. He's an easy mark for pretty much everyone, from the fast-talking press agent to the jealous Ralph. While the musical numbers are inserted less awkwardly than in Juke Joint, they're still kind of shoehorned in. Despite them constantly playing the "Cinderella" song, the story doesn't feel particularly "Cinderella" until the last ten minutes or so when they hold that contest. Also, the scene where a black man is obviously playing a stereotypical Chinese being conned by a phony psychic may not sit well with some folks today. 

The Big Finale: Charming and sweet, this is a lovely little romance for Valentine's Day and when you're looking for something lower-key. 

Home Media: It's in the public domain, so it's pretty easy to find anywhere. It can often be found streaming for free.

DVD - Harlem Double Feature - Dirty Gertie From Harlem USA/Sepia Cinderella

Tubi

Cult Flops - Iceland

20th Century Fox, 1942

Starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Jack Oakie, and Felix Bressart

Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

After the success of Sun Valley Serenade in 1941, 20th Century Fox ordered more of the same with Henie, Payne, Humberstone, and Glenn Miller. They got three out of four. Miller had joined the army by this point and was replaced by Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra. Like Sun Valley Serenade, this one also plays on real-life events during World War II, in this case the occupation of Iceland by American Marines earlier in 1941. How does this tie into the story of a local girl who thinks a Marine wants to marry her? Let's begin with the Marines landing and their eager reception by the locals and find out...

The Story: Captain James Murfin (Payne) thinks he's just flirting with pretty Katina Jonsdottir (Henie) when the Marines land in Iceland. She, however, takes it as a proposal. She's been telling her family that she has a man in Switzerland, and let's them assume Murfin's him. Murfin, however,  has no desire to marry anyone, but he has no idea how to let sweet Katina off the hook without offending her and her family...and then, after he sees her skate in a local show, he's not sure he wants to.

The Song and Dance: Obviously, with a story that slim, song and dance are the operative words here. Some of Henie's most spectacular numbers were created for this movie, including the only hula ice skating routine I've ever seen. The music's good, too, and while Kaye's not Glenn Miller, he and his band still put them over with relish. Love the spectacular costumes and backdrops, including some nifty native costumes for the Icelandic locals. The supporting cast does the best here, especially Sterling Holloway as Katina's wishy-washy suitor Sverdrup and Felix Bressart as her resolutely old-fashioned father. 

Favorite Number: Our first number comes after the arrival of the Marines, with many of them settling in to listen to Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra at a local club. Their singer Joan Merrill praises how "You Can't Say No to a Soldier." A male quartet insists "Let's Bring New Glory to Old Glory." The standard here is the charming ballad "They'll Never Be Another You." Merrill starts it, but Payne picks it up as he dances with Katina in the club.

Henie gets two huge ice skating routines, one towards the middle of the film at a local carnival, and one near the end. The first one manages to incorporate everything from a Chinese ballet to a Hawaiian hula, complete with Henie tip-toeing on dusty "ice" sand and wearing a skating costume that looks like a hula skirt as she does the hand movements. The second, "I Like a Military Tune," salutes the Armed Services with Henie spinning around men in uniform and dancing to music from all of the Services theme songs in a spectacular beaded uniform of her own.

What I Don't Like: No wonder this ended up being Henie's first flop. The whole film is annoying as heck. Frankly, neither Katina nor James are especially pleasant, and her jumping on him and his trying to back out of his lies is dragged on for way too long. Her family is even more ridiculous, with her sister (Osa Massen) whining about not being able to marry her suitor because Katina won't get married, and her parents jumping on every guy who even looks Katina's way. You start to wish the two would just be honest and admit all the trouble they caused way before the drawn-out ending. They could have been kinder to real-life Icelanders, too. Some Iceland residents protested the plot about an American man stealing away one of their women. 

The Big Finale: Nice big band music aside, this is only for the most ardent fans of Henie, figure skating, or the musicals of the World War II era. 

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

DVD

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