Let's Go Native

Paramount, 1930

Starring Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Oakie, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, and James Hall

Directed by Leo McCarey

Music by Richard A. Whiting; Lyrics by George Marion Jr.

Let's take a summer vacation to a remote tropical island in this hilarious early romp. Director McCarey had been directing short comedies featuring Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase since the early 20's. This was only his third sound film and his fourth feature, but he already knew his way around a slapstick gag. It wound up being a surprise hit in 1930 and garnered so many positive comparisons to the Marx Brothers vehicle Animal Crackers, McCarey would go on to direct the Brothers' Duck Soup in 1934. How does this nutty Depression-era tale look nowadays? Let's begin with two dapper Argentinians as they look on at the home of costume designer and singer Joan Wood (MacDonald) and find out...

The Story: Joan got hit hard by the start of the Depression and is heavily in debt. She's done the costumes for a Broadway show that's on its way to Argentina, but she won't get paid until they're in Buenos Aires. Her boyfriend Wally Wendall (Hall) wants to marry her, but she won't marry him until he gets a job. His wealthy grandfather (Charles Sellon) doesn't approve of Joan and has disinherited him. He wants him to marry Constance Cook (Kay Francis), the daughter of the owner of a cruise ship line. Also onboard is Voltaire McGinnis (Oakie), a cab driver who wants to get his money from Wally and his friend Basil Pistol (William Austin) after a freak accident.

While onboard, Voltaire falls for Constance, while Wally continues to pursue Joan. They all end up stranded on a remote island when the ship goes down. The natives are all beautiful women, to the  delight of most of the men. They sound and behave like Brooklyn chorus girls because the "king" of the island is Jerry (Gallagher), a New York native who was shipwrecked on the island and was dubbed its king. Voltaire woos Constance and plots with Basil to sell Jerry's pearl-crusted crown once they get back. Wally's grandfather finally turns up to rescue them, but Joan knows how to deal with him - and Voltaire's scheming - now. She leverages the island and its riches in exchange for marrying his son, but the island is volcanic, and it may not be around for much longer...

The Song and Dance: This may be one of the funniest original musicals from the early talkie era. Everyone is having a ball with the unique and wild shipwreck story. Even MacDonald, who apparently wasn't happy about ending up in this, seems to enjoy swaying in her grass skirt. Oakie, Austin, and Gallagher have a lot more fun as the two guys who get caught up in Joan's money woes and the one who managed to "civilize" paradise. There's some great gags here, from the opening with the furniture being carried out of Joan's house even as she awakens for breakfast to the men on board watching as they all knock off each other's hats (and how that ties into the fate of Jerry's pearl crown in the finale). There's no attempt to tie the songs in. They blatantly come up with the silliest, spoofiest cues for songs that, more often than not, are there just to be catchy. 

The Numbers: We open with Wally and Joan singing one last song on Joan's piano, the ballad "My Mad Moment," before it's repossessed. Joan does a whirling Apache dance before we go into a montage of musical numbers from the big show, ending with Joan and one of the dancers performing an Argentinian-style tango. "It Seems to Be Spring" is a rehearsal on the boat, as Joan and Wally sing on a stage where snow is falling, even as they strip down to warm-weather clothes. The snow stops briefly, enough for bears to do their own wooing...and them to get covered in snow. Voltaire gets the ladies on-board going with his lively chorus number "Joe Jazz." This turns into a full-on tap routine, with the dancers in top hats and hot-pants dance costumes. 

The title song chorus number on the island starts with Voltaire and the native girls doing their idea of a hula. Basil joins in for the stuffy British version before the girls go into Busby Berkeley-style overhead formations. Voltaire's idea of a romantic song is "I've Got a Yen for You." Constance even joins in at one point. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Universal needs to do some serious restoration on this one. The copies currently on YouTube are horrible, blurry, jumpy, and with fuzzy sound. Second, this is obviously not for those looking for a darker story or one that makes sense. This is pure goofiness all the way. McCarey's skill makes this a little livelier than most early musicals, but it's still an early talkie and can occasionally get a bit static (mostly in the first half). And I kind of wish they'd gotten to the island earlier. They spend more than half of a 75-minute movie setting up the finale. 

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of any of the stars, are looking for something light and funny to watch on a summer's day, and can deal with the shape the copies online are in, you'll have a "vine" time going native with some of the wackiest goofballs of the pre-Code era.

Home Media: As mentioned, this is currently on YouTube in blurry copies with fuzzy sound. 

YouTube

Safety In Numbers

Paramount, 1930

Starring Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Carole Lombard, Katheryn Crawford, and Josephine Dunn

Directed by Victor Schertzinger

Music by Richard A. Whiting; Lyrics by George Marion Jr.

Schertzinger went way further back with musicals than The Fleet's In. He started his directing career doing rural comedies in 1917. His first sound musical was segments of the revue Paramount On Parade; this was his first full-length musical film. It was made to showcase Paramount's then-biggest matinee idol, Buddy Rogers. Rogers was an early form of Pat Boone, "America's Boyfriend," the cute, cuddly guy girls can bring home to their parents with no trouble. This was intended to be a big star vehicle for him, allowing him to show just how sweet he could be and promote some of the up-and-coming ingenues on the Paramount lot...including one who would go on to have a major career a few years later. How does this romantic comedy about a young playboy who gets an education in love from three chorus girls look nowadays? Let's begin with that playboy, William Butler Reynolds (Rogers), as he judges a "high kicking contest" among the secretaries in his uncle F. Carstair Reynolds' (Richard Tucker) business and find out...

The Story: Carstair tells his nephew he stands to inherit $350 million dollars on his twenty-first birthday, but only if he goes to New York and learns "the ways of the world." He hires three Follies girls, Maxine (Dunn), Pauline (Lombard), and Jacqueline (Crawford), to show his nephew around New York and keep an eye on him. They get help from a chatty cab driver, Bertram Shapiro (Roscoe Karns), who befriends William and the girls, and several other chorus cuties who volunteer. After things get out of hand at a party, all three ladies admit they're besotted by their charge...but there's only one of them whom William loves so much, he's willing to give up that money for.

The Song and Dance: Not the most exciting story in the world, but there are a few items worthy of note. The music isn't bad, especially the lovely ballad "My Future Just Passed." Nice costumes, too, with some really gorgeous early 30's gowns for the ladies and tuxes for the guys. Rogers may have the lion's share of moments, but it's the ladies who run off with the film. They're hilarious and heartfelt as they try to show their charge how to really live life, especially sweet Crawford as the one who falls for him. Karns has a few good moments too as the boastful cab driver.

The Numbers: We open with our first chorus number, as those secretaries show off their high kicking stuff and Rogers shows off his prowess on the drums to "Business Girl." William switches on the radio so Jacqueline can hear (and be impressed by) his own song, "Do You Play, Madam?" He gets her up for a short dance. He woos Maxine with "I'd Like to Be a Bee In Your Boudoir." Pauline tries to woo him with "Young Man, You Appeal to Me" without actually singing it. The other two are not amused. The ladies' maid (Louise Beavers" joins in for the dance number "The Pick-Up," while the chorus gets "Pepola," in a very strange number that turns into silhouettes of beautiful women dancing against a city projection background at one point.

What I Don't Like: Did I mention up there that this is not the most exciting story? It's basically Rogers chasing women, the ladies chasing him, and Karns popping up here and there. While it's a little more kinetic than usual for the early talkie era, we do get the occasional shots of people standing and talking. Also, if you're expecting something like Lombard's brittle screwball comedy persona from the later 30's, you're going to be disappointed. Other than her "You Appeal to Me" number (where she doesn't even really sing), she doesn't really have that much to do.

The Big Finale: This is cute and has some decent music, but in the end, it's mainly for early talkie enthusiasts or major fans of Lombard or Rogers. 

Home Media: Thanks to it entering the public domain this year, it can now be found all over streaming, including at Tubi. 

Tubi

Cult Flops - Viennese Nights

Warner Bros, 1930

Starring Vivienne Segal, Alexander Gray, Bert Roach, and Walter Pigeon

Directed by Alan Crosland

Music by Sigmund Romberg; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein III

Warners hadn't had much luck with film operetta before this came out. Though The Desert Song was a hit, it didn't go over that well with the critics. Song of the West went over even worse, and then there was the infamously offensive Golden Dawn. No amount of fancy songs or jungle capers could put that one over with anyone, even then. By 1930, they were getting more creative. They hired Oscar Hammerstein III and Sigmund Romberg to create music for four original operettas, three of which made it out just as musicals fell out of favor. This is the only one of those three still existing today. It didn't go over well in the US in 1930, which was still reeling from the start of the Great Depression, but is this brittle confection worth checking out over 90 years later? Let's begin in the 1870's in old Vienna at the time of the Austrian Empire, as three close friends and students sing of good times to come, and find out...

The Story: Those three friends are Otto Stiemer (Gray), wealthy Franz von Renner (Pigeon), and plump, jolly Gus Sascher (Roach). The three join the Austrian army, but only Franz proves suited to it. Otto's heart is forever with his beloved symphony. Otto falls for the lovely cobbler's daughter Elsa Hofner (Segal), but her father (Jean Hersholt) wants her to marry a man with money and discourages their romance. She eventually agrees to marry Franz after Otto gets drunk when her father tells him Elsa is more in love with money than him.

Otto and Gus move to New York with Gus' girlfriend Gretl (Louise Fazenda). Otto gets small jobs with Broadway pit orchestras, but it's not enough to put food on the table. His shrill wife Emma (Virginia Sale) demands that he get a job in Gus' pickle factory and give up music. One night at the show, he sees the now-wealthy Elsa with the Hungarian ambassador (Bela Lugosi). They go for a ride after the show, and though she admits she still loves him, she doesn't run away with him after she discovers he has a son (Freddie Burke Fredrick) he adores. 

Forty years later, it's now 1930. The elderly Elsa is preparing her granddaughter Barbara (Alice Day) to marry a wealthy man, but Barbara truly loves a poor composer (Gray). Despite her grandmother's protests, she finally gets her to hear her sweetheart's music...which sounds a lot like that symphony his grandfather never completed. Elsa is forced to confront her feelings for Otto and just how much he meant to her, even after all these years.

The Song and Dance: It's too bad this one isn't better-known today. What a truly lovely film! I'm so glad the color is intact here. The frothy pastels of two-strip Technicolor add enormous charm and sparkle to the proceedings. Segal and Gray overcome some slightly stiff dialogue with gorgeous performances of some of Romberg and Hammerstein's best film music. "You Will Remember Vienna" was the hit and the promise. Fazenda and Roach have their own fun as Elsa's chatty best friend and Otto's rotund business-minded pal. Hammerstein and Romberg had control over not only the music, but every set and costume, which explains the gorgeous production and why the music bonds so well with the romantic story. 

The Numbers: In fact, we open with Otto, his two friends, and Franz's father Baron von Renner (Phillpp Lothar Mayring) singing "You Will Remember Vienna" in the young men's cheap apartment. "Goodbye My Love" is our first chorus number at the Dritte Cafe. The second is "Oli Oli Oli" as the students enjoy their time with the ladies and the soldiers join them. Gus convinces Elsa to reprise "Vienna" at the Cafe. It turns into another chorus number as the other soldiers join in, including an enchanted Franz. Franz joins in with his own song to woo her, "If I Were a Gypsy." "Here We Are" is performed by Elsa, Otto, and the students and their girls at the cafe. We also hear "The Regimental March" twice, both times as a lively chorus number in and outside of the cafe.

Gretl reminds the besotted Elsa what happens "When You Have No Man to Love" while they're discussing her suitors. Otto reprises an instrumental "Vienna" on his violin at the conservatory, to Elsa's delight. He tells her "I Bring a Love Song" in the other hit from this score. "Here We Are" is heard again after the announcement of Franz and Elsa's engagement, but Otto is heartbroken as he reprises "Vienna." 

Years later, we cut to New York, where Otto plays "I Bring You Bad News" for a Broadway operetta of the time. He hears Elsa singing "Vienna" again in his mind, drowning out his obnoxious and unappreciative wife. "I'm Lonely" laments the singer (June Percell) in the show Otto plays for, before he encounters Elsa again. We get a jazzier reprise of "Here Are We" for Barbara, her sweetheart, and the Biltmore Trio in 1930. "Poem Symphony" is the concert number in the finale, the variation on "Vienna" that Otto had worked on for so long. We end with another reprise of "Vienna" as Elsa's spirit walks off with the now-late Otto.

Trivia: If your neck starts to itch when you see Elsa in the box at the Broadway operetta, yes, that is Bela Lugosi playing the Hungarian Ambassador next to her, almost a year before he became a star in Dracula. 

What I Don't Like: Not only is the story standard operetta melodrama, it sounds like Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet (which debuted in London the year before) and the 1937 MacDonald-Eddy version of Maytime, and can occasionally be heavy going. Roach and Fazenda are so cute when we see them, I almost wish she in particular had more to do than a few catty comments and her one comic number. 

The Big Finale: If any movie could benefit from being in the public domain, it's this one. I hope this exquisite candy box of an operetta finally gains the far wider audience it so richly deserves.

Home Media: Legal problems kept it off legitimate disc and streaming...but thanks to it entering the public domain this year, it's now all over YouTube.

YouTube 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Song O' My Heart

Fox Film Corporation, 1930

Starring John McCormack, Maureen O'Sullivan, Alice Joyce, and John Garrick

Directed by Victor Borzage

Music and Lyrics by various

Top O' the evenin' lads an' lasses! This year, we go way far back and celebrate St. Patrick's Day with one of the great Irish tenors of the early 20th century. John McCormack was known for being the quintessential Irish singer, with his beefy appearance, ringing tones, and frequently sentimental choice of material. His popularity had dropped off somewhat by 1930, but he was still well-known enough for Fox to offer him his choice of material and pay him the princely sum of $200,000 to star in the film. Is this operetta drama worthy of McCormack's artistry, or should it be left at home? Let's start with two frequent gossips at the Irish village where Sean O'Conlon (McCormack), lives, Peter (J.M Kerrigan) and Rafferty (J. Farrell MacDonald) and find out...

The Story: Sean has retired to the village despite his promising career to be near his beloved Mary (Joyce), and her two children, teenager Eileen (O'Sullivan) and young son Tad (Tommy Clifford). He had once loved Mary, but her sour Aunt Elizabeth (Emily Fitzroy) convinced her to marry for money. Her husband abandoned them and left them high and dry, forcing them to move back in with strict Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth doesn't approve of Fergus (Garrick), the handsome young man whom Eileen is in love with. Fergus is poor, and leaves the US to make money to support her. To help Mary and her children, producer Fullerton (Edward Martindel) convinces Sean to go on a concert tour in America. The tour is a great success, until tragedy forces Sean to return to the country and people he's always loved the most.

The Song and Dance: I do give this some credit for being one of the better-shot and more unique films of its era. McCormack's presence assures that there are no huge, out-of-place chorus numbers or goofy backstage drama. It was partially filmed in the real Ireland for Fox's experimental widescreen "Grandeur" format, and that shows in the decent cinematography for the early talkies era. The cast is pretty accurate, too. O'Sullivan kicked off a six-decade career with her winsome performance here. Kerrigan and MacDonald have a high time as two village men whose comments bookend the action. It almost feels like an early preview of The Quiet Man in black and white, with a lot of the same attention to detail that marked John Ford's later magnum opus.

The Numbers: Our first number is "Then You'll Remember Me," which Sean performs at his home with his usual accompanist Vincent (his real-life long-time pianist Edwin Schinder). The children of the village beg him for a fairy tale about a princess or a leprechaun, which turns into "A Fairy Story By the Fire." Sean performs "Just for Today" accompanied by the organ at the village church as Mary wistfully listens outside its walls. He delights his friends in the town with the traditional comic number "Kitty My Love, Will You Marry Me?" at his home and sings "The Rose of Tralee" for Mary after the party. She hears him sing it again in her mind after he leaves just before her death.

Sean's first number in the big concert sequence is "Plasir d'Amour." "Little Boy Blue" is accompanied by heartbreaking images of stuffed animals and toy soldiers covered in cobwebs waiting for their young owner to play with them again. This is followed by "Ireland, Mother Ireland." After Fullerton gets the word of Mary's death, he keeps it from Sean until he's sung "I Hear You Calling Me." The film ends with Sean singing "I Feel You Near Me" for his new family, Tad and kindly neighbor Mona (Effie Ellsler). 

Trivia: As mentioned, this was filmed in regular 35 millimeter film and Fox's experimental 70 millimeter "Grandeur" film. Most movie theaters at the time weren't set up for widescreen film, and the Grandeur version was never seen and is currently lost. 

First film for Maureen O'Sullivan and last film for Alice Joyce.

What I Don't Like: First of all, there's McCormack himself. He's a genial presence, but he's no actor and is in over his head with some of the more melodramatic sequences. There's also the fact that the Irish stereotypes are even more thick on the ground here than they are in Quiet Man, without that film's stunning color or often hilarious script. There's also the simple fact that this is straight melodrama only a step above some of the weepy Al Jolson sob stories from the late 20's and early 30's. It's not for people looking for something more upbeat, or those who aren't opera or McCormack fans. This is pretty much a concert with an Irish soap opera surrounding it.

The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of McCormack or the more melodramatic films of the early talkie era.

Home Media: Thanks to it now being in the public domain, it can be easily found on streaming for free with commercials.

Tubi

The Roku Channel

Sunny (1930)

First National Pictures, 1930

Starring Marilyn Miller, Lawrence Gray, Joe Donahue, and O.P Heggie

Directed by William A. Seiter

Music and Lyrics by various

Operetta, of course, isn't the only musical genre to see remakes. Nor are remakes a recent phenomenon. This week, we're going to look at a musical comedy that got two very different versions a decade apart from each other. Sunny was producer Charles Dillingham's follow-up vehicle for Broadway superstar Marilyn Miller after the phenomenal success of her hit Sally. Is this circus-set romantic comedy worthy of the $150,000 she earned for it, or should it be left in the center ring? Let's start at the circus, as men ogle the posters for bareback rider Sunny Peters (Miller) and find out...

The Story: Sunny's dad (Heggie) wants her to marry Harold Harcourt Wendell-Wendell (Mackenzie Ward), who is wealthy but deadly dull. She becomes smitten with Tom Warren (Gray), an old friend who stops by to see her before he takes a boat back to the US. Stealing boy's clothes, she runs away and follows him onboard. Not only is she caught, but she has no idea he's already engaged to socialite Margaret Manners (Barbara Bedford). 

The only way she can get off the boat is to marry her American friend Jim Denning (Donahue). They plan on getting a divorce the moment they can, especially since Jim is already in love with Weenie (Inez Courtney) from the circus. Sunny, still head over heels in love with Tom, tries to fool him into saying he's in love with her by appearing to be hurt at a fox hunt. When that doesn't work, she plans on returning to England and marrying Harold, at least until Tom sees the light.

The Song and Dance: And with a story that flimsy, song and dance...or really, Miller's dances...are the main points of interest. Miller's wattage, at least when she's singing and dancing, hasn't dimmed between films. She still loves what she's doing and is magnetic while doing it. Donahue and Heggie are the only ones who get anywhere near her as the good-natured guy buddy who helps her out and her stubborn father. Some of Jerome Kern's best songs can be found here, too - Gray and Miller singing "Who" is totally charming.

The Numbers: In fact, the movie puts its best foot forward and starts with its biggest hit song. Gray wonders "Who" stole his heart as he pours his heart out to a delighted Miller. They're both so adorable, it's by far the best sequence in the film. Sunny briefly sings "I Was Alone" after she boards the boat dressed as a boy as she wistfully watches Tom on board. She does a totally joyous instrumental tap dance after she's caught and allowed to stay onboard. After a massive wedding, she and Jim have their own hilarious dance as they wonder "When We Get Our Divorce." Tom and the men sing the old chestnut "Oh, He Didn't Ramble." Sunny finishes with her own interpretation of a fox hunt, complete with crop and top hat.

Trivia: This was supposed to have had three more numbers from the original show, "Sunny," "Do 'Ye Love Me," and "Two Little Love Birds," but they were cut from US prints when musicals fell out of fashion late in 1930. "Sunny" can be heard over the credits and as an instrumental number in the opening. 

The original Sunny debuted in September 1925. It ran a year, a pretty big hit for the time. It also did well in London, where ran nine months and toured for three years. 

What I Don't Like: There's a reason this hasn't turned up since that UK tour. The story is a soggy cream puff that collapses entirely in the second half. Cutting the music doesn't help. Miller's wonderful when she dances, but she's still not much of a singer and even less of an actress. Gray's deadly dull other than that charming "Who?" sequence. They really don't make much of that circus setting. I wonder if the cut numbers were set at the circus or did more with it. They're barely there at all before Sunny runs off to the boat. Oh, and Warners needs to throw some money at restoring this. The copy at Tubi and on DVD is scratchy and has wonky sound

The Big Finale: If you enjoyed Sally, you'll want to give Miller's second starring role a look as well.

Home Media: On DVD via the Warner Archives and on Tubi.

DVD

Tubi

Cult Flops - The Vagabond King (1930)

Paramount, 1930

Starring Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald, O.P Heggie, and Lillian Roth

Directed by Ludwig Berger

Music and Lyrcis by various

For the next two weeks, our weekday reviews will look at musical remakes, either of older films, or a remake and the original. This version of the 1926 stage hit of the same name was intended to be Paramount's stately answer to major film operettas like Warner Bros' The Desert Song or MGM's (now-lost) Rogue Song. It proved to be too stately for 1930 audiences who were looking for war movies and gangster films, but how does it look now? Let's begin in fifteenth-century Paris, where only a lawless poet stands between the King of France (O.P Heggie) and the Duke of Burgundy's attempt to take over his throne...

The Story: Francois Villon (King) is arrested by Louis the XI and his men while drunk and brought to the castle. Louis anoints him king for a day, hoping to enlist him and his fellow peasants, poets, and drinks in battling the Duke and his army. Earlier in the day, Francois had rescued the beautiful Princess Katherine (MacDonald) and had fallen hopelessly in love with her, despite already having a girlfriend in the tavern wench Hugette (Roth). It's the ladies who are willing to lay down the line - and in Hugette's case, her own life - to make sure Louis stays on the throne and Francois is hung for a king's amusement the next day.

The Song and Dance: Oh, how I wish the full color copy was available online! What little color is seen during the "Only a Rose" number is blurry but exquisite, with MacDonald looking every inch the princess she's supposed to be in exquisite peach, standing out against the lavish green garden. In fact, even in the blurry mostly black and white copy currently on YouTube, it's that much-vaunted pageantry where this stands out. MacDonald is a radiant princess in glittering gowns amid enormous, craggy castles and the fetid alleys of a shadow-strewn Paris, while Heggie makes a wonderful opportunistic King Louis. European director Ludvig Berger had made several similar sumptuous fantasies in France and Germany during the silent era, and he knew something about spectacle and how to make it work.

The Numbers: We open over the credits and at the tavern Francois frequents with "Song of the Vagabonds." "King Louis" is Francois' mocking rhyme and assessment of Louis' ability to rule his people. "Mary, Queen of Heaven" is a number for the choir when Katherine is praying in Notre Dame. The ballad "Some Day" is Katherine's first solo as she changes for bed and contemplates Francois and their first meeting in Paris. Francois declares to his followers what he would do "If I Were King." He tells the disguised Louis "What France Needs." 

"Only a Rose" is the only Technicolor sequence existing in current online prints. The gorgeous singing from King and MacDonald and exquisite color somewhat make up for MacDonald being right about King's ego and his continued attempts to push his nose or hands into her shot. Roth's solo is "Hugette's Waltz," as she explains to the vagabonds that she is how she is, take her or leave her. Francois and Katherine get a second duet, "Love Me Tonight," shortly before he is to fight the Burgundians. The people of Paris reprise "Song of the Vagabonds" during the actual siege. "Nocturne" is the executioner's number as he's about to hang Francois.

Trivia: The color prints do exist and were restored by UCLA in 1990, but alas, to date have only seen there other than the "Only a Rose" sequence taken from the PBS documentary Broadway: The American Musical. 

This is based on the fanciful book and non-musical play If I Were King. If I Were King was filmed as a non-musical three times, in 1920 and 1938 under its original title and in 1927 as The Beloved Rogue. 

The Vagabond King opened on Broadway in 1925 with King as Villon and was a huge hit for the time, running over 500 performances. It had a brief revival on Broadway in 1943. It hasn't been seen there since, but remains popular with light opera companies in New York and elsewhere. The film would be remade in 1956 with Kathryn Grayson as Katherine (which we'll be looking at on Thursday). 

What I Don't Like: Jeanette MacDonald had a point about Dennis King and his ego. He's a little too into the role, proclaiming everything to the rafters when film calls for a somewhat subtler approach. He's too hammy even for a swashbuckler. This is likely why he very rarely made movies after this. Lillian Roth has the opposite problem. She's too much of a cute comedienne to be playing a sensual streetwalker and really can't pull off her "Hugette's Waltz." And oh, how I wish UCLA would release the rest of that color copy to the general public! I have the feeling it would help this tremendously, and certainly be nicer to look at than the dim, blurry copy currently on YouTube.

The Big Finale: In the end, as lovely as it is, it's really only for fans of MacDonald, operetta, or early film musicals. 

Home Media: Which perhaps makes it just as well that the only place you can see this is in that blurry copy I mentioned that's currently on YouTube. 

YouTube

The Desert Song (1929)

Warner Bros, 1929

Starring John Boles, Carlotta King, Myrna Loy, and Johnny Arthur

Directed by Roy Del Ruth

Music by Sigmund Romberg; Lyrics by Otto Haurbach and Frank Mandel

This week we dive into the romantic, swashbuckling world of operetta, where every romance is a rhapsody, every duel a symphony. The Desert Song, inspired by the actual Riff tribe uprisings in North Africa, was a huge hit on Broadway in 1926. Warner Bros thought it would be perfect for their first all-talking, all-singing film and pulled out all the stops. There's lavish costumes and scenery, then-up-and-coming John Boles as the Red Shadow, most of those gorgeous songs recorded onto live Vitaphone discs, and originally, blazing two-strip Technicolor. While the color prints don't survive, how does the rest look in black and white today? Let's begin with "The Riff Song," as we see the tribes riding in the desert, and find out...

The Story: The Red Shadow (Boles) is the mysterious Robin Hood-like leader of the Riffs. He is in reality Pierre Birabeau, the son of the French General Birabeau (Edward Martindel) who came to Morocco in an attempt to impress Margot Bonavalet (King), a girl at his father's outpost. He took over the Riffs and now pretends to be a weakling in order to hide his secret identity. Margot is engaged to the General's dashing right-hand man Captain Fontaine (John Miljan), but she yearns to be romantically swept into the arms of some desert sheik.

She gets her wish when the Riffs attack the outpost and take her, Pierre's friend Benny Kidd (Arthur), and Benny's female friend Susan (Louise Fazenda) to their camp. Susan and Margot are quite surprised when the Red Shadow treats them with every Western courtesy. Margot eventually falls for the Red Shadow, while Benny dresses as a woman to escape and get help. The General comes to rescue Margot and challenges the Red Shadow to a duel, but Pierre can't harm his own father. Meanwhile, Captain Fontaine is told the location of the Riffs by jealous dancing girl Azuri (Loy), and Benny and Susan end up having their own fun when they get lost in the desert.

The Song and Dance: Oh boy, this was fun. The archaic stiffness of most early operetta is replaced by some of the hammiest acting I've ever seen in a major film musical. It's clear everyone knew darn well they were in a hoary old melodrama and just ran with the lunacy. Boles might be a little bit better as supposedly spineless Pierre than the dashing Red Shadow, but he and King do more than justice to their songs. Check out King's incredible high note on "The Sabre Song!" Some of the supporting cast works too, including Loy as the traitorous Azuri and Roberto E. Guzman as the Red Shadow's second-in-command Sid El Kar.

The Numbers: We open with "The Riff Song" as they explain who they are and why they follow the Red Shadow. "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "French Military Marching Song" are Margot and the women of the barracks' lament that their men are perpetually away fighting. Margot has modern dreams of romance, but Pierre's are more courtly. "Then You Will I Know," he tells her after she explains her dreams of being swept off her feet. "Why Waste Your Time?" The Red Shadow wonders, before he and Margot go into the rapturous title song. One of his men, Sid El Kar, sings "Soft as a Pigeon Lights Upon the Sand" as Azuri and her girls dance in traditional Arabian garb. Margot and The Red Shadow reprise the title song when she's being abducted to end the first half.

The second half starts with Spanish dancers performing "My Little Castagnette." Clementina, the lead Spanish dancer, also performs "Song of the Brass Key." Head of the Riffs Ali Ben Ali (Jack Pratt) tells the Red Shadow to "Let Love Go." This goes right into Sid's big ballad, "One Flower Grows Alone In Your Garden." Red Shadow counters with one of the big standards from this, the ballad "One Alone." The Red Shadow insists to Margot when she complains about the desert that "I Find the Simple Life Entrancing." "The Sabre Song" is Margot's soliloquy as she wonders about the Red Shadow and who he really is. "You Love Me" Margot and the Red Shadow declare before going into another reprise of the title song. The Red Shadow sings "One Alone" before going off into the desert...and it's how Margot knows it's really him when he sings it in the finale.

Trivia: Though this was completed in late 1928, it was held back until May 1929 due to Warners' release schedule at the time. It was a hit when it came out, but critics thought it stilted compared to movies that had been released in the interim like The Broadway Melody. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, though this is probably the most complete version of this show on film or TV, there's still a few songs missing, notably Margot's solo "Romance" and Benny's two comedy numbers. Second, Warners really needs to take a crack at restoring this, even if they can't find the color. The black and white copies on YouTube are horribly blurry. Third, this is not for those who want their musicals quieter or more subtle. This is a romantic adventure drama where everyone shouts their lines to the non-existent balconies. 

King sounds better than she acts. She's stiff as a board in the first half unless she's singing, until she really gets into "The Desert Song" and "The Sabre Song." There's this being an early talkie, too. People do stand around and just sing a lot. We also have all your attendant Arab stereotypes, mixed in with your obvious gay stereotypes with Benny (how he ultimately ended up with Susan I will never know). 

The Big Finale: Great for early talkie enthusiasts and operetta and action fans like me who may be willing to sit through some of the baked ham to enjoy some truly fine singing. 

Home Media: Best place to find this one is on YouTube. 

YouTube

Paramount On Parade

Paramount, 1930

Starring Jackie Oakie, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Leon Erroll, Maurice Chevalier, and others

Directed by Edmund Goulding, Ernst Lubistch, Dorothy Arzner, Victor, Schertzinger, and others

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we're going to do something entirely different and investigate three different versions of a musical genre that doesn't often turn up in films after 1930. Revues have been a part of musical theater going back centuries. These collections of songs, skits, and lavish showgirl parades were wildly popular on Broadway in the 1910's and 20's. After the success of Ziegfeld's Follies, every producer in town created their own lavish spectacles, filled with gags, girls, and specialty numbers from star comics. When sound came in, the studios sought to continue this tradition with their own versions. Paramount, the most sophisticated studio in 1930, may also have the most fascinating of the revues. How does Paramount's parade stand out from the pack? Let's head to the theater just as the curtain is rising and see...

The Story: This is a revue, so there isn't one. Comics Jack Oakie, Skeets Gallagher, and Leon Erroll introduce a vast array of Paramount stars of the time in numbers and sketches suited to their unique talents.

The Song and Dance: And actually, one of the places this stands out is in the sequences where there's no song involved at all. If you're a fan of vintage mysteries, you'll love "Murder Will Out," which spoofs popular detectives right in the very start. If you ever wanted to see Sherlock Holmes (Clive Brook), Philo Vance (William Powell),  and Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) solve a mystery together, here's your chance...and it's hilarious. George Bancroft tossing shade at his own bad guy reputation in "Impulses," as we see what party guests really want to say to each other, is pretty funny too. Some of the musical numbers that survive are among the most enjoyable of the era - Maurice Chevalier, Clara Bow, Nancy Carroll, and Jack Oakie and Zelma O'Neal are among those who make the biggest impressions musically.

The Numbers: Alas, the movie's Technicolor opening number "Showgirls On Parade" is totally lost except the sound, so our first number defaults to our MC's. "We're the Masters of Ceremony," say Gallagher, Erroll, and Oakie. They're clearly enjoying it, and tend to be far looser MCs than the ones on other early revues that try too hard or not enough. With "Showgirls" missing, our first chorus number we can actually see in current prints is "Anytime Is the Time to Fall In Love." Buddy Rogers and Lillian Roth woo each other on a giant clock while other young people dance under it. It's cutesy, but the song is fun and Roth and Rodgers are adorable.

Following "Murder Will Out," we have Maurice Chevalier and tough-lady character actress Evelyn Brent introducing the "Origin of the Apache" in a satire of the famous passionate French dance, directed by none other than Ernest Lubistch. The next number in the surviving print brings in another tough-love couple. Jack Oakie and Zelma O'Neal spar in more than one way at a gym, insisting "I'm In Training for You." The dancing here almost matches their hilarious performance - the snappy chorus routine is surprisingly good for the early talkie era. Ruth Chatterton, as a French tart among doughboys (including a very young Fredric March) sort-of sings "My Marine." Chevalier gives us a far more pleasant French interlude as a randy gendarme who admits "All I Need Is One Girl." Mitzi Green comes off as a lot less annoying than she generally did in movies of this era doing impressions of him.

Helen Kane is probably the least-likely teacher you can imagine, which is likely how her "What Did Cleopatra Say?" history lesson turns into her teaching the kids to boop-oop-a-doop. Nancy Carroll's "Dancing to Save Your Sole" starts out with her and Abe Lyman's band being pulled from a shoe box, but Carroll's sexy swinging and the catchy song makes this one of the film's best numbers. The fleet's in, and rowdy Clara Bow wants her pick of the cadets, claiming "I'm True to the Navy Now." Chevalier return for the Busby Berkeley-esque finale, with chorus girls doing overhead formations as he plays a French chimney sweep leaping among rooftops, "Sweeping the Clouds Away." 

Trivia: Alas, more than a quarter of the film remains missing from even the longest copies currently on YouTube, including all but one of its original Technicolor numbers. Of the missing footage, only sound has turned up for the opening "Showgirls" chorus parade. "Dream Girl," with Gary Cooper, Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, and Jean Arthur singing "Drink to the Girl of Your Dreams," and Dennis King singing "Nichavo!" have Techincolor footage existing, but no sound. "Come Back to Sorrento" with Nino Martini and "I'm Isodore the Torredor" with Harry Green and Kay Francis have picture and sound, but have yet to turn up online.

The Marx Brothers and Jeanette MacDonald supposedly had short sequences in this, but their parts were either cut or only turned up in international versions. 

Paramount On Parade filmed Dutch, German, Romanian, Spanish, French, and Scandinavian versions. 

The "Sweeping the Clouds Away" finale was originally in color, but survives in black and white.

 

What I Don't Like: First of all, note everything that's mentioned as missing in the Trivia section. In the copy I watched on YouTube, "Dream Girl" is introduced but not seen, and they don't even mention "Nichavo!" or "Come Back to Sorrento." "Isdore" and "Showgirls" have sound but not picture. The black and white footage doesn't look so hot, either. Universal really needs to take a very big swing at restoring this. 

Second, not everything lands. Errol's hospital sketch is annoying, Ruth Chatterton's "My Marine" is too dark for this light-hearted film, and the "Anytime" dance routine can come off as a bit too sweet. Not to mention, if you're not a fan of this era in general or Chevalier in particular, this movie probably won't change your mind. You really need to be a fan of Chevalier and/or understand what was going on in Hollywood and the world in 1930 to get a lot of what's going on.

The Big Finale: There's enough remaining here that's good to put this in the "recommended for fans of Maurice Chevalier, old-time mysteries, or the early talkie era musicals" column.

Home Media: To my knowledge, only on YouTube in copies of varying length and quality - this is the longest length I could find. (It includes two numbers from the mostly-lost Scandinavian version, one only with sound.)

YouTube

Pointed Heels

Paramount, 1929

Starring Fay Wray, William Powell, Phillip Holmes, and Helen Kane

Directed by A. Edward Sutherland

Music and Lyrics by various

First of all, after today, Musical Dreams Movie Reviews will be going on hiatus for vacation. Reviews will resume October 7th with the early talkie revue Paramount on Parade. 

Speaking of Paramount and the early talkie era, MGM was far from the only studio where backstage shenanigans came to the fore. Even the smallest studio dove head-first into backstage stories that could make use of music and sound without actually having to to weave them into the plot. Paramount was no exception to this. Pointed Heels was their big attraction for Christmas 1929. It seems to have done well enough then, but has time been kind to this tale of a producer who chases the chorus girl wife of a poor songwriter? Let's begin at a theater with a rehearsal in progress and see...

The Story: Chorus girl Lora Nixon (Wray) is leaving the show to marry wealthy songwriter Donald Ogden (Holmes). His mother is so heartbroken over the marriage, she cuts the newlywed couple off without a cent, forcing them to live in a tiny New York apartment. Donald's too devoted to writing his jazz symphony to take regular work, so Lorna returns to the show. Producer Robert Courtland is still interested in her and invites her to his penthouse. Donald thinks Courtland is what she wants, but the producer knows that's far from the truth.

The Song and Dance: For a last-minute replacement, Wray is lovely as a chorus girl who marries for love, then wonders why. Richard "Skeets" Gallagher and adorable Betty Boop inspiration Helen Kane have their moments as Donald's brother and his wife, Eugene Palatte gets a few good lines as Courtland's partner, and William Powell is delightfully and impossibly suave as the charming producer who understands love a lot more than Lorna does. The other stand-out here is the production. We have some really nifty Art Deco sets, especially in the theater, and gorgeous late 20's gowns and dance costumes for Wray and the ladies. 

The Numbers: Our first, brief number is in a restaurant, where Kane really gets into wiggling along with the music played by wandering musicians at their table. We also get a brief bit by Donald, playing a lovely bit of his "jazz symphony." Gallagher and Kane give us the sweet "Ain'tcha" while he plays the piano at their apartment. Their idea of being "refined" in the dress rehearsals is singing "I Have to Have You" with him in a tux and her in a blonde wig, carrying a huge feather fan. They reprise it in the actual show, this time with him doing goofy drunk dances and her in a much shorter, lacy outfit and doing her Betty Boop "boop-a-doop." 

Trivia: The 2-strip Technicolor "Versailles Ballet" with Wray, the Albertina Rasch Dancers, and the chorus does exist and has been seen recently in museums but is not included in older copies currently on YouTube.

If Fay Wray seems like almost as strange of a choice for a musical as Powell, she was a last minute replacement for, among other women, Esther Ralston and Mary Eaton. 

What I Don't Like: Other than Powell being urbane and some mildly racy Pre-Code moments, this isn't anything you haven't seen in dozens of backstage musicals before and after. Losing the ballet means most of the songs are performed by Kane and Gallagher. They can be funny, but are usually best taken in small doses. Holmes is especially dull, seeming more like a robot than any kind of musician.

The Big Finale: Nothing you haven't seen in other, better backstage films. Only for the most ardent fans of Wray or Powell. 

Home Media: Streaming only. I watched it on YouTube.

YouTube

Back to School Again - So This Is College

MGM, 1929

Starring Robert Montgomery, Sally Starr, Elliot Nugent, and Cliff Edwards

Directed by Sam Wood

Music and Lyrics by various

First of all, Musical Dreams Movie Reviews will be on hiatus from September 27th through October 5th for vacation. I'll be doing an extra review every week this month to make up for the ones I'll miss then. 

That said, we're going back to school this week with our first three reviews. School-set musicals go much further back than most people realize. College students were cheering football heroes and tossing water balloons on their friends in the silent era. Sound gave dimension to the pep rallies and school dances, and indeed the late 20's and early 30's saw a wave of college-set musicals. Prompted by the success of Good News on Broadway, the studios capitalized on their popularity with movies like this one, featuring two of the most unlikely collegiates in the history of film. How does college life in 1929 look almost a hundred years later? Let's begin with the arrival of Eddie (Nugent) joining the high-spirited pranks at real-life college USC, and find out...

The Story: Football heroes Eddie and Biff (Montgomery) swear that nothing will ever break up their life-long friendship, including women. This changes very quickly when co-ed Babs (Starr) dances into their lives. Their pranks as they attempt to keep the other from seeing her start out as harmless, but eventually come close to rupturing their friendship and their football prowess. Eddie initially steps aside when he discovers that Biff wants to marry Babs, but then they learn the truth about her at the big game...and finally come to the conclusion that being pals and good sports is more important than any girl. 

The Song and Dance: Nice to know some things haven't changed on college campuses in almost 100 years. The wild dances, the water in the bags gag in the beginning, the football obsession...yeah, that's stuff you can still see kids doing. Cliff Edwards handles the majority of the musical chores as the campus musician Windy. Starr is so adorable as Sally, you can understand why the two nearly give up their football careers for her. MGM spared no expense on this one. We have glittering low-slung 20's flapper outfits for the ladies, letter sweaters and tuxes for the guys, and shooting on the real-life USC campus (including real footage of an actual college game in the end). 

The Numbers: We open with the guys singing their school song "Cardinal and Gold" as Eddie arrives. Cliff Edwards sings about those "College Days" with the students later, and the students say they'll stay together "Until the End." Starr joins Edwards to sing about those "Campus Capers." Biff initially admits to Babs that "I Don't Want Your Kisses If I Can't Have Your Love." Eddie picks it up later, then we hear it at the prom. Speaking of the prom, Windy sings a whole number about how important it is to the students, "Sophomore Prom." The students claim they'll "Fight On!" at the pep rally. We get a medley of traditional songs performed by the students at the rally as well, including "How Dry I Am," "There's No Place Like Home," "Ring Around the Rosie," and "Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here."

What I Don't Like: First of all, this really isn't all that different from dozens of school musicals that came after it, from College Humor to High School Musical. All the attendant school cliches run just as hot and heavy here, though it is kind of refreshing that neither Biff nor Eddie end up with Babs in the end. It's their relationship that really matters. Second, Starr is probably the only actor who is even remotely close to the right age for college. Montgomery, though not a horrible singer, is really uncomfortable in a musical, too, and Edwards is basically there for the songs and has little to do otherwise. Not to mention, this is an early talkie. There are stretches where people are just standing and talking.

The Big Finale: Cute if you're a fan of early talkie or pre-code musicals, nothing you really need to go out of your way to see otherwise. 

Home Media: DVD only via the Warner Archives.

DVD

The Singing Fool

Warner Bros, 1928

Starring Al Jolson, Josephine Dunn, Betty Bronson, and Davey Lee

Directed by Lloyd Bacon

Music and Lyrics by various

The Jazz Singer was a big enough hit for Warners to rush Jolson into another tale of heartbreak. This one would be even bigger, with more pathos, more drama, and far more Jolson. Jolson was now the biggest star on the planet...and it's part of the reason that this movie, far more than The Jazz Singer, wound up being the reason the studios decided sound film was here to stay. How does the monumental blockbuster hit of 1928 look now? Let's begin at that most 20's of gathering places, the speakeasy, where waiter Al Stone's (Jolson) life is about to change, and find out...

The Story: Al's been trying to get into the big time for years. He finally rates notice when he performs a song he wrote for lovely but superficial Molly Malone (Dunn) and is spotted by a Broadway producer. Molly claims to fall for Al right there and then, but she's more interested in his success than him. 

Al does become a huge Broadway star, but his marriage with Molly is empty. She's more interested in her affair with the more traditionally handsome John Perry (Reed Howes). Al's only true loves are performing and his child Sonny (Lee). Fed up with him being more interested in his career and the kid than her, Molly takes Sonny to Paris and gets a divorce. Al loses his job and becomes a bum, until he returns to Blackie's Cafe and is encouraged back into the limelight by sweet Grace (Bronson), who has always really loved him. His big comeback is hounded by tragedy, but it's Grace who reminds him that, even when those we love can only be there in spirit, we can still sing for them.

The Song and Dance: Some of Jolson's best song performances can be found here. "Sonny Boy" would prove to be such a phenomenon, it launched a series of equally melodramatic sob stories and sad songs performed by similar nervy entertainers in early talkies. Jolson comes across much better on more vibrant songs, especially the opening "It All Depends On You." His interaction with Davey Lee really is genuinely sweet; they do seem like a fond father and son, making his reaction when he loses him totally understandable.

The Numbers: Our first sound sequence has Al admitting to Molly and the speakeasy audience that "It All Depends on You." After he's spotted by the Broadway producer, he sings about how "I'm Sittin' On Top of the World." His first Broadway number gets him into a tuxedo for "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder." The massive hit "Sonny Boy" first turns up as a lullaby for Sonny after Al argues with Molly and we see her indifference to husband and son. He sings it again twice more, when Sonny is in the hospital, and in the finale in blackface while his heart is supposedly breaking. 

Trivia: There was originally another number for Jolson, the Mexican-tinged ruffles-and-castanets routine "The Spaniard Who Blighted My Life." The song's writer Billy Merson claimed that he made his living singing the song, and Jolson's version would diminish his. The song was cut from UK prints of the film...which are currently the only prints to survive today.

What I Don't Like: Hooo boy. At least The Jazz Singer had Warner Oland as Jolson's concerned father and Alan Crosland's inventive direction going for it. All this one has is an overheated soap opera plot that's as distasteful as it is silly. The histrionics are way over Jolson's head, making him look less like a jazz singer who just lost his kid and more like the fool of the title. No one comes remotely close to his scenery chewing. Dunn is bitter but doesn't have much to do, and Bronson barely appears and fades into the woodwork when she does. The blackface is saved for the last ten minutes or so, but he does still wear it, and there's also his treatment of his slightly stereotypical black valet.

Also, there's the entire problem of it being a part-talkie. The sound lurches in and out. One minute, everyone is emoting in silence; the next, Jolson is blaring "Keep Smiling at Trouble" to the room. It's disconcerting, to say the least. They should have either gone full-talkie (which they would for Jolson's next vehicle, Say It With Music) or left it silent. 

The Big Finale: This may have been what convinced the studios to take a chance on sound film, but nowadays, it's only of interest to the most ardent fans of Jolson and film historians.

Home Media: DVD only from the Warner Archives.

DVD

The Jazz Singer (1927)

Warner Bros, 1927

Starring Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, and Eugenie Besserer

Directed by Alan Crosland

Music and Lyrics by various

Come with me this week, and explore the very first musicals on the silver screen. Experiments with melding film and sound go back almost to the dawn of cinema, but they weren't well-received until the 1920's. Warner Brothers took a chance on a series of sound short subjects. When those were successful, they added background scores and sound effects to feature-length films, using their Vitaphone process where the sound is recorded on a record, then played with the movie. This would be one of the first feature-length films with actual dialogue. Jolson wasn't the first choice for this tale of how a Jewish performer reconciles his culture and his love of popular music, but it's hard to see anyone else in this now. How does this look almost 100 years later? Let's begin with silent title cards explaining the central dilemma and find out...

The Story: Thirteen-year-old Jakie Robinwitz (Bobby Gordon) runs away when his strict orthodox cantor father (Oland) forbids him from singing popular music in beer gardens. Over a decade later, he's now Jack Robin (Al Jolson), a singer in local cafes. He's discovered by dancer Mary Dale (McAvoy), who insists on him appearing in the show where she's currently working, April Follies. He's a big hit, prompting him to return to his mother...but his father still disdains his singing "jazz" music. It isn't until his father's dying that Jack realizes where he belongs, and that he can be wholly Jewish and revel in his own kind of music, too.

The Song and Dance: The roots of The Jazz Singer go far deeper than it being one of the catalysts for getting dialogue on the big screen. You can see the foundation for everything from big star dramas like the many versions of A Star Is Born to biographies like last week's I Saw the Light in an embryonic form here. No wonder most critics praised Jolson's performance. While he's no actor, he is a personality. The screen lights up whenever he's there. The "Blue Skies" sequence, where he sings the Irving Berlin standard to his delighted mother, and the infamous "You ain't seen nothin' yet!" number near the end may be the best examples of his considerable talent. 

The Numbers: We open 13-year-old Jakie Robinwitz (Bobby Gordon) singing "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" and "My Gal Sal," at the beer hall. The numbers so horrify the head of the temple's council (Otto Lederer) that he tells Jakie's parents what he's doing. The traditional Jewish song "Kol Nidre" is performed twice, by Cantor Rabinowitz (dubbed by a real Cantor, Rosenblatt) when he realizes he's lost his son, and later by Jakie when he realizes how much his religion is a part of his life. 

"Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" is his big number in the nightclub. The teary ballad prompts Mary to call him one of the few jazz singers who can elicit a tear along with a sigh. He's even more dynamic on his next number, leaping into "Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye" with relish. The sequence where he talks to his mother while singing the Irving Berlin standard "Blue Skies" is likely the most famous now as the first dialogue sequence. He sings "Mother of Mine, I Still Have You" at the dress rehearsal and "My Mammy" at the actual performance in the Winter Garden.

Trivia: Jolson wasn't the studio's original choice for Jakie. The part was intended for the star of the original Broadway play George Jessel, but he wanted too much money and Jolson stepped in.

That's the real Winter Garden Jakie performs at during the finale. The Winter Garden still very much exists today, and in fact briefly became a movie theater shortly after this movie debuted. A revival of Mamma Mia! will be opening there this fall.

What I Don't Like: For all its influence, the melodramatic story hasn't really dated well at all. All of the actors pale besides Jolson and Oland as his strict father. Besserer doesn't have much to do besides look maternal (other than her slightly forced dialogue during the "Blue Skies" sequence), and McAvoy has even less as the lady who helps Jack become a success. It can all be a bit too much for many modern audiences, who may wonder what the fuss was about. 

There's also Jolson performing in blackface to contend with. Yes, it's history, it's part of Jolson's act, and it goes back to his days playing with minstrel troupes. That doesn't make it any easier to take for audiences today.

The Big Finale: No matter how dated this is or isn't, it's still history. Necessary viewing for cinema historians, musical fans, and major fans of Jolson and early talkie musicals.

Home Media: Easily found in all formats, including Tubi for free with commercials. The DVD is a three-disc set that also includes many sound shorts of the era. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

Tubi

Cult Flops - Madam Satan

MGM, 1930

Starring Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny, Roland Young, and Lillian Roth

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille

Music by Herbert Stothart and Jack King; Lyrics by Clifford Grey and Elsie Janis

DeMille, best known today for his biblical spectacles like the silent and sound versions of The Ten Commandments, made only one musical. He joined MGM in 1928 and proceeded to make his first sound film, the prison drama Dynamite. Looking for a jazzier successor, he literally went for jazz. Musicals were still all the rage when pre-production began in early 1930. Few people working in Hollywood escaped song and dance, and DeMille was no exception. The first half was a drawing room farce not far removed from his silent successes like The Affairs of Anatol, but the second hour...well, let's say it's something else. Just how bizarre does this movie get? Let's begin with sweet, demure housewife Angela (Johnson) as she waits for her husband Bob (Denny) to come home and find out...

The Story: Bob and his friend Jimmy Wade (Young) come home late, lying about being out with a certain "Mrs. Brooks." "Mrs. Brooks" is actually Trixie (Roth), a chorus girl Bob's been having an affair with. Jimmy lies and says she's his wife. Angela knows they're fibbing up their sleeves, but her attempt to counter with a lie of her own about leaving Bob and staying with Jimmy and his wife ends with her hiding in the blankets while Jimmy tosses out a lot of excuses to his best friend. Trixie turns up here and claims Angela can't muster up enough sexiness to keep her husband around.

Angela is determined to prove otherwise when they're both invited to a huge masquerade party on Jimmy's dirigible. She dons a bad French accent and a sequined dress that leaves little to the imagination and calls herself "Madam Satan." Bob's smitten, but they both end up learning a lesson in what matters when the blimp is damaged in a storm, and they may end up going down with it if they can't find parachutes.

The Song and Dance: "Bizarre" doesn't begin to do this supremely weird dive into action extravaganza justice. The staid romantic comedy in the first half barely gives you an idea of what's ahead during the second hour. Young and Roth have by far the most fun here as the befuddled best buddy and the vivacious show girl who believes in looking out for number one. Johnson does better once she sheds her inhibitions on board that doomed blimp, and she's a decent singer, too. The lavish costumes and gigantic sets defy description, especially the jagged representations of electricity on the wild "Ballet Mechanique" that depicts working gears. The special effects remain pretty darn good to this day, too, especially in the finale when the blimp is going down. 

The Numbers: We begin with "Live and Love Today," as Angela's maid Martha (Elsa Peterson) encourages her to fight for her man. Trixie really throws herself into the jazzy "Low Down" for the guys at Jimmy's apartment, belting and shimmying with verve. She has almost as much fun doing a reprise at the party in her pheasant plumage. "The Cat Walk" and "We're Going Somewhere" brings all of the partygoers in their decadent and insane costumes onto the dirigible. The instrumental "Ballet Mechanique" has all of those zizag-clad dancers trying to look incredibly serious in razor-sharp costumes as they depict clocks, gears, and lightning. 

Young takes us into the "Girl Auction," as he sells kisses for the prettiest and best-dressed ladies. "Meet Madam" brings us the lady in question, in all of her barely-dressed, exotic, insane glory. Madame finally gets her way when Bob sweeps her into the waltz "All I Know Is You're In My Arms."

Trivia: The "Ballet Mechanique" was originally filmed in Multicolor, but current prints are only in black and white. A second ballad for Bob and Angela, "This Is Love," is also missing. 

That's Cecil B. DeMille himself as the voice of the radio announcer near the end of the movie.

What I Don't Like: Let's start with Bob. He's such a bland jerk, I have no idea why Trixie and Angela were fighting over him. They both would have been smarter to just walk out. Denny does slightly better on the blimp when he's fawning over Madam Satan, but he's never intriguing enough to warrant her vamping. You almost hope he goes down with the ship.

Second, did I mention how damn odd this is? For one thing, there's the blatant tone problem. No one ever seemed to figure out what this movie should be. It begins as a domestic comedy, switches to a screwball farce when Jimmy's hiding Angela, then turns into a fanciful operetta after the party starts on the blimp before ending as an early example of a disaster movie when the blimp goes down. You'll get whiplash every time the movie switches styles again. The music's totally unmemorable, and DeMille never could figure out how to set it up gracefully. People start singing and go back to talking with no rhyme or reason. 

The Big Finale: For all the problems and sheer weirdness, this is still recommended for fans of DeMille, the early talkie era, or camp enthusiasts looking for something totally different in their moviegoing.

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

DVD

Amazon Prime

The Dance of Life

Paramount, 1929

Starring Hal Skelly, Nancy Carroll, Dorothy Revier, and Charles D. Brown

Directed by John Cromwell and A. Edward Sutherland

Music by Richard A. Whiting; Lyrics by Sam Coslow and Leo Robin

We celebrate Women's History Month with two early film musicals revolving around female-focused stories. The Dance of Life started out as Burlesque, a hit Broadway play with music in 1927. Barbara Stanwyck had her first major exposure as the feisty wife of an alcoholic stage star, but she wasn't even considered for the film. Carroll was one of the biggest stars of the late 20's and early 30's. She was pretty, smart, tough, and versatile, easily moving from comedy to drama to musicals at the drop of a hat. Paramount cast her alongside original stage star Skelly, along with several lesser-known character actors. How well do they do with the dark and gritty story? Let's begin backstage at a vaudeville house, as Bonny King (Carroll) tries to audition and find out...

The Story: Bonny's audition isn't a success, but she did impress Ralph "Skid" Johnson (Skelly), a comic with the show who was fired when he complained about her treatment. After hitting it off over a Bunsen burner at the train station, they decide to work together and get a better job at a burlesque company in Milwaukee. Not only are they hired, but they eventually fall for each other. Skid asks Bonny to marry him, but his alcoholism comes between them on their wedding night. Not to mention, comedienne Sylvia (Revier) is also in love with Skid and tries to get between them.

Skid is offered a job in a big Follies show, but Bonny isn't asked to join him. She encourages him to take it anyway. Unfortunately, the show's success drives him to the bottle and Sylvia's arms. After Bonny catches him in a speakeasy kissing Sylvia, she walks out and threatens divorce. Rancher Harvey Howell (Ralph Theodore) wants to marry her, but Skid isn't doing nearly as well. His drinking is effecting his performances, and he's back in burlesque. His newest show may not go on if Bonny can't get there in time to sober him up and remind him how much they mean to each other.

The Song and Dance: This wound up being a bit of a surprise. Carroll and Skelly are excellent as the faithful wife and loser of a comic in this searing look at the seamier side of show business. Though the grotesque dancers and low comics form something of a family for the duo, they also blatantly encourage Skid's drinking and Bonny's reliance on him. Burlesque as seen here is not a pretty place. From realistically corny numbers to grimy, sweaty dressing rooms, we get the full-on darker side of show business. Even the fact that Skelly is a bit on the plain side is pretty realistic, making it even more heartbreaking when this everyman comic goes on his downward slide. Sutherland apparently had to wring a good performance out of recalcitrant Carroll, but whatever he did worked. She's a decent dancer and does so well as the faithful, tough little Bonny, you can't help but feel she deserves so much better in the end.

The Numbers: We open with Bonny's attempt at what looks like a Charleston, but the pianist apparently doesn't play the song right. Bonny and Skid do a little dance routine in the train station, proving they do have chemistry. Our first chorus number is "King of Jazzmania." Not only is it barely-heard on the terrible copy at Tubi, it's also not very good. The ladies can't sing in harmony or stay in step. Skid does better when he literally tumbles down to the stage for his rubber-legged solo. Bonny does "Cuddlesome Baby" among the men in the audience, but Skid isn't happy when one of those men get a little too grabby for his and Bonny's liking. 

The best number goes to Skid. He sings "Tru Blu Lou," a sweet but corny ballad about a faithful lady and the man who didn't appreciate her laying right before the camera. The intimacy as Skid smokes and relates the song gives it an almost elegant feeling that makes it very different from some of the noisier numbers in the early talkies era. "Ladies of the Dance" is the big Follies routine, with chorus girls in towering headdresses parading before the camera. The lavish costumes lose something without the color, but they're still pretty impressive. Marjorie Kane comes out at the end to introduce "The Flippity Flop" with Skid and the chorus. Skid's rubber-kneed comic dance is almost as impressive. 

Bonny sings the sad ballad "In the Gloaming" for her ex-husband and fiancee, but her heart certainly isn't in it. Skid tries to pep up the proceedings, but he's clearly drunk and hiding it. Skid is supposed to be "The Mightiest Matador" in the burlesque finale, but he can barely stand. Bonny encourages him to stay with the number and reprises their dance to "Swanee River" in the finale, as they did early-on when they were talking about getting married.

Trivia: The Follies numbers were originally filmed in 2-strip Technicolor. While a bit of the color is said to survive, current prints are only in black and white. 

The name The Dance of Life was actually taken from a then-daring book on sex.

Burlesque would be remade twice, as Swing High, Swing Low in 1937 with Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray and When My Baby Smiles at Me in 1948 with Betty Grable and Dan Dailey.

What I Don't Like: First of all, while this moves pretty well for the time period, we do get occasional reminders of this being an early talkie whenever people are standing and talking, or they start a dance number and it's filmed from the front, with barely any movement. That's fine for Skelly's low-key "Tru Blu Lou," but it just makes the chorus numbers look static. The loss of the color means that the Follies numbers are blurred and indistinct, occasionally making it hard to tell what anyone is.

Carroll and Skelly's strong performances don't mask the heavy cliches here. This has been borrowed from over and over again since the original play debuted, including the two official remakes mentioned in the trivia section. The up and down story isn't anything you haven't seen before or won't see again from the 20's onwards. And...to tell the truth, I can't help thinking that nowadays, Bonny would either go back to the rancher or strike out on her own. She deserved a lot better than a man who didn't want to be changed.

The Big Finale: Worth seeing if you're a fan of Caroll, backstage melodrama, or want to check it a really good early talkie drama. 

Home Media: Not officially available on disc at press time. It's in the public domain, so it can be found easily online, though the prints are usually not the best quality.

Tubi

Internet Archive

Back to School Again - Sweetie (1929)

Paramount, 1929

Starring Nancy Carroll, Stanley Smith, Helen Kane, and Jack Oakie

Directed by Frank Tuttle

Music by Richard Whiting; Lyrics by George Marion Jr.

First of all, Musical Dreams Movie Reviews is going on vacation hiatus from September 22nd through the 30th. Reviews will resume October 1st. To make up for that, you'll be getting an extra review on Wednesday every week for the rest of the month.

Second, we kick off Back to School week with one of the oldest college-related film musicals. Movies with college settings go back to the silent era, complete with football games, homecoming dances, strict deans, and flappers chasing only slightly reluctant class presidents. College musicals had become especially popular in the late 20's, thanks to the success of the Broadway show Good News. This is Paramount's answer to that rush. How does the story of a chorus girl who inherits a university look nowadays? Let's enter the campuses of The Pellham School and Miss Twill's School for Girls in North Carolina and find out...

The Story: Barbara Pell (Carroll) is shocked when she inherits Pellham from a deceased uncle. Her former boyfriend Biff Bentley (Smith) was going to marry her, but he opted to stay at Pellham and finish out the football season instead. He's one of the reasons they're having their best season ever. Barbara's furious with him. She quit her Broadway job to be with him and was dumped back in the chorus when he left her. 

She first gives him tests on football days, then claims she'll sell the college to their rival school and let him knock it down. Even her Broadway buddy Tap-Tap Thompson (Oakie) knows that's pushing things too far. While Biff tries to prove to Barbara that she means as much to him as football does, Miss Twill's student Helen Fry (Kane) is up trees shooting boys in the rear, especially Biff's fellow football player Axel Bronstrup (Stuart Erwin). 

The Song and Dance: Carroll and the supporting cast are the standouts here. Kane shows the feisty cooing that made her the inspiration for Betty Boop, and Oakie has a fine time hamming it up as the dancer who ends up deciding he might actually like higher education. Carroll also has some good moments, especially early-on when she drops Biff after he claims he wants to finish the season. Paramount really jumped into this one, with lovely gowns and suits for the homecoming dance and a genuine field for the guys to play that all-important game on in the end. It honesty moves pretty fast for an early talkie film, with more vitality than most of them.

Favorite Number: Our first song is "Bear Down, Pellham." This sentimental fight song is what convinces Biff to stay at school and on the football team, after he hears his fellow team members singing it, looks into a mirror, and remembers what it feels like to be a football hero. Jack Oakie and the chorus girls have an instrumental tap routine at a Broadway theater after Barbara returns to the chorus that she's having a hard time keeping up with. 

Biff and Barbara perform the ballad "My Sweeter Than Sweet" on a simple piano as the school decorates for the homecoming dance. Helen boop-oop-a-doops through the only standard from this score, "He's So Unusual," looking every inch like a live-action Betty Boop. She and Oakie teach the kids decorating the lively routine "The Prep Step" for the dance. Oakie sings the goofy Al Jolson parody "Alma Mammy" at the school dance. All of the kids eventually join in for the closest thing this gets to a big dance routine. Helen tries to explain to Erwin when he climbs a ladder to her window that "I Think You'll Like It." The students briefly reprise "Alma Mammy" at the big game in very strange blackface masks that are probably supposed to represent Jolson. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Smith is so dull, especially compared to hams like Kane and Oakie, that you wonder why Barbara wanted revenge on him to begin with. Though she does eventually rescind on her plans when she realizes how important football is to the school, Barbara's scheme to shut down an entire college just because her boyfriend dumped her for 8 months seems annoyingly petty. 

And yeah, this is an early talkie school musical. The story is cliched other than the angle of Barbara inheriting the school, only "He's So Unusual" stands out among the songs, and though the copy currently on YouTube is in surprisingly decent shape for the era, it still occasionally slows down and shows scenes of people sitting and talking.

The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of Carroll, Kane, Oakie, or the movies of the pre-Code late 20's and early 30's. 

Home Media: To my knowledge, this can only be found at YouTube at the moment, but the copy is in surprisingly decent shape.

YouTube

Cult Flops - Sweet Kitty Bellairs

Warner Bros, 1930

Starring Claudia Dell, Walter Pidgeon, Ernest Torrence, and June Collyer

Directed by Alfred E. Green

Music by Walter O'Keefe; Lyrics by Robert Emmett Dolan

Operetta - historical musicals with more opera-like songs and romantic plots - were wildly popular during the lavish 20's as theatergoers reveled in lavish melodramas far removed from their lives. They were just starting to fall out of favor onstage during the early sound era as their creaky fairy tales were replaced by more modern stories and jazzier music. This extended to films as well. By the time this movie came out in August 1930, the public had seen way too many poorly made movies - operettas especially - and had begun to stay away. Were they right to avoid this one, or should this confection of a movie get a second chance to join the ball? Let's begin in a coach on the way to Bath, England in 1793 and find out...

The Story: Kitty Bellairs (Dell) is notorious in London for her forty affairs, and this situation doesn't seem much different when she goes to Bath. Even during the coach trip, shy nobleman Lord Varney (Walter Pidgeon) and a dashing highwayman who stops the coach and steals their valuables fall for her. Varney tries to defend Kitty when the highwayman offers to exchange their things for a kiss, but she gives it to the man anyway when he easily beats him. Kitty is totally in love with this bandit, especially after he slips a ring on her finger.

Varney still wishes to win Kitty's love. He claims he'll write her a poem, but his friend Colonel Villiers (Lionel Belmore) thinks there's more to winning the lady than pretty words. Kitty, for her part, is having a hard time choosing suitors. She met the dashing Captain O'Hara (Perry Ashkam) at a party and finds him just as attractive as Varney and the highwayman. She does better helping her best friend Lady Julia Standish (Collyer) make her neglectful husband Lord Jasper (Torrence) jealous. Kitty does too well. Standish thinks the lock of red hair and note left behind and suspects Varney of being his wife's lover. Kitty finally decides to step in and resolve matters, before she loses the one man who really does love her.

The Song and Dance: It's too bad more people don't know about this one. It's absolutely charming, with lovely period-appropriate songs and gorgeous costumes. Dell is the stand-out as the coquettish Kitty, who may flirt outrageously, but deep down is willing to help when she realizes all the trouble her teasing caused. And who knew Walter Pidgeon could make such an adorable bashful suitor? We even get some excellent outdoor shooting for the early sound era. Green keeps things moving at a fair pace, and it doesn't suffer from the stiffness and staginess that affected so many movies in the early 30's. 

Favorite Number: We open in that coach, with Kitty, her friend, Lord Varney, and Colonel Villiers "On the Road to Bath" as they reveal why they're there and how Varney has already fallen for Kitty. "The Highwayman's Song" brings in the mysterious bandit whose machismo captures Kitty's heart. "Song of the Town of Bath" is the number for the gossipy citizens as the carriage rolls in. The short "Drunk Song" is, as you can guess, the number for the men of the cast after spending time at the local tavern. "Peggy's Leg" is a similar number for the male leads. Varney claims "My Love, I'll Be Waiting For You" to Kitty early on; they duet on it near the end, when she begins to change her mind about him. "Pump Room Song" is Kitty's number with the chorus. "You, I Love But You" is Kitty's big ballad. She sings it three times in the film, the third with Pidgeon. 

Trivia: This was originally filmed in color, but survives in black and white.

What I Don't Like: What audience did Warners intend this for again? This would be a hard sell for a lot of people nowadays, let alone in the hardscrabble early 30's. Pidgeon's name is the only familiar one. The remaining cast is made up of stage actors and barely-remembered Warners character actors. They're not going for realism here. It's supposed to be set in England, but not a single British accent is to be heard. To say the plot is complicated would be like saying the Atlantic is wet. There's so much going on for such a short movie, you may need a notebook to keep track of it all. And obviously, if you don't go in for historical fiction, operetta, opera-style music, or swashbuckling action, this is absolutely not going to be for you. 

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of operetta or historical swashbucklers like me, you'll want to join Kitty on the road to Bath and give this dashing treat a second chance at romance. 

Home Media: DVD only as one of the earliest Warner Archive titles.

DVD

Honey (1930)

Paramount, 1930

Starring Nancy Carroll, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Stanley Smith, and Lillian Roth

Directed by Wesley Ruggles

Music by W. Franke Harling; Lyrics by Sam Coslow

Not all musicals from the early sound era were backstage spectacles or soppy melodramas. By 1930, Hollywood had begun to venture into creating musicals made just for the screen, either with original stories or based on non-musical plays, like our first review this week. Come Out of the Kitchen was originally a play in 1916. Having first filmed it in 1919, Paramount dusted it off again for sound and musical treatment and to showcase then-major stars Roth, Gallagher, and Carroll. How well did they do with this farce about impoverished siblings who rent out their home to a wealthy family and find love in the bargain? Let's begin at a southern plantation, where Olivia Dangerfield (Carroll) is preparing to move out of her room so the new renters can move in, and find out...

The Story: Olivia and her brother Charles (Gallagher) are moving downstairs because the cook and butler they hired ended up getting married instead. Desperate, they take over as the cook and butler, while Mayme (ZaSu Pitts) and her obnoxious daughter Doris (Mitzi Green) work upstairs. Mrs. Falkner (Jobyna Howland) arrives with her vivacious daughter Cora (Roth) and Cora's handsome fiancee Burton Crane (Smith) in tow.  Burton quickly falls for Olivia, who tries to hide her situation, while Cora pursues Charles and Mayme falls for Crane's friend J. William Burnstein (Harry Green), who is there to keep an eye on Mrs. Falkner's jewelry. Needless to say, Mrs. Falkner protests all of this, and Olivia is reluctant to tell Burton how far she's fallen.

The Song and Dance: The songs are pretty much the only things carrying this one. notably its sole standard "Sing You Sinners." Carroll is charming and lovely and Roth is adorable and plays well off the goofier Gallagher, but it's Howland who stomps away with the picture as the monstrous snob of a mother. Some of the costumes (that can be seen in the terrible copy currently at YouTube) aren't bad, either, especially during that amazing "Sing You Sinners" revival sequence. 

Favorite Number: We don't get a song until nearly a half-hour into a movie that's a little over an hour...and when we do, it's the slightly sappy ballad "In My Little Hope Chest." Olivia performs it to explain why she keeps up her hopes of finding the right person to Burton. Charles and Cora have more fun encouraging each other "Let's Be Domestic." Mayme and William are even funnier admitting this outside while doing the laundry. Charles claims "I Don't Need Atmosphere" to court Cora right before they head to the revival meeting.

That revival meeting provides the film's big chorus number and sole truly memorable sequence. Louise Beavers starts things off with a powerhouse rendition of "Sing You Sinners" with the black chorus. Mitzi Green takes over briefly, coming off as a lot more enjoyable than she ever was in the rest of the film. Roth gets even more into it with her own solo near the end. She has such a great time, writhing and shaking with abandon, that the song became something of a signature for her. The number is totally extraneous and is never mentioned again, but it's such an awesome moment, you don't mind at all.

Trivia: Lyricist Sam Coslow claimed in his autobiography that a young and unknown Bing Crosby was considered for the Burton Crane role.

"Sing You Sinners" actually was inspired by a real-life revival meeting Coslow attended with friends.

There would be at least two foreign language versions made in 1930 and 1931, the French Cherie and the German Every Woman Has Something. 

What I Don't Like: No wonder Carroll protested getting stuck in this. This is about the most typical piece of musical fluff you can think of. It's also badly dated in its condescending treatment of its black and female characters and silly story. Other than her part in "Let's Be Domestic," Pitts spends most of the movie whining and crying and is really annoying. Bratty Green is even harder to take. I'm surprised no one grabbed that kid and gave her a good, hard shake. 

They really should have used Crosby, who might have been able to make Burton at least slightly interesting. Smith is stiff as a board and about as much fun to watch. Ruggles is normally a good director, as we see in "Sing You Sinners," but most of the movie shows its stage origins too plainly in all the people standing around talking.

The Big Finale: Only for the most ardent fans of early sound film. All others would be advised to skip right to "Sing You Sinners" and pass on the rest of this.

Home Media: At press time, this can only be found - in a washed-out copy that's badly in need of restoration - at YouTube.

YouTube

Animal Crackers

Paramount, 1930

Starring The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo), Margaret Dumont, Lillian Roth, and Louis Sorin

Directed by Victor Heerman

Music by Bert Kalmar; Lyrics by Harry Ruby

Let's laugh our way into the spring with two semi-musicals featuring one of Hollywood's favorite comedy teams. After The Coconuts was a hit, Paramount brought the Marxes back to their Astoria Studios in New York to film their third Broadway show. Nowadays, this is probably best-known for the two opening songs that continued to be associated with Groucho for the rest of his life, It was little-seen from the 50's through the 1970's; its restoration and re-release in 1974 brought it back into the public eye and revealed how sharp and funny this is. Is it just as hilarious now, or should it be knocked out? Let's begin at the Long Island home of wealthy Mrs. Rittenhouse (Dumont) and her daughter Arabella (Roth) as they prepare for a party and find out...

The Story: The guest of honor is Captain Jeffery Spaulding (Groucho), who claims he just came from exploring Africa. With him come Signor Ravelli (Chico) and The Professor (Harpo), who were hired to provide music for the party. Spaulding almost leaves right away before he starts in on flirting with Mrs. Rittenhouse. Arabella is more interested in showing off her artist boyfriend John's (Hal Thompson) work to art collector Roscoe W. Chandler (Sorin). He painted an exact copy of a priceless artwork Chandler recently acquired and intends to show off at the party. She encourages John to replace the real artwork with his to show how good it is. 

Party guest Grace Carpenter (Kathryn Reece) also copied the painting as a student and decides to replace the real one with hers to humiliate Mrs. Rittenhouse. Arabella gets Ravelli and the Professor to take the real one and put up John's...but then the paintings get switched. When the police are called in, Grace decides things have gone too far...but the Professor seems to have vanished with all the paintings...

The Song and Dance: This may be my favorite of the Paramount Marx Brothers movies. I fell in love with it after it turned up at a local video store in the 90's and my family rented it several times. No wonder it was a big hit in the 30's and again in the 70's. Groucho's "Hello, I Must Be Going" says more about his snarky character than any dialogue ever could. He gets some of his most famous lines here, including his delightfully absurd African safari story and his mock-deadpan "strange interlude" asides with Mrs. Whitehead (Margaret Irving) and Mrs. Rittenhouse. Adorable Roth and Thompson fit far better with the Marxes and their brand of comedy than the stiffer lovers in The Coconuts, too. Chico and Harpo get to have fun with a wacky bridge game and with their attempt to switch the paintings.

Favorite Number: We open with the butler Hives (Robert Greig) instructing six footmen (The Music Masters) as how to handle Spaulding. After all, "He's One of Those Men." Spaulding's secretary Horatio Jamison (Zeppo) announces "I Represent the Captain" to Mrs. Rittenhouse and her anxious guests. Spaulding finally arrives on a litter borne by four men, prompting "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" from the delighted guests. Spaulding is not delighted. He'd rather be anywhere else, as he admits in "Hello, I Must Be Going." Later on after the paintings are switched, 

Arabella and John wonder "Why am I So Romantic?" and why they're so crazy about each other. Chico performs his own charming instrumental "I'm Daffy Over You" on piano later during the party, while Harpo gets the lovely antique standard "Silver Threads Among the Gold" on the harp. The Marxes turn up triumphantly with Harpo and the paintings after a prolonged chase while singing "My Old Kentucky Home." 

Trivia: The Marxes filmed The Coconuts while appearing in Animal Crackers on Broadway. It ran for six months from October 1929 through April 1930, not bad for the time. It finally got a brief run in the West End in 1999. The show does turn up occasionally on regional stages, usually with other Kalmar-Ruby songs of the 20's and 30's padding the score.  

"Hooray for Captain Spaulding" was so associated with Groucho, it later became the theme song of his game show You Bet Your Life. 

Though many songs were deleted from the movie version, it also added "Why am I So Romantic?" 

The Marxes, Dumont, Craig, Irving, and Sorin repeat their Broadway roles. 

Strange Interlude was a wildly popular and influential nine-act experimental play written by Eugene O'Neil that ran in New York at the same time as Animal Crackers. Characters make asides to explain their thoughts in the middle of soliloquies as Groucho does. 

Several minutes of especially spicy dialogue was deleted for a reissue in 1936. The original version was thought lost until 2016, when a full copy was found in England and released on Blu-Ray.

What I Don't Like: This is very clearly an early sound film. Most of the movie is extremely stagey, with everyone standing around and talking or singing. When you hear thunder, it's clearly a sound effects man rattling tin offstage. Though it largely avoids the dull chorus numbers from The Coconuts, it also doesn't have much music besides Groucho's two iconic songs. Some of the jokes, like the "strange interludes" mentioned above, may not land with those who don't know the Marxes or the time period.

The Big Finale: If you want to find out how the Marxes started out, this is a far better introduction to them than The Coconuts. Highly recommended for fans of early sound comedy or those who just want to find out more about the Marxes and their brand of madness.

Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming. The Blu-Ray is the 2016 restored version.

DVD

DVD - The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection

Blu-Ray

YouTube