“Star Of The Month (February 2022)” Featuring Deanna Durbin in… Because Of Him (1946)

We’re back for another film featuring this month’s Star, Deanna Durbin! This time, it’s her 1946 film Because Of Him, also starring Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone!

Coming Up Shorts! with… The Barber Of Seville (1944)

(available on Blu-ray as part of The Woody Woodpecker Screwball Collection from Universal Studios)

(Length: 6 minutes, 56 seconds)

Woody Woodpecker stops in at the Seville Barber Shop for a haircut, but the owner is out for his physical. When an Indian chief and a construction worker come in, Woody proceeds to wreak havoc on the two men. This was another fun one! I’ll admit, it quickly brings to mind the later Rabbit Of Seville Bugs Bunny cartoon, given its references to the Barber Of Seville opera, and is not quite as much fun as that Looney Tunes cartoon. The biggest problem here is the series of stereotyped gags revolving around the Native American customer. Take away that, and this one is a lot of fun, especially once Woody starts in singing “The Barber Of Seville Overture” while working on the construction worker. That sequence alone is well worth it (and, compared to some of the previous shorts, Woody Woodpecker is now sporting the look that he seems to be best known for)!

And Now For The Main Feature…

Lead stage actor John Sheridan (Charles Laughton) has just finished a successful run in the play Cyrano De Bergerac, and is looking forward to enjoying his vacation doing nothing but fishing. However, his producer, Charlie Gilbert (Stanley Ridges), is trying to line up the cast for John’s next show, Strange Laughter, currently being written by Paul Taylor (Franchot Tone). The playwright and producer both have an actress in mind for the lead, but John wants somebody else (but doesn’t say who before leaving). On his way to his fishing spot, John stops at a diner, where he gives an autograph to his waitress, Kim Walker (Deanna Durbin). What he doesn’t know is that the piece of paper that she had him sign was a typed letter of introduction to Charlie Gilbert endorsing her for the role! With the encouragement of her friend and roommate Nora Bartlett (Helen Broderick), Kim takes the letter to Charlie’s office. Charlie (who was unable to get ahold of John since John had given him false information as to where he would be going fishing) takes the letter at face value and decides to give her the part. When he comes into Charlie’s office, Paul (who had met her on the street and tried to flirt with her) questions her about her stage experience. When he finds out that she has none, his attitude toward her changes, and he decides that she cannot have the part. Choosing to go with “John’s” advice, Charlie decides to ignore Paul, and throws a party at John’s apartment to announce her for the role. John arrives at his apartment while the party is going on (having ended his vacation early due to frequent rain preventing him from doing any fishing), and quickly finds out what is going on from his butler, Martin (Donald Meek). He allows Kim to keep her deception going, but tries to walk her home as soon as possible. Once they arrive, he admits that he does like her, but advises her to return to her hometown. Seeing how devastated Kim is over his words, Nora decides to call up the newspapers and tell them that Kim attempted suicide because of John’s rejection. The next day, after seeing the news, John decides to go “reconcile” with her and take her out to a nightclub (merely for the sake of appearances). Afterwards, he still believes she should abandon her hope of acting. That is, until he hears her sing, and then he decides to give her the part in the play. When she arrives back at her apartment, she runs into Paul, who had seen the paper and thought that she had tried to commit suicide because of him. They start to fall for each other, and he offers her the part. Then he sees the script that John had given her, and, although she tries to tell him the truth, he refuses to believe her. In rehearsals, he really picks on her acting, which results in John threatening to leave the show if Paul doesn’t stop. So, Paul leaves, with John now directing the show. As the show opening gets closer, Paul sues to have his name removed from the play. Kim tries to convince him to come see the final rehearsals, but he won’t budge. Will the play be a success? Will Paul come to his senses about Kim?

After It Started With Eve, Deanna Durbin had tried to branch out with different types of roles under producer Felix Jackson (who became her second husband in 1945). She tried tackling some more dramatic roles, but her fans much preferred her in the musical comedies that she was known for. So, Universal made plans for her to work with her It Started With Eve co-star and friend Charles Laughton (although the film was originally to be titled Catherine The Last). When Franchot Tone (who had co-starred with her in Nice Girl? and His Butler’s Sister) was brought in, the title became Because Of Him. When released, the film received mixed to bad reviews, which certainly didn’t help Deanna Durbin out any as her career was now winding down.

Quite simply stated, another Deanna Durbin film, another new one to me, and another one that I liked! Overall, it was quite a fun film, and kept me laughing throughout! Deanna is fun as a wannabe actress trying to find an inroads into the profession (even if she really doesn’t know much about acting), and Charles Laughton’s John Sheridan is also a hoot! I thoroughly enjoyed watching him ham things up as an actor constantly borrowing lines from his plays and making everything more dramatic (and teaching her a thing or two in the process). Plain and simple, their relationship is the heart of the film, and makes it quite entertaining!

In spite of that, though, I will readily admit, it’s one of the weaker Deanna Durbin films I’ve seen so far. The main issue I have with the film is the relationship between Deanna’s Kim and Franchot Tone’s Paul, as they spend most of the film at odds with each other. It starts out innocently (and humorously) enough, as he flirts with her when he meets her on the street (even if she doesn’t give him her phone number). Then, when he realizes that she is an amateur trying to make it into his play, he soundly rejects her for the part, and never lets up (except when he briefly believes that she attempted suicide “because of him”). The idea that they are “in love” just doesn’t work too well for me. I’m also not too crazy about the music in the film, although I will say that I enjoyed how it was staged (with Deanna singing “Good Bye” standing out quite a bit, as she tries to pester Paul throughout his hotel in an attempt to get him to come to the final dress rehearsal). With regards to Deanna’s co-stars here, I don’t think this film is as good as It Started With Eve or Nice Girl? (can’t speak to His Butler’s Sister, as I haven’t seen that one yet). It was still an entertaining one that I look forward to seeing again and again (whether on its own merits or in watching any of Deanna’s filmography)! Certainly one that I would recommend!

What’s Old Is A New Release Again (2021) with… Because Of Him (1946)

This movie is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Studios. The Blu-ray release appear to be an HD scan that overall looks very good, with little to no damage evident. I’ll admit, I was surprised to see this one released on Blu-ray, since it was NOT one of the nine Deanna Durbin films that Kino Lorber had licensed (with six of them getting dropped when the first three-film set bombed). I didn’t expect this release, but it looks quite good, and is probably the best way to see this very fun film!

Film Length: 1 hour, 28 minutes

My Rating: 9/10

List Of Actor/Actress Filmographies/Collections

Can’t Help Singing (1944) – Deanna Durbin – Something In The Wind (1947)

It Started With Eve (1941) – Charles Laughton – Abbott And Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)

Nice Girl? (1941) – Franchot Tone – Here Come The Groom (1951)

Nice Girl? (1941) – Helen Broderick

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The King Of Hollywood And I: A Birthday Celebration (2022) with… Mutiny On The Bounty (1935)

Well, since I revealed my shared birthday with Clark Gable last year, I have decided to rechristen today’s special once-a-year post as being part of my new series The King Of Hollywood And I: A Birthday Celebration (with the previous reviews of Clark Gable films on this day to be included)! Under this new series, we shall start off with the classic 1935 Clark Gable movie Mutiny On The Bounty, also starring Charles Laughton!

Coming Up Shorts! with… Pitcairn Island Today (1935)

(available as an extra on the Mutiny On The Bounty Blu-ray from Warner Archive Collection)

(Length: 9 minutes, 39 seconds)

As narrated by Carey Wilson, we get a quick history of the journey of the mutineers from the Bounty. After that, we see what things were like (at the time this short was made) on the island of Pitcairn. Numerous descendants of the mutineers still remained on the island, living a simple life. There was some footage borrowed from the 1933 film In The Wake Of The Bounty. It’s an interesting short (and one that was made to help promote the 1935 movie Mutiny On The Bounty), but it’s not one that I feel the need to revisit at any point soon.

And Now For The Main Feature…

It’s December of 1787, and the ship H. M. S. Bounty of the British navy is anchored in Portsmouth Harbour, England. Preparations are underway for a two-year trip to the Tahitian islands to collect some breadfruit trees (needed in the West Indies as a relatively cheap source of food for slaves). Press gangs led by Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) help fill out the crew, and Roger Byam (Franchot Tone) is sent along as a midshipman by Sir Joseph Banks (Henry Stephenson), who hopes that Roger will be able to help compile a Tahitian dictionary for him. When Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton) comes on board the ship before they sail, he orders the whole crew to observe a “flogging through the fleet” of a man who struck his captain. The man is dead by the time he gets to their ship, but the captain gives the order to have him flogged, just the same. Once the ship is under way, Captain Bligh strongly maintains discipline on the ship. He underfeeds the men and is quick to have punishment administered even to those who call him out for his own greed and fraud. This angers Christian, and the two are almost at each other’s throats when they arrive at Tahiti. There, they are met by the island’s chief, Hitihiti (William Bambridge), who had met the captain when he was on Captain Cook’s ship that arrived there nearly a decade earlier. The captain orders all the men to harvest the breadfruit trees or work on the ship, with Christian in particular not being granted shore leave. Due to Roger’s commission on the Tahitian dictionary, he is allowed to go ashore and live with the chief while he works. He falls in love with the chief’s daughter, Tehani (Movita Castaneda), and the chief is able to wrangle a day’s shore leave for Christian (who falls in love with Maimiti, played by Mamo Clark). Once they have harvested all the breadfruit they need and gotten the ship ready, everybody prepares to leave. Bligh immediately orders the discipline of some men who tried to desert, and requires everyone see it. The problem is that the ship’s drunken surgeon, Bacchus (Dudley Digges), has taken ill, and falls over dead when the captain insists that he be present instead of resting in bed. This incident and further punishment of the deserters is the breaking point for Christian, who leads many of the men in mutiny. Instead of killing the captain, Christian forces him and some of his supporters into a ship’s launch with provisions, and leaves them for dead. Roger and some others didn’t support the mutiny, but were stuck on the ship because there wasn’t enough room for them on the launch. Christian orders the Bounty to return to Tahiti, where the men enjoy their new homes and families. Meanwhile, the determined Captain Bligh helps steer the boat to a hospitable land over a period of nearly fifty days. On Tahiti, Christian and Roger manage to repair their friendship, but things change for everyone when a ship is sighted offshore. Christian and most of the other mutineers and their families get on the ship and leave, while Roger and some others who hadn’t mutinied stay behind. The ship, the Pandora, is captained by Bligh, who has Roger and the other men arrested for mutiny (regardless of whether they were guilty or not). He tries to hunt Christian and the others down, but only manages to run the ship aground. The survivors are taken back to England, where Roger and the mutineers are court-martialed. Will Roger be able to convince the court of his innocence, or will the vengeful Captain Bligh be successful in having him executed?

In real life, there was indeed a ship called the Bounty back in the late 1700s captained by a man named Bligh where the crew mutinied after a visit to Tahiti. That event inspired many tales, and the movies were not immune to telling the story, with an Australian silent film among the earliest in 1916. In the early 1930s, authors Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall borrowed from the legends to write a trilogy of books (Mutiny On The Bounty, Men Against The Sea and Pitcairn’s Island) on the subject. Frank Lloyd bought the film rights to the novels, hoping to direct himself as Bligh, and film it on a replica of the ship during an ocean trip to Tahiti. He sold the rights to MGM, where producer Irving Thalberg was able to convince him to direct it while abandoning his thoughts of starring in it and filming on an ocean trip. They wanted Clark Gable for the role of Fletcher Christian, but he didn’t want to do it, in between hating the period costume and being forced to shave off his mustache. Thalberg was finally able to convince him to take the role with a promise that Gable wouldn’t have to take another part he didn’t want if the movie didn’t become his biggest hit. For the role of Captain Bligh, they wanted somebody who didn’t get along with Gable off-screen to help bring out the hostilities between the characters onscreen. They first asked Wallace Beery, but his hatred for Gable was so much that he didn’t like the idea of being stuck with him for the long location shoot. Instead, they were able to get Charles Laughton, whose lifestyle and acting style caused tension between the two. It worked out well for everybody, with the film being one of the highest grossing movies of the year, and all three leads were nominated for Best Actor that year at the Oscars (but the film’s only win was for Best Picture). Plans were made (at one point or another) for two potential sequels (one following Captain Bligh, and another following Fletcher Christian), but nothing came of that. MGM remade the film in 1962 with Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard, which was nowhere near as well-received, and the story was told again in 1984 with The Bounty starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins (although that version was based on a different source than the Nordhoff and Hall novels) which was more historically accurate but still not as well-liked by audiences.

I first saw this movie about fifteen years ago (give or take a few years) when my family was renting DVDs from Netflix. At that time, I didn’t really take to the film (a combination of my taste in film at the time, not having developed an interest in Clark Gable much beyond Gone With The Wind and a DVD with a bad spot that froze up). I didn’t completely hate it, though, so there was a part of me that wanted to try it again at some point. I finally got around to seeing it again within the last year, and I now find it to be a much more enjoyable film than before! I like Clark Gable’s performance as the more sympathetic-to-his-men Fletcher Christian, especially as we see the cruelty of Captain Bligh slowly but surely get under his skin until he decides to take over the ship. And as Captain Bligh, Charles Laughton gives an equally great performance as the film’s villain, making it very easy to side with Gable’s Christian in the mutiny, even as he gains our sympathy a little when he actually takes care of his men when they are set adrift in the small boat. I’ll admit, it’s hard not to also think of The Caine Mutiny when watching this movie, given their similar concepts. Of course (and this is certainly a bit of a SPOILER for Caine and, to a lesser degree, Bounty), Caine leaves room to question whether the mutiny should have taken place, especially when Bogart’s Captain Queeg seems to be mentally unbalanced. Bounty leaves no room for question, as we see from the start that Laughton’s Captain Bligh is a cruel man without the slightest qualms about his actions, and therefore, his crew should have mutinied. Now, I will grant you, Mutiny On The Bounty is not historically accurate, most of which comes from the novels (which, as I said, drew from the legend and made Captain Bligh much more of a villain than was apparently the case in real life). Still, it’s a very entertaining movie, and one that I’ve come to appreciate more with time! Certainly a great film that I would definitely recommend!

This movie is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Archive Collection.

Film Length: 2 hours, 13 minutes

My Rating: 10/10

List Of Actor/Actress Filmographies/Collections

The Sign Of The Cross (1932) – Charles Laughton – The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939)

It Happened One Night (1934) – Clark Gable – San Francisco (1936)

Dancing Lady (1933) – Franchot Tone – Nice Girl? (1941)

What’s Old Is A New Release Again (2021) with… Nice Girl? (1941)

For today’s movie review, we’ve got a movie doing double-duty again, both as a recent Blu-ray release as well as starting off my Musicals: With A Song And A Dance In My Heart blogathon! That film, of course, is the 1941 musical Nice Girl? starring Deanna Durbin!

Coming Up Shorts! with… Bear Shooters (1930)

(available on Blu-ray as part of The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 1 (1929-1930) from ClassicFlix)

(Length: 20 minutes, 29 seconds)

The gang all go camping to hunt bears, but they unknowingly come across a pair of bootleggers who try to scare them off. While it’s not quite as good as some of the previous few Little Rascals shorts, this one was still quite entertaining. Of course, this one provides the laughs through two gags: Chubby (Norman Chaney) putting limburger cheese on the sick Wheezer (Bobby Hutchins) instead of the grease he was supposed to, and one of the bootleggers dressed up as a gorilla. The gang are also joined by Leon Janney as “Spud” (apparently a one-time appearance), who is a rather forgettable character. Still, like the others that I’ve seen so far, it was fun, and worth seeing!

And Now For The Main Feature…

In the town of Stillwater, Connecticut lives high school principal Oliver Dana (Robert Benchley) and his three daughters. His oldest, Sylvia (Anne Gwynne), is a wannabe actress. His youngest, Nancy (Ann Gillis), likes to flirt with some of the boys (to the point of them physically fighting over her). His middle daughter, Jane (Deanna Durbin), helps him out with some of his dietary experiments. Jane resents her “nice girl” image, especially since her boyfriend, Don Webb (Robert Stack), seems to pay more attention to his car than to her. Due to the dietary experiments that he is working on, Oliver is being considered for a fellowship by the Van de Meer Foundation. They send their field man, Richard Calvert (Franchot Tone), to see for sure whether he merits it. As Richard turns out to be younger (and better-looking) than they had imagined, all three girls start vying for his attentions. Jane in particular attempts to impress him, although her attempts don’t quite work out. When Richard has to go back to New York ahead of a proposed trip to Australia, Jane volunteers to drive him. Since Don is working on her car, he offers to let her drive his car. When Don tells her that he would trust her no matter what she does, she is infuriated and decides to try to do something about her “nice girl” image. Using an idea she had gotten from something he had shown her before, she delays the car (without Richard knowing), which causes him to miss his train. In the process, she offers to drive him all the way back. On the way, they encounter a rainstorm (and, of course, the car malfunctions), resulting in them getting drenched. At Richard’s home, they both change clothes, and she attempts to seduce him. However, when Jane overhears him on the phone with his mother (in which he says that she is just “one of the Dana girls”), she feels foolish and leaves immediately for home. She arrives in town in the early morning, where she runs out of gas and accidentally wakes everybody in town up when the car’s horn gets stuck. Of course, that sets everyone’s tongues to wagging, and she locks herself in her room. She manages to tell her father the truth of what happened later, to which he is relieved. However, at the town’s charity bazaar, the gossip continues to flow, with everyone coming to the conclusion that she and Richard are engaged. Don hears the gossip, but doesn’t believe a word of it, and tells Jane so when she arrives. Furious at the fact that he is taking her for granted, she proceeds to tell everyone that the news of her “engagement” is true. Richard has also just arrived in town to tell Oliver that he is getting the fellowship, but, upon learning of the gossip, decides to go along with it. With some now pushing for an immediate ceremony, though, can they get out of this jam (especially since Jane realizes that she loves Don)?

Nice Girl? was based on a play called Nice Girl by Phyllis Duganne. The slight change in title was a reflection of actress Deanna Durbin being cast in the film. The young Deanna, who had up to this point been playing young girls, turned nineteen during the production of this film. As such, she was now making the transition into adult roles, and the film’s producers decided to add the question mark to the title to make it more ambiguous about whether she was indeed a “nice girl” (as her screen image had essentially been). When all was said and done, the movie essentially had three different endings: one where she sang the song “Thank You America” (which was the original one shown to U.S. audiences), one with her instead doing the song “There’ll Always Be an England,” which was mainly intended for their audience in the U.K., and a third version with her singing “Thank You America” in Spanish (for the Latin American countries).

As I’ve previously indicated, I had very little experience with Deanna Durbin prior to this year (outside of her being mentioned briefly in That’s Entertainment). Earlier this year, I experienced three of her films for the first time (and enjoyed all three quite a bit). Now, two of them, I mainly enjoyed for the stories and the performances, with the music not really sticking with me that much (although she certainly had a wonderful singing voice to handle it). With It Started With Eve, however, I found myself not only enjoying the story and her performance, but also at least the song “When I Sing.” Nice Girl? follows the trend of that film, not only with a good story and good performances, but also some very enjoyable music! I certainly know I enjoyed her opening song “Perhaps” quite well. But, the film’s best musical moment for me, was when she sang “Swanee River.” I’ve been hearing that song (and numerous versions of it) since I was a child, with my favorite being Bing Crosby’s version from the film Mississippi. However, with her voice, the chorus, and the overall orchestration, I found myself REALLY enjoying this version, and I would say it’s one of my favorite moments from her films so far!

Of course, I’ve enjoyed the comedy from her films as well, and this one still had it in spades! Admittedly, the best moments are when Franchot Tone’s Richard Calvert arrives at the Dana home, and all the girls start making themselves up for him (and never let him finish his story). Then, there’s later that evening, where they’re doing their exercises before going to bed (and he’s in the next room doing the same), and they talk about him (and how old they think he is), when he knocks on the door to tell them his age (and they then scurry off to bed). Honestly, both of those moments left me in stitches! Overall, this was a wonderful film, well-supported by a great cast, and it’s one I have zero hesitation in recommending!

This movie is available on Blu-ray from Universal Studios. The transfer on this release is pretty good. Most of the dust and dirt has been cleaned up. There is an occasional speck or scratch, but nothing serious enough to ruin the enjoyment of this film. Sadly, of the three endings I mentioned, this release only contains the U.S. one (with her singing “Thank You America” to the troops), but, to be fair, this was one of nine titles originally licensed out to Kino Lorber Studio Classics (and one of the six that they dropped when the first set of three sold so poorly), so I’m grateful to be getting this one at all! It is a wonderful release, and highly recommended!

Film Length: 1 hour, 35 minutes

My Rating: 10/10

*ranked #5 in Top 10 Movies Watched In 2021

List Of Actor/Actress Filmographies/Collections

Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) – Deanna Durbin – It Started With Eve (1941)

Mutiny On The Bounty (1935) – Franchot Tone – Because Of Him (1946)

The Story Of Vernon And Irene Castle (1939) – Walter Brennan – Sergeant York (1941)

Robert Stack – To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

Dancing Lady (1933) – Robert Benchley – You’ll Never Get Rich (1941)

Swing Time (1936) – Helen Broderick – Because Of Him (1946)

“Star Of The Month (February 2021)” Featuring Clark Gable in… Dancing Lady (1933)

I’m back again to continue celebrating Clark Gable as my Star Of The Month, and this time around, I’m doing his 1933 film Dancing Lady, also starring Joan Crawford! Of course, as usual, we’ve got a few theatrical shorts to get things started, and then it’s on with the show!

Coming Up Shorts! with… Mess Production (1945)

(available on Blu-ray and DVD as part of Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s Volume 1 from Warner Archive Collection)

Disclaimer: On the disc case, it is noted that the set is intended for the adult collector, which is because these shorts were made at a time when a lot of racist and sexist stereotypes were prevalent. All I’m trying to say is, parents, be careful about just sticking these on for your kids.

(Length: 7 minutes, 7 seconds)

Factory workers Popeye and Bluto have to rescue Olive when she gets knocked for a loop by a swinging grappling hook. Apparently the first cartoon to sport a new design for Olive that would be continued, going forward. This one was fun, with all the gags of the boys trying to rescue her (and fight each other off at the same time). It was better than the previous two, with Jack Mercer again voicing Popeye. Admittedly, the whole gag of Olive sleepwalking after being hit in the head does kind of drag on, but it’s still fun enough to be worth seeing every now and then!

Coming Up Shorts! with… Plane Nuts (1933)

(available as an extra on the Dancing Lady DVD from Warner Archive Collection)

(Length: 19 minutes, 41 seconds)

Ted Healy and the Stooges perform onstage. From what I can tell, this short apparently filmed part of their stage act, including Bonnie Bonnell, and was interspersed with clips from some Busby Berkeley choreographed numbers from the film Flying High. Honestly, I don’t really care for Ted Healy as much here, but the Stooges themselves are at least somewhat fun. As far as the dance numbers, I’d really rather see the film they came from, as they just seem out of place with everything else going on here. Interesting but otherwise forgettable short.

Coming Up Shorts! with… Roast Beef And Movies (1934)

(available as an extra on the Dancing Lady DVD from Warner Archive Collection)

(Length: 16 minutes, 16 seconds)

Three men try to peddle their ideas to a movie producer, who offered up a lot of money to someone who could come up with a big idea. This color short (made in Two-Color Technicolor or something similar, if I am guessing correctly) is a rare short that features Curly Howard (here billed as “Jerry Howard”) apart from his fellow Stooges Moe and Larry. Given that he is not a prominent member of the trio, and the short is comprised of several sequences (two of which are borrowed from other films), it’s not particularly memorable. They do attempt to use some Stooges-type of humor, but it really doesn’t work without the actual Stooges team. At best, this one is only to be seen by fans of Curly, and otherwise should be avoided.

And Now For The Main Feature…

Dancer Janie Barlow (Joan Crawford) is doing a striptease in a burlesque theatre along with her friend Rosette LaRue (Winnie Lightner) and a number of other ladies, when the police raid the place and arrest them all. Janie is sentenced to jail since she can’t pay her fine, but she is soon bailed out by rich socialite Tod Newton (Franchot Tone). While he is interested in her, she would prefer to consider the bail money just a loan (which she intends to pay back). With her newfound freedom, Janie opts not to go back to the burlesque theatre, and instead starts looking for work as a dancer on Broadway. She tries to get into the show directed by Patch Gallagher (Clark Gable), even following him everywhere to get his attention, but her methods don’t work. She runs back into Tod again, who offers to help her get her foot in the door with a letter of introduction to Patch’s producer, Jasper Bradley, Sr. (Grant Mitchell). Jasper is delighted and has his son, Junior (Maynard Holmes) bring Janie to Patch for an audition. Believing her to be a no-talent, Patch hands her off to his stage manager Steve (Ted Healy) to get rid of her. However, she manages to impress Steve (and then Patch), and is given a job in the show. Secretly, Tod offers to help finance the show in hopes of getting Janie to like him. He proposes to her, but she wants to have her chance at stardom before she’s ready to settle down. As the rehearsals go on, Patch decides to change things up, and promotes Janie to a starring role. However, Tod decides to pull his backing, and the two Bradleys close the show (without telling everyone the real reason). Tod almost immediately whisks Janie away on a trip to Cuba, while Patch decides to finance the show himself, with things going back to the way they were. But, can he pull the show off? And will Janie indeed give up on her dream of dancing? Only watching the movie will tell!

Oh, where to begin with this one? Joan Crawford, who had successfully transitioned from silent movies to talkies, was coming off a few flops and in need of a big hit. The film was given to producer David O. Selznick, who was inspired by Warner’s recent success with 42nd Street and put together his own team for this film. Joan Crawford had some choice in casting, and picked Clark Gable, for what would be the fourth of eight movies pairing the two. The critics weren’t overly enthusiastic for the movie, but audiences of the time were, making it a big hit for MGM.

This is one of those movies where it’s just as much fun to see cast members who made it big AFTER this movie. We have Eve Arden making a very quick cameo. We have Nelson Eddy singing the song “That’s The Rhythm Of The Day.” We’ve got the Three Stooges (although they were still stuck with Ted Healy at the time, and therefore are mostly in the background for the majority of the movie). We’ve got a quick appearance from Sterling Holloway. And, of course, we’ve got Fred Astaire making his film debut, playing himself (and getting introduced by Clark Gable)!

I can’t deny the fact that this is essentially MGM’s version of 42nd Street, from the very similar story to the Busby Berkeley-esque dance routines. I would definitely say that I prefer Dancing Lady, as I’ve seen it many more times. It does still have similar issues, with a lead female (Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street and Joan Crawford here) being featured as a big dance star (but whose skills don’t really look that good, especially in hindsight). If Joan Crawford has any advantage, it’s her two dance routines with Fred Astaire, where her dancing looks a bit more polished. Of course, those two songs (“Heigh Ho, The Gang’s All Here” and “Let’s Go Bavarian”) are some of the most fun tunes in the film (and are generally stuck in my head for a while afterwards)! It’s not quite as much fun to watch Fred here, as neither the choreography nor the camerawork is as good as most would expect after watching his later films. To be fair, I blame most of that on this being his first film, before he became big enough to have more control on how his dancing was filmed. Not to mention the fact that his stuff was filmed over a two week period (and it shows, with his appearances and disappearances within the movie feeling quite random).

But, I digress. I still need to talk about Clark Gable (after all, HE is the “Star Of The Month”). While he may not have been the reason I originally saw this movie, I can’t deny that I have enjoyed Clark Gable’s performance in this film. In him we have a very street smart director, one who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to tell his producer that. Not to mention, he knows how to deal with the producer’s “demands” (such as when he is told to give Joan Crawford’s Janie Barlow an audition). Of course, he’s not a pure tough guy, either, as his own insecurities come to light when he is forced to produce his show with his own money (and, lucky for him, Janie comes around to help pull him out of the funk he slips into). All in all, this is a wonderful movie that I enjoy coming back to again and again, and therefore, I would definitely recommend it!

This movie is available on DVD from Warner Archive Collection.

Film Length: 1 hour, 32 minutes

My Rating: 9/10

List Of Actor/Actress Filmographies/Collections

No Man Of Her Own (1932) – Clark Gable – It Happened One Night (1934)

Franchot Tone – Mutiny On The Bounty (1935)

Fred Astaire – Top Hat (1935)

Robert Benchley – Nice Girl? (1941)

Nelson Eddy – Naughty Marietta (1935)

Professional Sweetheart (1933) – Sterling Holloway – Alice In Wonderland (1933)

Eve Arden – Having Wonderful Time (1938)

Thoughts From The Music(al) Man (2019) on… Here Comes The Groom (1951)

Time to dig into another Bing Crosby movie, the 1951 Here Comes The Groom, also starring Jane Wyman, Alexis Smith, and Franchot Tone.

Bing plays Pete Garvey, a reporter who has been in Europe a few years covering a story on war orphans, when he receives a message from his girlfriend, Emmadel Jones (Jane Wyman), telling him off for taking so long to marry her when they should have been married and had several kids by now. After doing a lot of running around to find birth certificates and such for two of the orphans that he had become close to so that he could adopt them, he brings them home to America, with the requirement that he be married within five days. Of course, he comes home to find out that Emmadel is now engaged to rich Wilbur Stanley (Franchot Tone), which has become a big “Cinderella”-type story for the news media, and she doesn’t want to give him up, even though she comes to care for the two kids. So Pete wrangles an invitation from Wilbur himself to come stay in the gatehouse of his mansion, where he proceeds to try to win Emmadel back (of course, Wilbur is aware of who he is and what he is trying to do, as well).

Now, the first thing that needs to be mentioned here is the song “In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening.” The song won the Oscar that year, the fourth (and final) song to do so that was sung by Bing Crosby. This song needs to be mentioned, because it is one of those that, if you can’t stand it, then you will have a harder time enjoying the movie. I say that, because, besides getting a full moment as a musical number, it is also a song that many of the characters are humming and singing throughout the movie, especially since, as we learn early, for both Pete and Emmadel, they “always leave ’em singing.” Now, I enjoy it (and it always amuses me that Bing’s “rival” Bob Hope was briefly singing it in the next year’s Son of Paleface), so the frequent use works for me.

Of course, another moment worth mentioning is the song “Misto Cristofo Columbo.” The song occurs on the plane ride over, and is prompted by one of the kids claiming he “discovered America.” Of course, Bing starts in singing, with a few stars making cameo appearances, including Louis Armstrong, Phil Harris, and Bing’s Road movies co-star, Dorothy Lamour.

As a whole, this movie is one I do enjoy. It does have its flaws, including the fact that Wilbur’s (fourth) cousin Winifred (Alexis Smith) likes him, and she has Pete and his boss help her to get his attention (including them whistling at her). In spite of these flaws, this is a movie I recommend, as I always enjoy it when I get the chance to see it!

The movie was available on DVD from Paramount Pictures.

Film Length: 1 hour, 53 minutes

My Rating: 9/10

List Of Actor/Actress Filmographies/Collections

The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad (1949) – Bing Crosby – Son Of Paleface (1952)

Because Of Him (1946) – Franchot Tone

Lulu Belle (1948) – Dorothy Lamour – Road To Bali (1952)