(83 min) Released 1939-02-03
Director: Edward Buzzell
Stars: Eleanor Powell, Robert Young, George Burns, Gracie Allen.
Bobby Connolly ... dance director (as Bobby Connelly)
Sammy Lee ... dance director
Genres: Comedy | Musical | Romance
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031442/
Bootleg copy, wouldn't play on Samsung Blu; fine on external laptop player and on Oppo; ok print with intro/outro by Robert Osborne.
Last film for GB for 36 years; Gracie makes 3 more.
Song/dance:
- 21:30 Honolulu, Sung by Gracie Allen and The Pied Pipers, Danced by Eleanor Powell with Gracie a bit, with jump ropes a lot
- 34:30 This Night Will Be My Souvenir, Performed by Billy Paye AKA Billy Starr
- 35:30 The Leader Doesn't Like Music, Sung by The King's Men, Performed also by Gracie Allen
- 39:10 Danced by Eleanor Powell in her blackface Bill Robinson [excellent] medley with stairsteps
- Old Folks at Home
- Listen to the Mockingbird
- Old Black Joe
- The Darktown Strutters' Ball
- 1:08:40 Hawaiian Medley, Played by Andy Iona's Orchestra (as Andy Iona's Islanders), Sung by The King's Men, Danced by Eleanor Powell
EP's 3 dances are fabulous. Her blackface routine is a true tribute to Robinson, with whom she learned and worked. I'd wager that at least parts of it are tap-for-tap what Robinson did in Harlem is Heaven ('32) and likely in his stage act. It's a shame at the end that she put her hand on her back under her jacket, because I'd enjoy seeing her replicate his signature hand-on-hip (open hand, back of hand to back of body). If I find more about this routine in the books I have, I'll post it here. I'd like to know if BR consulted, or some other expert, or if she watch HiH footage.
The plot is mildly entertaining. But great dancing is worth a lot of points in my book.
The plot is mildly entertaining. But great dancing is worth a lot of points in my book.
MGM, dir. Buzzell; 8
