(89 min) Released 1936-03-21
Director: Alfred E. Green
Stars: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Jack Oakie, Joan Blondell
Bobby Connolly ... production numbers created and staged by
Paul Draper ... original dances created by
Genres: Musical | Romance | Comedy* (*mine)
This is an excellent dance movie. Bobby Connolly's ensemble work is gorgeous, and complements the Paul Draper creations/executions. Ruby Keeler dances even better with Draper. What a loss to film dancing that Draper only did 2 movies!
The plot is Fashions of '34 meets Roberta meets Gold Diggers et al, and we get a musical fashion show that turns into a production number with actual dancing.
Although he's not credited, I'm reminded of BB here. Clearly he blazed the trail for the creative camera usage in musical numbers. We don't get an actual overhead shot here, but very high camera angles let us enjoy the mass movement far more than stage-level visuals do,
Jack Oakie adds his flavor of humor, playing off Joan Blondell and Hugh Herbert well. This is another writing credit for Herbert.
The chocolate candy workers will remind everyone of the I Love Lucy episode, although no assembly line here. Interesting that they state company policy is workers can eat as much candy as they like. I wonder in how many factories that was/is true.
For anyone reading these sequentially: yes, I give this a higher rating than Follow the Fleet. I don't remember any ensemble dancing there (although Pan gets credit for staging ensembles!) Here is a nice balance of ensemble, pair and solo routines. And although we have too many couples here too, most were with comic characters I like. We had only F&G to provide comedy in FtF. (Lucy wasn't funny in her scenes. Her career progress is slow.)
Although we get a DP song before this, the biggest problem is that it takes 30 minutes to get our first dance, I Don't Have to Dream Again. They tell a complete story with dance, even tapping some "dialog"; is this dance-o-mime? Blondell and Oakie do a pretty and funny little pas de deux. We also get a duet sung by DP and RK. The only other big number, You Gotta Know How to Dance, starts at 1:19:20 and finishes the film. Together, the 2 big numbers take about 20 minutes of the 1.5 hour film. Unfortunate that I can't find a credit for the child dancer who assists DP behind a bandstand.
Warner Bros, dir. Green, 7+
The plot is Fashions of '34 meets Roberta meets Gold Diggers et al, and we get a musical fashion show that turns into a production number with actual dancing.
Although he's not credited, I'm reminded of BB here. Clearly he blazed the trail for the creative camera usage in musical numbers. We don't get an actual overhead shot here, but very high camera angles let us enjoy the mass movement far more than stage-level visuals do,
Jack Oakie adds his flavor of humor, playing off Joan Blondell and Hugh Herbert well. This is another writing credit for Herbert.
The chocolate candy workers will remind everyone of the I Love Lucy episode, although no assembly line here. Interesting that they state company policy is workers can eat as much candy as they like. I wonder in how many factories that was/is true.
For anyone reading these sequentially: yes, I give this a higher rating than Follow the Fleet. I don't remember any ensemble dancing there (although Pan gets credit for staging ensembles!) Here is a nice balance of ensemble, pair and solo routines. And although we have too many couples here too, most were with comic characters I like. We had only F&G to provide comedy in FtF. (Lucy wasn't funny in her scenes. Her career progress is slow.)
Although we get a DP song before this, the biggest problem is that it takes 30 minutes to get our first dance, I Don't Have to Dream Again. They tell a complete story with dance, even tapping some "dialog"; is this dance-o-mime? Blondell and Oakie do a pretty and funny little pas de deux. We also get a duet sung by DP and RK. The only other big number, You Gotta Know How to Dance, starts at 1:19:20 and finishes the film. Together, the 2 big numbers take about 20 minutes of the 1.5 hour film. Unfortunate that I can't find a credit for the child dancer who assists DP behind a bandstand.
Warner Bros, dir. Green, 7+
