(82 min) Released 1936-08-11
Director: Aubrey Scotto
Stars: Marion Talley, Michael Bartlett, Nigel Bruce
Larry Ceballos ... dance director
Genres: Musical
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027629/
Watched online.
Watched out of sequence; belongs between Rhythm on the Range and Sing, Baby, Sing.
The plot sounds a little like You Can't Take It with You (1938), but only a little.
The female lead insists on wanting lifestyle not-X for all but the last minute of the film; and then flips to X. Very disappointing, not just because I would agree that X has its pitfalls, but much more because she had been a strong character who doesn't give any hint of doubt in her convictions, ever. She just succumbs to "love"... actually stated as hate. So this might be an acting problem, or maybe directing, certainly writing. The number of people who could act and sing and would work for Republic was likely limited. This is Marion Talley's only film, and her IMDb bio reads like she agreed with her character in the film, but shortly landed at not-X in real life.
The musical performance is plentiful. These people sing opera/operetta while doing everything. Then they decide to put on a show (remember, Mickey and Judy haven't yet emerged at MGM doing this; Pigskin Parade, her first film, was released later in '36; they finally put on a show in Babes in Arms (1939)). The last 20 minutes of the movie are mostly the lavish production numbers they achieve. Obviously Republic was trying to compete with Warner, Paramount, MGM and RKO, and did pretty well this time. It lacks the spark of BB's best, but it's impressive nonetheless. Larry Ceballos has 60 dance director credits from 1927 to 1951; many titles sound like westerns, which I'm mostly ignoring in this quest. (Did Republic build or rent the giant turntable, or rent studio time at a major?)
Again, the print quality that I watched is acceptable, not good.
Republic Pictures, dir. Scotto; 6
