(97 min) Released 1935-09-20
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Jack Oakie, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Nicholas Brothers, Bill Robinson, Lyda Roberti, Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman
LeRoy Prinz ... stager: dance ensembles; Oscar nom'd for "Elephant - It's the Animal in Me"; Oscars 1936
Genres: Musical
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026113/
No official release; bootleg copy; very very blurry, but good audio.
Just received this; chronologically belongs between Here Comes Cookie and Shipmates Forever.
At 4:30 Harold Nicholas starts tapping over the radio. We shift to tapping feet in a barber chair: Bill Robinson. He takes his taps out to the street, collecting pedestrians like a Pied Tapper, eventually tapping on the traffic cop's pedestal. Back in the studio, both Fayard and Harold are tapping up a storm until 7:35. A few seconds later, they start a time step and Jack Oakie joins in. The Brothers are part of the story for a while, but they don't dance again. The Dandridge Sisters are in the cast, likely in BR's street scene, but they don't sing; they might be the girls in pinafores bending over to watch BR's feet.
At 33:45 Bing sings I Wished on the Moon very sweetly.
At 41:30 Harold sings Why Dream in several styles, with Fayard on piano.
Yes, the wire-hair terrier is Asta; his character name is Snoopy. He has an impressive filmography: 17 movies in 13 years ('32-'45); The Thin Man was '34, he missed the 5th of 6 in the series, but he's also in The Awful Truth ('37) and Bringing Up Baby ('38). OK, wait just a second: he has a SOUNDTRACK credit? After the Thin Man ('36, performer: "Irish Washerwoman" - uncredited). He also howled on cue while Cary played piano in The Awful Truth as I recall.
Charles Ruggles and Mary Boland are a little too mean, so skip them if you're not in the mood.
1:20:55 The other dance sequence was originally filmed for We're Not Dressing ('34): It's the Animal in Me, sung by the Merm, and danced by chorus girls mimicking manipulated footage of dancing elephants. Watch for the elephants paying tribute to BB.
The plot, and the "comedy" of the destructive Stooge-like builders, is tedious, so FFWD might be appropriate. Burns and Allen are more violent than usual, so they're skippable too. But play the Lyda Roberti bits; she's delightful, and sings Double Trouble at 49:00.
To wrap it up, we get a big chase scene with horse-drawn carriage followed by a posse in dinner clothes. Of course we're in hilly terrain so going fast around the steep curves adds tension. Do the good guys survive? Do the bad guys get their just desserts? I'll give you one guess.
More fun to write about than to watch.
Paramount, dir. Taurog; 5+
My post on Oscar, Best Dance Direction, 1936-38
