(110 min) Released 1937-08-20
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Stars: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy, Buddy Ebsen, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker.
Dave Gould ... dance ensembles
Genres: Musical | Romance
I was surprised by my prior rating of 6 ... until I watched it again. Now I have a big additional reason: A Day at the Races was released 6'37, this in 8'37. Both were in development in '36, because Thalberg died 9'36 and both list him as executive producer on IMDb (he never allowed himself to be listed onscreen.) So... HOW does no one see the plot parallels: racehorse injures front leg tendon, owner discovers the horse is a better jumper than flat racer, horse recovers in time to enter the big race, horse hates the sound of a certain voice and runs faster, winning purse is needed to (save the sanitarium *or* put on that B'way show).
My other plot quibble is that our 3 principle dancers all come together over this injured horse; and not only are they experts on tending/riding racehorses, but they're expert tap dancers too. I know I'm supposed to suspend disbelief for musicals, but both pursuits consume a great deal of time, and very few stables have floors suitable for tapping (although one did in the Shirley Temple/Bill Robinson film The Little Colonel (1935); horsey anecdote from there: BR worked as a stable boy at age 8, also danced for pennies then. BR seemed especially comfortable with horses In Old Kentucky ('35). And since EP spent some formative career time with BR, that would almost make me suspect this is a nod to him, but I don't think EP would've had that much plot influence.)
Ugh: the guy who analyzed snores (in the prior B'way M'dy? I ain't gonna look for it) is back, analyzing sneezes. BoRRRing.
Judy Garland (1922–1969) in her 2nd feature credit. You can see her being molded by the 3 musical scenes below. She's treated as younger than her age, even though she's adult height and her singing is adult+professional. Sophie Tucker (1884–1966) plays her mother and former vaudevillian.
Carole Landis is in the credits as a chorus girl. Didn't see her.
Musical numbers:
- Ch 2: The Toreador Song, sung in a barbershop, hooking in 2 characters who'll turn the tide twice later
- Ch 6: Follow in My Footsteps, sung and tapped in the boxcar/stable/sleeping quarters for the trainers BE, GM, EP. Seems like the 2 horses would make things smelly. Plus there's a giant mucking shovel tacked to the wall to remind us of a little reality: anti-glamour.
- Ch 8: Yours and Mine, played on piano by songwriter RT and sung by EP's dubber in empty bar-car
- Ch 10: Everybody Sing, JG gets a specialty, a spontaneous audition outside a producer's office
- Ch 15: Some of These Days, ST gets her first trip down memory lane at rehearsal
- Ch 18: I'm Feelin' Like a Million. GM & EP celebrate their purchase of the horse, sung and danced in a park in the rain, sometimes in a gazebo, sometimes getting wet. (Where is the person who should've said 'this has been done'? At one point they even do a triple-hop. Makes you appreciate Astaire's memory and insistence that he never repeat himself.) When they kick the water in the puddle, remember that Gene Kelly hasn't arrived in H'wood yet. And when they steal the vendor's umbrella, karma is right around the puddle. GM looks like he got a mouthful when they're neck-deep at the end: anti-glamour.
- Ch 20: Largo al Factotum. Now the barber auditions for the B'way producer in NYC. But the horse is recuperating in the back yard, doesn't like opera, and jumps the fences.
- Ch 22: Dear Mr. Gable. JG's 2nd specialty.
- Ch 29: Your Broadway and My Broadway, Powell/Murphy. Romantic dancing in the show. EP's dress looks adapted from a prior antebellum epic, without the hoops. But the stage is all skyscrapers and model cars driving in the background.
- Ch 30: Your Broadway and My Broadway, Garland/Ebsen. JG looks uncomfortable dancing, but she gets to be great at it in the future. JG's dress is a cut-down version of what EP was wearing, looks like something Shirley Temple wears, but she was born in '28!.
- Ch 31: Your Broadway and My Broadway. ST does her reminiscing within the show. There are several neon signs on set with her real name, not her character's.
- Ch 32: Follow in My Footsteps: starts with BE, GM & EP in top hat and tails with chorus boys, but soon she's left alone to do what she does best. Now the neon signs invoke various B'way stars. (I LOVE those little moving model cars in the background giving scale to the skyscrapers.)
- Ch 33 of 33: Broadway Rhythm and finale: Chorus boys return, and here come the rest of the antebellum gowns. Snippets from prior B'way M'dy songs. And EP shows off her gymnastic skills. The very end is very silly, also feels stolen from A Day at the Races.
Note to self: when you balk at the lack of transition from horserace to B'way show, from EP having quit the show to being its star, remember that the filmmakers simply failed to give you a montage to show the reconciliation and rehearsal in between. Why should they have to? Y'knew EP had to be a musical star, because she is.
Hopefully I run into a GM movie where he's the stronger dancer on stage. He looks intimidated and under-rehearsed. like he's thinking about the next step instead of enjoying the glory of escorting EP. I'm actually distracted by him when they dance together. Of his 44 films, 16 are music/musicals. He had some lesser pairings already, but I wasn't watching for that. I will in the future, including his powerhouse pairings with EP, FA and Gene Kelly.
Like F&G movies, I hold EPs to a higher standard. That's a little silly, because FA was a bigger fish, and in a smaller pond, so he was able to exert more control. And MGM didn't know how to make a good musical until EP arrived, so the fact that they're imitating others shouldn't surprise; they're playing catchup, and paddling as fast as they can, trying to ride the wake of Warner and RKO.
Same complaint here as F&G's Follow the Fleet ('36): this one had too little GLAMOUR. I love the F&G films not just because of their dancing, but because of the glorious, famous, big white rooms and fabulous clothes. Gimme opulence, baby; the sleeker the better. That's why I favor '30s movies; they take audiences to fantasyland for American working class. America didn't go socialist, and the lottery is so popular, because the American dream is to strike it rich and live like the 1%. I just like to watch.
With this much EP dancing, I gotta tack on a +.
MGM, dir. Del Ruth; 6+
