(98 min) Released 1930-04-20
Director: John Murray Anderson
Stars: Paul Whiteman, John Boles, Laura La Plante.
Russell Markert ... dance director
Genres: Animation | Comedy | Music | Musical
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021025/
Watched online, decent copy, in color.
I just received an announcement of a forthcoming (27 Mar 2018) Criterion edition of this film. The clip on the Criterion page is MUCH clearer than the YouTube version, although the color is still all pink and green, but that's a limitation of the 2-strip process. The cheapest price so far is $20+ at Walmart.com for the 2-disc DVD (more for Blu), and that's how much I'd like to spend for at least 2 movies, preferably 3 or 4.
One reviewer mentioned that this is the best of 4 revue movies of the era. That's like saying that eating the wet mud is better than the damp sand. But since this film has Bing Crosby and John Boles, and is a color curiosity, and I found it online, I gave it a try. It was sort of fun in the beginning, then a song about a wedding veil and some comedy got in the way (old vaudeville from unfamiliar people). Then a very bright spot ~43 min: the Rhapsody in Blue segment, with psychedelic images. (Busby Berkeley's first DD credit was this year. KoJ released in April, Whoopee! in October. I think KoJ was a bit more psychedelic than BB's first.)
After Rhapsody, we go back to regular pop music of 1930, which ain't jazz as we define it now: by at least the Gershwin composition from '24. Pop in '30 might not be as syrupy as its predecessor, but it don't swing, man. And the only black person in the film (other than the African natives in the cartoon) is an African dancer (and we never see a face, so it could be a white man with a lot of body paint.)
Excellent freakish dancing by Al Norman...Rubber Legs Dancer ('Happy Feet') at ~1:03:40 for a minute. Good chorus line work throughout; included in Tap! Appendix for them.
Bing is merely one of The Rhythm Boys, getting as much solo time as the other 2.
John Boles sounds tinny: high and shrill. I'm sure part of that is the technology; the women singers sound too high and shrill as well. (Baritones don't suffer the same fate.) He's very pretty in color; they used plenty of rouge on him. (Bing got lots of eyeliner and mascara.)
Criterion does a good job with extra features, and the print looks great, so I might be tempted. But overall, it's not an exciting film. Without the lengthy Gershwin opus, it would be a 5.
Universal, dir. Anderson; 6-
