Sadly Over-hyped

How sad is this?

A Brilliant Conflict

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

As other commentators have noted, this is not a prime not-to-miss musical. Don Ameche and Jack Oakie make the best of trite material, but I think the real star of the show is Janet Blair. Just skip the first 50 minutes of the movie to get to the musical numbers. There is a weird Asian number where the chorus girls wear head coverings that look like Chinese coolie hats. Then Janet Blair comes on to shimmy and shake with serpentine dexterity. Later on in the movie, she sings Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" with Ameche joining in. It's not a big production number, just tossing off and downplaying one of Porter's better songs. As a matter of taste, the production numbers are small scale, compared to the lavish dances in the early Astaire/Rogers films of the 30's. Did I count only 20 or so chorus members? The camera begins by taking a long view of the stage, and it tightens up to focus on mid-level action with few if any close ups. No Busby Berkeley shots. Nonetheless, Blair is charming, fetching, and very attractive. She went on to a middling career on TV in the 50's/60's, but she never became a big star like some ladies who worked for MGM. Too bad since she was a good performer who deserved more recognition.

Forget the plot (which is a pretty nifty screwball scenario, by the way). What matters here is the pacing, the music and the crackerjack performances of Don Ameche and Jack Oakie. Oakie is an absolute fireball and Ameche is alternately acerbic and romantic. Great specialty numbers (including the phenomenal Hazel Scott) and those Conga rhythms really send me! I'm still not sure if Janet Blair did her own singing in this picture (she sang for herself later on, of course, but Columbia loved to dub in the early 40's). William Gaxton, a Broadway juvenile from the early days and star of pictures as FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMAN in the early Vitaphone Days does a very nice character job here. Cobina Wright is tops as the nouveau riche "star" with talent that is perfectly Wrong! Gregory Ratoff's pictures are usually pretty Seiterly in their pacing. This one snaps, crackles and pops. And there's one in-joke that is delivered with perfection. As Ameche goes to use the telephone, he is asked "you sure you know how to use that thing?" He replies, "you kidding - I INVENTED it!" Catch this one if you can.