SWING PARADE OF 1946

Will Osborne and Mary Treen

SWING PARADE OF 1946 (1946). Director: Phil Karlson.

"... a tender word can mend a lot."

Aspiring singer Carol Lawrence (Gale Storm) is thrown out of her boarding house and can't get a job, so she becomes a process server for a grumpy, disapproving man, Mr. Warren (Russell Hicks of The Flying Saucer), who wants to close down his own son, Danny's, nightclub. Instead. Carol takes a job with Danny (Phil Regan), getting her in trouble with Warren and almost with Danny when he learns about the summons. Middle-aged Marie (Mary Treen), who seems to like Danny, develops a hankering for bandleader Will (Will Osborne) instead and tells off Old Man Warren. Then we have the Three Stooges as terrible waiters, and a couple of pleasant enough song numbers. Storm is perky and efficient, as ever, and once-popular Regan [We're in the Money] is handsome and has a smooth singing voice. Mary Treen [Blonde from Brooklyn] was a likable character actress with about a zillion credits, but although she had a way with a line and was frequently both adept and amusing, she never quite became well-known like, say, Eve Arden. There was something a little more distinctive about Arden, and while she wasn't a raving beauty, either, she was better-looking and more sensual than Treen. Treen has a bit more to do in this film but, alas, it's a Monogram picture. Will Osborne was a bandleader of the time who played himself in a couple of movies and was appealing. Singer Connee Boswell also plays herself; she had a few other credits as well.

Verdict:  Another amiable but third-rate Monogram musical. **.