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| Joan Davis |
BEAUTIFUL BUT BROKE (1944). Director: Charles Barton.
Dottie Duncan (Joan Davis) works for a talent agency run by Waldo Main (John Eldredge). Since war broke out, Main has had trouble putting together bands for clients, so Dottie offers him an all-female orchestra. Waldo winds up giving the agency to Dottie, who puts together a band with the help of friends Sally (Jane Frazee of
Hellzapoppin) and Sue (Judy Clark of
Junior Prom). Through a series of misadventures, the threesome and the band members wind up in a small town after Dottie loses their train tickets, and they provide entertainment so as to raise cash for a day care. Sally and Sue fall in love, with Army men Bill (John Hubbard) and Jack (Bob Haymes of
Blonde from Brooklyn) respectively, so it's a question if Dottie can get them to fulfill their contract in Cleveland.
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| Judy Clark swings it! |
Beautiful But Broke is amiable nonsense with a patriotic slant and some amusing sequences, such as when the women, thrown out of their hotel, wind up in a house that's on a field being tested for missiles! Joan Davis gives her usual spirited performance, and Frazee and Clark are decorative and have some pep, but are otherwise stuck in a minor key. There is a lot of generally forgettable if snappy swing music. A protracted scene in which Joan, with her foot stuck to a plank, interacts with some construction men and causes more destruction than anything else, seems to go on for half the movie and isn't even funny.
Verdict: As usual, Davis could use better material. **1/4.
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