42ND STREET

Is this really a star? Ruby Keeler

42ND STREET (1933). Director: Lloyd Bacon. 

Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter), who has already had one nervous breakdown, is directing his new show, "Pretty Lady." His leading lady, Dorothy (Bebe Daniels), is carrying on with her former dance partner Pat (George Brent) behind the back of her supposed swain and chief angel, the ugly Abner, (Guy Kibbee). Peggy (Ruby Keeler), a show biz hopeful, is taken under the wing of both Pat, and hoofer Billy (Dick Powell). Tormented by her love for Pat, Dorothy drinks too much and has an accident -- but will Peggy be able to carry the whole show on her shoulders?

George Brent and Debe Daniels

The answer is no, judging from the final moments of 42nd Street. Although I got a favorable impression of Keeler in another film she did that year, Gold Diggers of 1933, and she is perfectly okay in the straight dramatic scenes, when she takes over from Dorothy in "Pretty Lady" she seems leaden-footed and the fact that she has a poor voice -- to put in mildly -- is even inserted into the script. Therefore these sequences are unintentionally comical, as it makes you wonder if, say, Al Capone made Baxter an offer he couldn't refuse. As for Baxter, he gives a fine, old-fashioned-type performance as a man who today we would deem bipolar. Brent is his usual charming self. Former silent movie star Bebe Daniels, who is effective as Dorothy, had only a few more credits after this film. Guy Kibbee is typically excellent, Powell is boyishly sweet, and Ed Nugent makes an impression as another handsome hoofer. 

The production numbers were put together by Busby Berkeley, and of these the most inventive is the title tune. Some of the songs have become standards: "You're Getting to Be a Habit" and "Shuffle Off to Buffalo;" in particular. "Young and Healthy" makes use of a Berkeley invention: creating a kaleidoscope effect of the dancers shot from high overhead. Ginger Rogers has a small role in this and is not photographed flatteringly. It's easy to see why Keeler never really became a major star. 

Verdict: Some great tunes, generally pleasant, but not really a classic. **1/2.

KING OF BURLESQUE

Alice Faye and a bevy of chorus cuties

KING OF BURLESQUE (1936). Director: Sidney Lanfield.

Kerry Bolton (Warner Baxter of Just Before Dawn) has been very successful as a producer of burlesque entertainment, but he longs for Broadway respectability and embarks on a new career. He also decides to romance a society lady named Rosalind Cleve (Mona Barrie), who is down on her luck and already engaged to handsome singer, Stanley Drake (Charles Quigley of The Crimson Ghost). In a bizarre development Rosalind agrees to marry Kerry if the latter will back Drake financially for a career in opera as well as give him the lead in a high-brow Broadway show. Obviously this is not a recipe for marriage -- or musical -- success. In the meantime, Pat Doran (Alice Faye), who's been carrying the torch for Kerry, is heartbroken and leaves his employ. Will true love win out in the end? Since not enough is made of the strange marital triangle, we're left with some winning production numbers, especially when Bolton finally stages his big show for a comeback. You have to see the gals swinging like trapeze artists over a supper club set to believe it. Fats Waller sings "Got My Fingers Crossed;" little Gareth Joplin tap dances his little heart out; Kenny Baker does a sterling rendition of another of the catchy numbers; and a piece with the chorus boys adroitly tap dancing with Faye is also delightful. The leads are all fine, with nice work from Jack Oakie as Kerry's pal, Joe; Dixie Dunbar as secretary turned singer, Marie; and especially Gregory Ratoff [All About Eve] as a man who impersonates a wealthy Russian backer of the revue. This is a near-MGM style musical from Twentieth Century Fox. Remade as Hello, Frisco, Hello, also with Faye and Oakie, and John Payne replacing Warner Baxter.

Verdict: The story takes a back seat to the snappy numbers. ***.

WIFE, HUSBAND AND FRIEND and EVERYBODY DOES IT

WIFE, HUSBAND AND FRIEND (1939). Director: Gregory Ratoff.

EVERYBODY DOES IT (1949). Director: Edmund Goulding.

Ten years apart, these two movies used the exact same characters and script (with minor differences.) Nunnally Johnson adapted a novel by James M. Cain (one hopes it wasn't Serenade, which has to do with opera but has a completely different plot -- it was bowdlerized enough in the official film version with Mario Lanza.)

In both versions Leonard Borland is dismayed to learn that his wife Doris wants to take up singing again, because he doesn't think she's terribly good. His opinion is confirmed by a professional soprano, Cecil Carver, who takes a shine to him, and discovers that he actually has a magnificent baritone voice. So Leonard winds up with a singing career while his wife winds up booed at movie theaters. And worse things happen.

I saw the 1949 remake first, which may give it an edge in my mind, but I think in all fairness that it's the better of the two versions. Mainly it has to do with the cast. Loretta Young is fine in the original, but Celeste Holm really sparkles and has an added bite in the remake. Warner Baxter is not at all bad as the first Leonard, but he has an elegance that makes him seem at home in a classical environment whereas Paul Douglas seems more convincingly ill-at-ease in a monkey suit. Helen Westley and George Barbier are certainly amusing as Doris' parents in the first version, but Lucile Watson and especially Charles Coburn are hilarious in the remake. Although adequate, Binnie Barnes, in my opinion, makes little impression as the diva in version one but Linda Darnell makes a big impression in the remake. The final sequence in the opera house is longer and funner in version two. The same is true of the sequence in which Doris confronts Leonard after finding out he has had a whole singing career behind her back. In the remake Doris practically tries to murder him!

Neither picture is necessarily a huge Laugh Riot a la Night at the Opera, but the story is consistently amusing and cute. Although it may have been necessary to provide some conflict, the anti-music (at least anti-classical/operatic music) tone is a little off-putting, although Coburn's distressed reactions to singing are very funny.

Verdict: Wife, Husband and Friend -- **1/2.
Everybody Does it -- ***.

THE CRIME DOCTOR'S GAMBLE

THE CRIME DOCTOR'S GAMBLE (1947). Director: William Castle. 

The Crime Doctor, Dr. Ordway (Warner Baxter), is visiting Paris and touching base with an old friend, the Prefecture of Police (Marcel Journet), when he becomes embroiled in another murder case in which a rich man is supposedly murdered by his estranged, disinherited son, Henri (Roger Dann). Steven Geray plays the family lawyer, and Micheline Cheirel is Henri's wife, Mignon. Eduardo Ciannelli is a welcome presence as Mignon's knife-throwing father, Maurice. There's also a series of paintings, more deaths, and a climax at an auction before the killer is exposed -- it won't be that much of a surprise to anyone. Still, this holds the attention and is generally well acted. 

Verdict: Okay time passer. **1/2.

JUST BEFORE DAWN

JUST BEFORE DAWN (1946). Director: William Castle. 

A fairly absorbing"crime doctor" mystery with Warner Baxter (pictured) as the crime-solving Dr. Ordway. Ordway is called to attend a diabetic patient at a party, but the fellow is found dead and it is discovered that someone replaced Ordway's insulin with poison. We know from the first that Martin Kosleck is somehow tied up in the dirty business, but we don't know who's behind it all until the end. Ordway appears to be blinded by his opponent but carries through in spite of it. An interesting aspect of the film is the excellent make up job given to Baxter so that he can masquerade as a scurvy criminal late in the film. Baxter's acting is also on the beam. A man who gives plastic surgery to criminals is also tied up in the plot. Verdict: 

Not bad! **1/2.

CRIME DOCTOR'S MAN HUNT

CRIME DOCTOR'S MAN HUNT (1946). Director: William Castle. 

A man is stabbed to death and a woman at a shooting gallery at the carnival seems to know more about it than she's telling. The victim walks into a certain house and then seemingly vanishes. Can Dr. Ordway, the Crime Doctor (Warner Baxter) get to the bottom of it? This is an acceptable mystery (with a somewhat obvious solution) that is greatly abetted by the participation of William "Fred Mertz" Frawley and the ever-delightful and unique -- and uncredited -- Olin Howlin (pictured) as Marcus LeBlaine. Howlin, of course, had interesting roles in Them and The Blob (first victim), among others. Ellen Drew also has an interesting role. Verdict: 

Passable minor mystery. **1/2.

THE CRIME DOCTOR'S COURAGE

THE CRIME DOCTOR'S COURAGE (1945). Director: George Sherman. 

Gordon Carson (Stephen Crane) has had two wives die of accidents during the honeymoon. His third wife (Hillary Brooke) calls in the "crime doctor," Robert Ordway (Warner Baxter), to find out if her hubby is mad or a murderer. But Ordway instead finds himself investigating Carson's own murder in a locked room. There's also a famous writer (Jerome Cowan), and a brother and sister team of Spanish dancers who are rumored to be vampires. The Crime Doctor's Courage tries to drag in all sorts of stuff to make it interesting, but while it holds the attention it never quite develops into anything that great. Baxter has a lot of charm as Ordway, however. 

Verdict: Okay B mystery. **.

THE CRIME DOCTOR'S WARNING

THE CRIME DOCTOR'S WARNING (1945). Director: William Castle. 

Clive Lake, an artist (Coulter Irwin), seeks Dr. Robert Ordway's (Warner Baxter, pictured) help for black outs that he's been having since youth. He has a dragon mother named Mrs. Wellington Lake (Alma Kruger), and naturally becomes a suspect when two of his models are murdered. Everything seems centered on a painting by a more famous artist in which the two women -- and a third -- were featured. Mindless yet intriguing -- and somewhat far-fetched -- The Crime Doctor's Warning holds the attention and is a perfectly flavorful "B"movie. John Litel plays the police inspector, but it's an uncredited Eduardo Ciannelli who perks up the film as Nick Petroni, an old sailor model who's angered that all anybody wants to paint is cheesecake. Director Castle keeps things moving swiftly. 

Verdict: Minor but reasonably engaging. **1/2.

KIDNAPPED (1938)

Freddie Bartholomew

KIDNAPPED (1938). Directed by Alfred L. Werker.

Loosely based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson Kidnapped juxtaposes the stories of young David Balfour (Freddie Bartholomew) and Scottish rebel Alan Breck (Warner Baxter), whom Balfour comes across on his way to his wealthy uncle's castle in 1747. Although David does not at first approve of the activities of the British-hating Breck, he comes to admire the man and even does his best to save his life. As David comes afoul of his evil uncle, he keeps encountering Breck and Jeannie (Arleen Whelan), a woman Breck was taking to a compatriot who has to flee Scotland; instead Breck falls in love with her and vice versa. Although a touch obvious at times, Freddie is excellent, Whelan is lovely and affecting, and there are also wonderful performances from the likes of C. Aubrey Smith, Miles Mander, and H. B. Warner. Warner Baxter is heroic enough, but his acting leaves something to be desired. There's a great scene with a crumbling staircase, and the whole business with David being shanghaied, encountering Breck and Jeannie on ship board, is very exciting Well photographed by Gregg Toland.

Verdict: Good show! ***1/2.