Director: John H. Auer
Year: 1941
Rating: 6.0
Hit Parade of 1941 (1940) - 6.0
AKA - Romance and Rhythm
This is a fairly bland benign low budget musical comedy from RKO that somehow
manages to be pleasant enough. It has no stars though a few of them would
become ones later on but it does have a few decent songs and two performances
from the great Harmonica Rascals! RKO was of course the home of the Astaire-Rogers
films and they were one of the first studios to put out a musical (Rio Rita)
that was a big hit just as Talkies came about. But by 1940 they didn't have
much musical talent on contract and even Astaire had left the studio. So
they turned to lesser known folks.
The male lead is Kenny Baker who had been in a few other now obscure musicals
and other than appearing in Harvey Girls never quite managed much of a career
- partly I expect because he has a nerdy high pitched talking voice though
when he sings he is quite good in that crooner style. The female lead is
Frances Langford who later on became well-known for appearing with Bob Hope
on his many tours but doesn't really sparkle at all on the screen until she
sings - she has a great voice and originated a few classic songs - I'm in
the Mood for Love, You are My Lucky Star, Hurray for Hollywood and in this
one she sings a lovely version of Who Am I? And bursting with energy and
a future ahead of her is Ann Miller who was seventeen at the time - signed
by RKO at thirteen when they thought she was eighteen - and was already considered
a dancing prodigy. She and Eleanor Powell are considered the two greatest
female tap dancers though in truth unless those taps are on the shoes of
Astaire or the Nicholas Brothers I am not a huge fan of the dance form.
And for comic relief there is Phil Silvers in his debut in a feature film
and whose TV show in which he plays Bilco is still one of the funniest shows
ever. Throw in Hugh Herbert whose shtick as a forgetful eccentric gave him
quite a career in the 1930's and 40s - in small doses he is great but too
much as in this one can be annoying. And perhaps not as well known but Mary
Boland (the mother in the classic Pride and Prejudice and a dotty mother
in many other films), the squeaky voiced Sterling Holloway, the smart-mouthed
Patsy Kelly and the always questionable sexuality of Franklin Pangborn -
all give this film some comedy chops. Not that it is hilarious but there
is a constant barrage of one-liners.
The plot is interesting to me. TV is the new big thing and Herbert and his
nephew Baker turn their radio station into a TV station. I admit to being
surprised - I had no idea TV started by 1940 but I looked it up and the first
TV stations began in the late 1920s and 30's. I can't imagine many people
had TV sets though. At this point there really are no programs - just transferring
the musical acts on the radio show to TV. They get a sponsor (Boland) but
she insists that her daughter (Miller) be the singing star but she has a
voice that would scare cats away - so the boys come up with an ingenious
angle - have Langford secretly sing behind the scenes as Miller sings on
stage not knowing that the voice going out on the TV waves is Langford's.
That might sound familiar but no idea if Singin' in the Rain got that from
here. Miller's character may not be able to sing but she sure can dance and
does two numbers.
And let's not forget those Harmonica Rascals - seven guys playing harmonicas
and fooling around with the midget in the band (and also amazingly for the
time, a black man). They get two numbers. Too bad we don't have comic harmonica
bands any more!
