Tin Pan Alley
Director: Walter Lang
Year: 1940
Rating: 5.0
Two big stars come together in this film with
one just hitting it big and the other slowly easing herself out of show business.
Alice Faye had been a big musical star for Fox since the mid-30s with her
slightly husky voice and ability to shed glistening tears from her puppy
dog eyes while another blonde Betty Grable got her break in Down Argentine
Way when Faye was sick and the studio looked around for a replacement and
saw Grable. Faye never lost her popularity, she just tired of Hollywood and
did a radio show with her husband Phil Harris for years. Grable would
go on to hit after hit with her shiny looks and dazzling come home smile.
Not to mention her legs which were insured for a million dollars. This was
the only film that they co-starred in (other than a film in which they both
had cameos as themselves - Four Jills and a Jeep).
They get top billing as expected but then
for reasons unknown the film gives John Payne and Jackie Oakie most of the
screen time. By a lot. Oakie is ok in small doses but his hyperactive acting
makes you want to leave the room. Payne was handsome with the charisma of
a comb. And they decide to make him fairly unlikable in the film. He was
in a bunch of musicals though he could not dance or sing particularly well
because Fox never was able to get their hands on any male musical talent.
So, Faye and Grable have to carry the films they are in. Which they did many
times. Often with the help of Carmen Miranda. Before those two became stars,
Fox had Shirley Temple who was the most popular actor of the 1930s. Hard
to imagine today. And then there was the ice-skating hip shaking Sonja Henie.
But they never got decent male co-stars either who could keep up with them
other than Bill Bojangles Robinson.
It is 1915. Payne and Oakie are song publishers
on Tin Pan Alley, the legendary strip of music publishers in New York City.
These were the days before records, so money was made by selling sheet music
to the song. They have no good songs to publish until they hear a song being
played on the piano in a bar - played by Elisha Cook Jr. In those days songs
were popularized by getting someone to sing them in nightclubs or events.
Payne meets Faye and gets all googly-eyed and she does in return. The song
becomes a hit and they are on their way. But what sort of film would that
be. Breakups and makeups to come along with a bunch of songs. I mean this
is a musical. You have to expect the songs.
The problem for me was they were just alright.
Payne keeps saying he has a great song and I think, ok this is going to be
the one and then its America, I Love You or Midnight and Roses or one about
Dixie that has a racial epithet that hits you like a rock out of nowhere.
Kind of a miss with little sizzle other than when Grable or Faye are singing.
Appearing also is Billy Gilbert in the Sheik of Araby number, the Nicholas
Brothers in the same number and Allen Jenkins as comic relief. Fox was about
to go to Technicolor musicals but this was shot in black and white which
is a shame because both actresses radiate in color.
