Hooray for Love
               
Director: Walter Lang
Year: 1935
Rating: 5.5
An innocent slice of musical filling from RKO but for old-time Hollywood movie fans, it has a few things to keep you going. The cast mainly. Heading it is Ann Sothern who I have been a fan of ever since watching all of her Maisie series. A real charmer and here she gets a chance to sing a few songs. She had been a singer with Artie Shaw earlier on but in most of her films she just did comedy with a twist of romance. While at RKO she co-starred with Gene Raymond in a number of films that were basic second features with happy endings. Raymond was married to Jeanette MacDonald for nearly thirty years when she passed away. He was never the star she was but was considered one of the best looking leading men during the 30's. Throw in a nine-minute performance from Bill Bojangles Robinson who is joined by Fats Waller and Jeni Le Gon, a black singer and dancer. There is also comedienne Pert Kelton who was usually cast as the not too smart sidekick in films. She was the first Alice Kramden in the Honeymooners but lost the job due to the blacklist. She does a routine here with Lionel Stander that makes you want to leave the theater.

 

Not much to hold on to here plot wise. Raymond is in college (he was 27 at the time) and goes into a nightclub with his college buddies and sees Sothern performing I'm in Love All Over Again and that is enough to make him fall in love. He chases after her but is as annoying as a string of cans tied to your belt. Later he runs into her again with her father (Thurston Hall) who is a low-level conman who talks Raymond into investing all his money into a Broadway show run by thieves. No need to worry too much - they produce Springtime for Hitler and it is a huge hit. Or something like that. 72 minutes of nothing much but pleasant enough.