M.M. Musselman Movies
- 1946
A rare black-and-white Maria Montez vehicle, Tangier can be described as a second-echelon Casablanca. Montez plays a Spanish dancer named Rita, who is determined to bring Nazi collaborator Colonel Jose Artiego (Preston Foster) to justice. Artiego is at presently working incognito, as military governor of the North African city of Tangier. Maria finds an unexpected ally in the form of Artiego's discarded mistress Dolores (Louise Allbritton). Dominating the film's hotel-lobby set is an old-fashioned "open" elevator, which will obviously figure prominently in the climax. A camp classic, Tangier is distinguished by supporting actor Sabu's offkey renditions of such American standards as "Polly Wolly Doodle" and "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Montez, Preston S. Foster, (more)
- 1945
In this crime drama, a former card shark finally gets paroled and decides to take his singing niece to Chicago to make a new start. Unfortunately, the musical niece ends up working at a gangster's nightclub and the gambler, unable to resist the lure of easy money, returns to card playing. Later an investigating attorney falls in love with the singer whose boss he has been assigned to ultimately prosecute. Songs include: "In Love with Love," "Mam'selle Is on Her Way" (George Waggner, Milton Rosen), "Tango" (Edgar Fairchild), and "Cuddle Up a Little Closer" (Karl Hoschna, Otto Harbach). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Coburn, Robert Paige, (more)
- 1944
If you've never seen a '40s singing, swimming musical this may be the one to catch. Featuring a mammoth cast, including such notables as Xavier Cugat, Basil Rathbone, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams, this is a swimming spectacular. The plot's quite thin: Skelton plays a lovesick songwriter who enrolls in a girls' school to stay near his new wife who ditched him shortly after the wedding bells rang and was hired on as the college's swim teacher. Of course Esther Williams is the beautiful swimming instructor who spends most of her time in the pool performing in a score of choreographed pieces. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Red Skelton, Esther Williams, (more)
- 1944
In his final starring film, bandleader Kay Kyser is cast as bandleader Kay Kyser. Picking up where Kyser's previous RKO Radio film Around the World left off, Columbia's Carolina Blues finds Kay and his band returning to America after a worldwide USO tour. Phineas J. Carver (Victor Moore), the woebegone "black sheep"scion of a powerful family of industrialists, poses as one of his wealthier relatives to persuade Kyser to perform at a defense plant. When Kyser's regular vocalist Georgia Carroll quits the band to get married, Carver's talented daughter Julie (Ann Miller) steps in as replacement. Naturally, Julie is a hit, and equally naturally, she lands Kyser as a husband. Outside of the expected musical numbers (which, in addtion to Kyser's aggregation, feature such artists as The Step Brothers and the Nicholas Brothers) Carolina Blues is highlighted by the bravura performance of Victor Moore, who essays five roles in all. Ironically, singer Georgia Carroll did retire from show business in real life to get married-to Kay Kyser! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Miller, Victor Moore, (more)
- 1943
Another of Universal's "pocket" musicals, Rhythm of the Islands is set in the South Seas, presumably far away from the shooting war. The nonsensical plotline finds hero Tommy (Allan Jones) posing as a native chief. Joan Holton (Jane Frazee), daughter of a millionaire (Ernest Truex), falls in love with Tommy, unaware that he's a charlatan. Tommy and his beachcomber pal Eddie (Andy Devine) encouraged Joan's attentions in order to close a big-business deal with her father; eventually, however, Tommy falls in love with the girl for real, and confesses his sham. The producers managed to pack five songs into the 60-minute running time, not to mention a couple of specialty numbers performed by The Step Brothers and The Horton Dancers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allan Jones, Jane Frazee, (more)
- 1942
A bit higher-budgeted than most of Universal's "pocket" musicals, Get Hep to Love runs a full 79 mintues rather than the standard hard-and-fast hour. Gloria Jean plays child musical prodigy Doris Stanley, who is overworked and exploited by her avaricious Aunt Addie (Nana Bryant). Escaping her aunt's clutches for a well-deserved vacation, Doris manages to elude the private detective (Tim Ryan) hired to bring her back. Landing in a small town, she assumes a phony name and allows herself to be adopted by young marrieds Stephen and Ann Winters (Robert Paige, Jane Frazee). She also attends a "normal" high school for the first time in her life, where she vies with brattish Elaine Sterling (Cora Sue Collins) over the affections of Jimmy Arnold (Donald O'Connor). In standard movie-musical fashion, everyone's problems are straightened out with a climactic production number, spotlighting Gloria Jean's operatic soprano and Donald O'Connor's fancy footwork. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Jean, Donald O'Connor, (more)
Neither James Cagney nor Bette Davis were particularly pleased with the outdated screwball comedy The Bride Came C.O.D., but both performers behaved with thorough professionalism, doing a lot more for the film than the film did for them. Davis stars as flighty heiress Joan Winfield, whose impending marriage to bandleader Allen Brice (Jack Carson) does not rest well with her oil-rich father Lucius K. Winfield (Eugene Pallette). When Joan announces that she intends to defy her father's wishes and elope with Brice, Winfield hires charter pilot Steve Collins (Cagney) to kidnap the girl and deliver her back home, C.O.D. Nearly bankrupt, Steve goes along with the scheme, but on the return flight his plane crashes in the desert. Realizing that he's only a few miles from civilization, Steve schemes to keep Joan from signalling any potential rescuers by chasing her into an old tunnel and convincing her that they're hopelessly lost. When Joan tumbles to the scheme, she forces Steve to let her marry Brice. The surprisingly cooperative Steve agrees, knowing full well that he still has a few aces up his sleeve. So guess who Joan ends up with at fadeout time? Genuine laughs are few and far between in this hectic farce, but at least Bette Davis has one hilarious moment, predicated on her outraged delivery of the word "Mustard!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Bette Davis, (more)
- 1941
The much-maligned Playmates callously offers the appalling spectacle of a thoroughly dissolute John Barrymore in his final screen performance, but the film isn't quite as bad as it's supposed to be. Barrymore plays himself, a washed-up ham actor up to his ears in debts. When the IRS demands payment for back taxes, Barrymore's press agent Pete Lindsey (Peter Lynd Hayes) and manager Lulu Monohan (Patsy Kelly) suggest a sure-fire moneymaking scheme: the venerable thespian will transform bucolic bandleader Kay Kyser (also playing himself) into a Shakespearean actor, in exchange for a fat radio contract. Neither Kyser nor Barrymore are keen on this set-up, but while Kyser is willing to go through with the plan, Barrymore seeks various devious methods of wriggling out of the committment. Barrymore goes so far as to sic his peppery girlfriend Carmen del Toro (Lupe Velez) on poor Kyser, hoping to dissuade the bandleader from showing up at the climactic Long Island Shakespeare Festival peformance. When this fails, Barrymore spikes Kyser's throat spray with alum, only to be rendered speechless himself when the spray bottles are switched. Suffice to say that all ends happily, with Kay Kyser and his aggregation (Ginny Simms, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble et. al.) performing a rather pleasant "swing" version of Romeo and Juliet. Admittedly, it's rather hard to watch Playmates knowing that John Barrymore had once been regarded as the greatest actor of his generation. Even so, a few bright moments shrine through, notably a poignant scene in which Barrymore briefly recaptures the old magic by reciting a few passages from Hamlet's soliloquy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Barrymore, Lupe Velez, (more)
- 1939
Allan Dwan's comedic musical adaptation of the classic Dumas story sticks close to the original tale, yet it augments it with healthy doses of humor and songs. Don Ameche stars as D'Artagnan and the Ritz Brothers play his two other musketeers. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], (more)
- 1938
In this musical comedy, the Ritz Brothers inherit a racehorse but are unable to make money from him because they cannot come up with the $1,000 needed to enter him in the big race. The two get involved with the race anyway when they overhear a group of Russian jockeys conspiring to ruin the race. The brothers then masquerade as the crooked riders and mayhem ensues. Songs include "With You On My Mind," "Why Not String Along With Me?" (Lew Brown, Lew Pollack; sung by Merman), "International Cowboys" (Ray Golden, Sid Kuller, Jule Styne). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], Richard Arlen, (more)
- 1938
Those zany Ritz Brothers are at it again--good news or bad, depending on one's feelings toward the team. This time they're a trio of Manhattan entertainers who can't get anywhere because hillbilly acts are "in" with radio and theatrical producers. Also left out in the cold by the new fad is singer Marjorie Weaver. Weaver and the Ritzes decide to pass themselves off as hillbillies, and to do this head for the Kentucky hills in order to be discovered. They land smack-dab in the middle of one of those mountain feuds so beloved of comedy filmmakers. Radio star Tony Martin, who has been sent southward to find genuine hayseed talent, spots the Ritzes and Weaver and brings them back to New York. The truth comes out at last, but the Ritz boys redeem themselves with a rib tickling "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" radio sketch--easily the highlight of this wildly uneven film. When reminiscing about Kentucky Moonshine in 1978, director David Butler remembered that team member Al Ritz refused to perform a barefoot hillbilly dance unless he was outfitted with rubber feet! The producers should have recreated that true-life bit in the film and gotten rid of the tiresome opening routine in which the Ritzes play poker using hospital progress charts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], Tony Martin, (more)
- 1937
A naive gas station attendant's life takes a turn for the better when he is adopted by an eccentric, boozy travelling millionaire who crosses the country in his own train. Accompanied by his beloved pet bunny, the former gas station jockey boards the train. Soon afterward, he is kidnapped by greedy gangsters and that is when the fun begins. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Haley, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
