Edward F. Cline Movies

Monogram's Jiggs and Maggie in Society was the second entry in the series based on the George McManus comic strip "Bringing Up Father." Joe Yule Sr. (Mickey Rooney's father) and Rene Riano are once again ideally cast as Jiggs and Maggie, the world-famous nouveau riche shanty-Irish couple. Though down-to-earth Jiggs has little patience for his wealthy new surroundings, Maggie insists upon entering "The 400," and to do this she enlists the aid of dance instructor Arthur Murray and How to Win Friends and Influence People guru Dale Carnegie (both playing themselves!) Try though she might, Maggie cannot win acceptance in High Society, but Jiggs saves the day when he solves a jewel robbery in an upper-crust mansion. The level of wit in Jiggs and Maggie in Society can be gauged by such character names as Mrs. Vacuum and Mrs. Heavydoe. Still, a good time was apparently had by all during filming; it's especially enjoyable to watch "guest stars" Murray, Carnegie and columnist Sheila Graham enthusiastically participate in the lowbrow proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If Penthouse Rhythm is paced more like a two-reel comedy than a mini-musical, it may be because the director was Mack Sennett alumnus Eddie Cline. Kirby Grant, Lois Collier, Judy Clark and Edward Norris play Dick, Linda, Patty and Junior, young members of a singing quartet. The kids have trouble getting their career started until given a boost by boxer-nightclub manager Maxie Rosenbloom (playing himself). Their success seems to hinge on a mere handful of songs, a fact that many genuine musicians found laughable. Halfway down the cast list as "Jank" is Jimmy Dodd, ten years away from his Mickey Mouse Club fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy of mistaken identity, a group of young of budding theatrical performers endeavor to put on their own show and enlist the aid of twin brothers. One of them is a producer while the other is a business magnate. Songs include "Hold That Line," "A Dream Said Hello" (sung by Rooney and the Stardusters), "Me and My Whistle," "Come Back Erin," "Rhythm's What You Need," "The Happy Polka," "Stars and Violins" (Everett Carter, Milton Rosen), "The Blue Danube" (Johann Strauss, adapted by Katherine Bellamann), "Put Your Arms around Me Honey" (June McCree, Albert von Tilzer). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, a vaudevillian father, wanting a better life for his son, fires the youth from their act. The deeply angry young man's devoted and creative gal, a hat-check girl, helps him land a job with a big band. But despite his resulting success, he remains estranged from his heart-broken father, until the girl friend uses her creative writing skills to effect a reunion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

If one were forced to choose, Swingtime Johnny may well be the best of the Andrews Sisters' 1940 "B"-musicals. Patty, Maxine and Laverne Andrews play three popular singers (what a stretch!) who do their bit for Uncle Sam by landing jobs in a defense factory. When they're not hammering and rivetting, the girls provide dinner-break entertainment for their fellow workers. The film's wisp of a romantic subplot is carried by Harriet Hilliard (aka Harriet Nelson) as a nightclub chanteuse who falls in love with the handsome factory owner (Peter Cookson). Meanwhile, a jealous employee does his best to sabotage the romance. Fans of "Our Gang" will recognize chubby Joe Cobb in a bit as a garage mechanic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dick Foran is back for another seven-reel melange of music and comedy in Universal's He's My Guy. Foran is cast as defense-plant worker Van Moore, who is casting about for ways of boosting morale amongst his fellow workers. Coming to the rescue are a group of veteran vaudevillians, who stage a spectacular show for the plant. Among these beloved performers are Gertrude Niesen, the Mills Brothers, Louis Da Pron, Lorraine Krueger, The Diamond Brothers and the Dorene Sisters. The feminine angle of the storyline is handled by heroine Irene Hervey and comedienne Joan Davis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To say that Behind the Eight Ball is the best of the Ritz Brothers' quartet of Universal vehicles is faint praise indeed, but it's fact that the Ritzes pack an awful lot of laughs in the film's 60-minute running time. The story takes place at a summer theater in the Berkshire Mountains, where heroine Joan Barry (Carol Bruce) is staging a Broadway-bound musical comedy. Only one problem: two guest stars are shot and killed on two successive evenings, right in front of the audience. Hoping to solve the mystery, detective William Demarest demands that everyone -- actors and theatergoers alike -- return the following weekend to restage the show. But with no major performer willing to assume the fatal guest-star slot, Joan is forced to hire the Three Jolly Jesters (Al, Harry and Jimmy Ritz), Manhattan washroom attendants with showbiz aspirations. Though they're not keen on being set up as targets for the murderer, our three heroes gamely do as they're told -- and miracle of miracles, ultimately reveal that the killings are tied in with a nest of Axis spies! Highlights of this lightning-paced programmer include the Don Raye-Gene Paul hit song "Mister Five by Five" and the Ritz boys' specialty number "Charles Atlas Did It for Me". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Andrews Sisters headline this musical. They play the lead act at a popular nightclub. The trouble begins when they hire a few students from a financially foundering dance school for their newest production. One of the dancers, a rich young socialite, desperately wants to be in it too, but her prurient maiden aunts refuse to allow her to disgrace their family by becoming a common chorine. She and the club owner (who must have the aunt's permission because the girl is underage) try to convince them, but it's not easy. Meanwhile the talented girl finds herself falling hopelessly in love with the club bandleader. In desperation, the ingenious club owner has the obliging Andrews dress up as the aunties and sign the consent forms. The real aunts are infuriated when they discover the ruse and in a tizzy rush down to the club. They arrive just in time to catch the girl's performance and a predictably happy ending ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

There's plenty cookin' in this brisk, breezy Andrews Sisters vehicle. The plot, such as it is, concerns the efforts by a group of entertainers to package a weekly musical radio show. Their biggest obstacle is a lack of sponsorship, but this is overcome when eccentric business executive J. P. Courtney (Charles Butterworth) agrees to pony up the necessary dough on behalf of his talented niece Sue (Gloria Jean). Within its tightly packed 69 minutes, What's Cookin' is able to accommodate a romantic subplot, comedy relief, and a plethora of musical numbers. The stellar (and quite topheavy) supporting cast includes Jane Frazee, Robert Paige, Billie Burke, Donald O'Connor, Franklin Pangborn, Grace McDonald, Leo Carrillo, the Jivin' Jacks and Jills, and even Woody Herman and His Thundering Herd. Imagine what a lineup like that would cost a radio sponsor today! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

W.C. Fields heads to Esoteric studios to pitch a story idea to producer Franklin Pangborn. The producer wants to make a conventional romantic musical starring Fields' niece, teen-aged soprano Gloria Jean, but "The Great Man" has other ideas. As Pangborn sits in dumbfounded silence, Fields unravels an incoherent farrago which begins with him travelling to a Russian colony in Mexico--by way of an airliner with an open observation platform. Fields dives from the plane when his precious flask of gin falls overboard; he lands safely at the mountaintop mansion of the formidable Mrs. Hemoglobin (Margaret Dumont). Playing a kissing game with Hemoglobin's beauteous daughter (Susan Miller), who has never seen a man before, Fields decides to make a quick exit when Mama wants to get in on the game too. Reunited with Gloria Jean in the Russian colony, Fields learns that Mrs. Hemoglobin is worth millions, so he climbs back up the mountain, ignoring such obstacles as a displaced African gorilla. Disposing of his rival Leon Errol, Fields is about to wed Mrs. Hemoglobin, but is talked out of it at the last moment by Gloria Jean. At this point in the narrative, producer Pangborn can stand no more. He tells Fields to take his nonsensical screenplay and vacate the premises. After a brief episode at a soda fountain ("This scene was supposed to be in a saloon, but the censors made us cut it out"), Fields drives off to new adventures with his niece--but not before a zany slapstick car-chase finale, prompted by Fields' mistaken belief that he's rushing a corpulent middle-aged lady to the maternity hospital. W. C. Fields' original screenplay for Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (written under the fanciful pseudonym of Otis Criblecoblis) made a lot more sense than what ended up on screen, but Fields' extended absences from the studio, coupled with Universal's desire to reshape the film into a vehicle for their new star Gloria Jean, necessitated a complete restructuring of the plot. While hardly Fields' best or most representative film, Sucker is an excellent example of the sort of nonsensical "nut" humor in vogue in 1941 thanks to Olsen and Johnson's Hellzapoppin'. And, occasionally, the film stands still long enough to allow W. C. Fields to mutter a priceless aside or toss off a perfectly timed double-take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like Prohibition, Franklin-Blank Productions' The Villain Still Pursued Her is best regarded as a "noble experiment". Using the hoary old stage melodrama The Drunkard: or, the Fallen Saved as its inspiration, the film is a contemptous send-up of all such Victorian mellers, its "serious" moments deliberately and broadly played for laughs. The tone is set at the beginning of the film, with master of ceremonies Billy Gilbert exhorting the audience to "applaud the noble characters and hiss the villain" (at some showings, it was the other way around). Richard Cromwell plays Edward, a stalwart young man who succumbs to the temptations of Demon Rum through the evil machinations of top-hatted villain Squire Cribbs (Alan Mowbray). It is Cribbs' desire to have heroine Mary (Anita Louise), Edward's long-suffering spouse, in his clutches, but the villain is (curses!) foiled by "philanthropist-reformer" Healy (Hugh Herbert). No opportunity to wring laughs from the audience is overlooked; there's even a pie-throwing sequence, which figured not at all into the original play. The result is more silly than funny, with everyone trying way too hard. Still, there are some prize moments, many of them provided by Buster Keaton in the sizeable role of the hero's best friend; whenever Keaton pauses to deliver an aside to the audience, he must first wait patiently while several disinterested passers-by parade before the camera. Best bit: the "love at first sight" meeting between hero Cromwell and heroine Louise, beginning with intercut long shots of the couple and ending with tight, bloodshot closeups of the actors' eyes! A flop when first released, The Villain Still Pursued Her has since found its audience on the public domain video circuit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide