I taped this off TV in 1987 - I very much doubt it'll be ever be on again. If you can realise that all musicals are necessarily bizarre, especially early '30's Warners, Wonder Bar takes the first prize. Everyone in it is dislikeable or at least seriously flawed human beings, whether at the WB as sexual predators or just desperate for sex, apart from the jovial suicidee (unless he too was after the ultimate kick?!)
*** Hugh Herbert's comedy quartet quickly palls; Kay Francis although still divine to look at got away with free "dancing lessons" from Ricardo Cortez; after being even more like Eddie Cantor than usual Al Jolson's morality in covering up murder with an assisted suicide is dubious; Busby Berkeley's pointlessly uglified female sex object troupe were busy in a few lovely routines, the amazing waltzing in the mirror scenes still hold up well; Dolores Del Rio had an intensely public emotional climax, but went off with the ever dependable Dick Powell without a care in the world. ***
No matter how different this can be judged from other Hollywood product from the time, it's the "Missouri Mule" 14 minute Heavenly dream sequence to Dubin & Warren's music that will overshadow (ahem) the rest of the film. Whatever the rights and wrongs of it (and it was right at the time obviously) it can't be long before it's excised from any future video release/TV showing. First time I saw it I wondered just how crass, inane and un-entertaining this section was and who on Earth was it meant to originally appeal to?
But age tempers judgement as a rule - now I think if anyone (whether black or white) is really offended by a series of moving black and white pictures from 1934 of idiotic white people getting paid to cavort around blacked up representing then stereotypical Negroes - then I think they need their heads examining. If this is anathema how could Blazing Saddles get away with much worse as "comedy", and which to my mind is spreading a negative racial message further than WB can ever do now - just stop and think why so many black people like it.
So, a good movie, depressingly different and worth a watch to the liberated.
*** Hugh Herbert's comedy quartet quickly palls; Kay Francis although still divine to look at got away with free "dancing lessons" from Ricardo Cortez; after being even more like Eddie Cantor than usual Al Jolson's morality in covering up murder with an assisted suicide is dubious; Busby Berkeley's pointlessly uglified female sex object troupe were busy in a few lovely routines, the amazing waltzing in the mirror scenes still hold up well; Dolores Del Rio had an intensely public emotional climax, but went off with the ever dependable Dick Powell without a care in the world. ***
No matter how different this can be judged from other Hollywood product from the time, it's the "Missouri Mule" 14 minute Heavenly dream sequence to Dubin & Warren's music that will overshadow (ahem) the rest of the film. Whatever the rights and wrongs of it (and it was right at the time obviously) it can't be long before it's excised from any future video release/TV showing. First time I saw it I wondered just how crass, inane and un-entertaining this section was and who on Earth was it meant to originally appeal to?
But age tempers judgement as a rule - now I think if anyone (whether black or white) is really offended by a series of moving black and white pictures from 1934 of idiotic white people getting paid to cavort around blacked up representing then stereotypical Negroes - then I think they need their heads examining. If this is anathema how could Blazing Saddles get away with much worse as "comedy", and which to my mind is spreading a negative racial message further than WB can ever do now - just stop and think why so many black people like it.
So, a good movie, depressingly different and worth a watch to the liberated.