Whether or not you like this film may depend a lot on whether or not you love musicals...as well as the singing voice of John Payne. Unfortunately, I am not a huge fan of musicals and I distinctly did not enjoy Payne's singing. And, on top of that, the character played by Pat O'Brien is very familiar--though meaner than the sort of guy O'Brien often played. A bit less singing and a bit less meanness and I might have enjoyed this more.
This film, directed by Busby Berkeley, begins with Rudy Valle's bus being run off the road and several members of the band (none of which you ever see) are injured. As a result, they are not able to play for the opening of O'Brien's nightclub, The Garden of the Moon. No other big-name act is available Margaret Lindsey convinces O'Brien to take his chance on an unknown band led by John Payne. The band is thrilled but soon after they arrive, O'Brien begins treating them like garbage. This could have been done well, but they frankly made O'Brien a total jerk. As a result, later in the film when the film makers wanted you to like and connect with him, you couldn't. The rest of the film consists of on-again/off-again fights between Payne and O'Brien and Lindsey's attempts to get them to patch things up--though I was hoping Payne would just slug him! The film consists of a lot of ordinary music and some forced comedy. There was a terrible ordinariness about the film and while there isn't a lot to hate, the film was only mildly diverting and nothing more. Frankly, everyone in the film did better work than this!
This film, directed by Busby Berkeley, begins with Rudy Valle's bus being run off the road and several members of the band (none of which you ever see) are injured. As a result, they are not able to play for the opening of O'Brien's nightclub, The Garden of the Moon. No other big-name act is available Margaret Lindsey convinces O'Brien to take his chance on an unknown band led by John Payne. The band is thrilled but soon after they arrive, O'Brien begins treating them like garbage. This could have been done well, but they frankly made O'Brien a total jerk. As a result, later in the film when the film makers wanted you to like and connect with him, you couldn't. The rest of the film consists of on-again/off-again fights between Payne and O'Brien and Lindsey's attempts to get them to patch things up--though I was hoping Payne would just slug him! The film consists of a lot of ordinary music and some forced comedy. There was a terrible ordinariness about the film and while there isn't a lot to hate, the film was only mildly diverting and nothing more. Frankly, everyone in the film did better work than this!