I viewed UCLA's restored print of this musical, an early example of two-strip Technicolor. Much of the action takes place on golf links and fairways, so I expected to see vibrant greens ... and I DID see some bright hues of green in the actress's costumes. But the foliage and fairways were strangely subdued. All of the flesh tones are very pink, and the women appear to be wearing too much rouge. All the man-made objects have got nice vibrant Easter Egg colours, though.
This is one of those candyfloss 1920s musicals where strangers instantly fall in love as soon as they clap eyes on each other. All the gals are man-hungry and randy with it, and the comedy lead (Jack Haley) is frightened of women. Haley's character has 'trick eyebrows' which force him to pull a face whenever he thinks about sex. There's plenty of innuendo here ... and lots and lots and lots of expository dialogue. I kept expecting someone to enter with a racquet while saying 'Tennis, anyone?' ... except that the action takes place at a golf course.
SPOILING ONE PUNCH LINE. For the comedy set piece, Haley and Eugene Palllette must infiltrate the women's changing room to retrieve a McGuffin. I expected them to go in disguised as women, but this movie fooled me: they go in disguised as plumbers, and then they get OUT disguised as women.
The male lead in this movie is former silent-film star Buddy Rogers, who once took the trouble to answer my questions when I briefly met him. It pains me to report that his singing voice is just tolerable, and he shows no skill with dialogue.
Surprisingly, this crude musical spawned one hit song: 'Button Up Your Overcoat', performed enthusiastically by Haley and Zelma O'Neal. A couple of the other songs have dull melodies enlivened by lyrics that just occasionally turn risqué. The choreography is wittier than I'd hoped, and one chorus number features a brief overhead shot ... several years before Busby Berkeley made this device his personal trademark.
Thelma Todd is quite good as the villain, in a role outside her usual range. The very English character actor Claude King is cast here as a stage Scotsman, lumbered with Harry Lauder's 'hoot mon' accent. Nancy Carroll is quite fetching in a mini-kilt.
I must disagree with IMDb reviewer Arne Andersen, who says that the character dubbed Dinty Moore in this movie is named for a famous restaurateur. That name originated with a *fictional* character in George McManus's comic strip 'Bringing Up Father'. Eventually, a restaurant was named after the comic-strip character ... but there never was a real person named Dinty Moore, just as there isn't a real person named Beefsteak Charlie.
'Follow Thru' is really more interesting as an historical artefact than as a musical, but I enjoyed it. I'll rate this early musical 7 out of 10.
This is one of those candyfloss 1920s musicals where strangers instantly fall in love as soon as they clap eyes on each other. All the gals are man-hungry and randy with it, and the comedy lead (Jack Haley) is frightened of women. Haley's character has 'trick eyebrows' which force him to pull a face whenever he thinks about sex. There's plenty of innuendo here ... and lots and lots and lots of expository dialogue. I kept expecting someone to enter with a racquet while saying 'Tennis, anyone?' ... except that the action takes place at a golf course.
SPOILING ONE PUNCH LINE. For the comedy set piece, Haley and Eugene Palllette must infiltrate the women's changing room to retrieve a McGuffin. I expected them to go in disguised as women, but this movie fooled me: they go in disguised as plumbers, and then they get OUT disguised as women.
The male lead in this movie is former silent-film star Buddy Rogers, who once took the trouble to answer my questions when I briefly met him. It pains me to report that his singing voice is just tolerable, and he shows no skill with dialogue.
Surprisingly, this crude musical spawned one hit song: 'Button Up Your Overcoat', performed enthusiastically by Haley and Zelma O'Neal. A couple of the other songs have dull melodies enlivened by lyrics that just occasionally turn risqué. The choreography is wittier than I'd hoped, and one chorus number features a brief overhead shot ... several years before Busby Berkeley made this device his personal trademark.
Thelma Todd is quite good as the villain, in a role outside her usual range. The very English character actor Claude King is cast here as a stage Scotsman, lumbered with Harry Lauder's 'hoot mon' accent. Nancy Carroll is quite fetching in a mini-kilt.
I must disagree with IMDb reviewer Arne Andersen, who says that the character dubbed Dinty Moore in this movie is named for a famous restaurateur. That name originated with a *fictional* character in George McManus's comic strip 'Bringing Up Father'. Eventually, a restaurant was named after the comic-strip character ... but there never was a real person named Dinty Moore, just as there isn't a real person named Beefsteak Charlie.
'Follow Thru' is really more interesting as an historical artefact than as a musical, but I enjoyed it. I'll rate this early musical 7 out of 10.