Fox films didn't need Technicolor in 1930 - they had Grandeur, a wide screen 70mm process that William Fox was sure would catch on as quickly as talking pictures - but it didn't!! Only a few films were made in this process, among them "The Big Trail". Initially "Happy Days" started out as "New Orleans Frolic", which was going to have a big cast but no top names. But soon Fox lashed out and added Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Will Rogers, Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe and Warner Baxter. The basic plot has Captain Billy Batcher (Charles E. Evans) owner of a famous Mississippi showboat facing ruin unless he can lure patrons away from their radios and the movies. Peppy Marjorie White goes to New York to beg help from some famous stars, that the Captain once helped (oddly enough they are all Fox contractees)!!!
When Margie arrives in New York she gets a job as a page at an exclusive men's club - just an excuse for Fox to parade their roster of male stars - there are also plenty of "in jokes" for people who love their vintage movies. You have Warner Baxter doing card tricks, Nick Stuart and David Rollins as a couple of amorous pages collecting girl's telephone numbers until David tells Nick to "Remember Sue" (Nick Stuart and Sue Carol married around this time - I'm surprised that Sue Carol wasn't featured in this movie as she was a Fox star of musicals.) George Jessell, who seems to organise the minstrel show and then disappears from the movie, also Rex Bell, Paul Page and Will Rogers, who contrary to his big build up only had a couple of lines.
The movie then forgets the plot and turns into a giant minstrel show with George MacFarland as the M.C. and George Olsen and his Orchestra. J. Harold Murray sings "A Toast to the Girl I Love" telling the story in multiple screen effects. Frank Richardson (a high pitched "Mammy" singer) leads the minstrels in "Mona". Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe engage in some verbal sparing in an overlong skit to convince viewers that they are really friends. Back in the day they were a popular movie team ("What Price Glory" and "The Cockeyed World"). El Brendel was another, who at the time, was one of Fox's biggest stars, but his humor has not worn well and his skits are very unfunny.
"Snake Hips" is fantastic - Sharon Lynn sings it,(she sang the "Turn on the Heat" number in "Sunny Side Up") there is some great, innovative overhead photography and beautiful Ann Pennington dances up a storm. Although in her 30s, she still had "IT" in spades. Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell build a doll house to "We'll Build a Little World of Our Own". Janet's voice seemed to have improved since "Sunny Side Up" and she talked/sang the words which I found quite effective. Charles Farrell's voice was still the same - unfortunately and the song ended with Farrell and Gaynor, dressed as babies, fighting over a bottle. No wonder Janet was fed up with the movies she was being offered.
"Crazy Feet" made the whole movie worthwhile. Adorable Dixie Lee burst out of a modernistic background, which featured chorus girls, in silhouette, in letters featuring the name of the song - at one point girls came down from the ceiling, suspended on swings, showing their "crazy feet". Dixie Lee was married to Bing Crosby and her guidance really helped him on the road to success. She has a wonderful "jazz oriented" voice and she even does a chorus of scat!!! Chorus girls pile out of giant shoes, Tom Patricola does an eccentric dance, Frank Richardson leads a chorus of clowns - did I mention the beautiful chorus girls!!! Marjorie White and Richard Keene sing and dance a cute novelty number "I'm on a Diet of Love" and soon end up duking it out on stage - "Whispering" Jack Smith, who, as a singer, had huge popularity in the twenties, comes on stage to patch things up and lead the finale in "Happy Days", sung in that whispering voice that was his trademark.
It ends quickly - Most of the comedy was hard to take - but unlike "On With the Show" it was only 86 minutes long.
Highly, Highly Recommended.
When Margie arrives in New York she gets a job as a page at an exclusive men's club - just an excuse for Fox to parade their roster of male stars - there are also plenty of "in jokes" for people who love their vintage movies. You have Warner Baxter doing card tricks, Nick Stuart and David Rollins as a couple of amorous pages collecting girl's telephone numbers until David tells Nick to "Remember Sue" (Nick Stuart and Sue Carol married around this time - I'm surprised that Sue Carol wasn't featured in this movie as she was a Fox star of musicals.) George Jessell, who seems to organise the minstrel show and then disappears from the movie, also Rex Bell, Paul Page and Will Rogers, who contrary to his big build up only had a couple of lines.
The movie then forgets the plot and turns into a giant minstrel show with George MacFarland as the M.C. and George Olsen and his Orchestra. J. Harold Murray sings "A Toast to the Girl I Love" telling the story in multiple screen effects. Frank Richardson (a high pitched "Mammy" singer) leads the minstrels in "Mona". Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe engage in some verbal sparing in an overlong skit to convince viewers that they are really friends. Back in the day they were a popular movie team ("What Price Glory" and "The Cockeyed World"). El Brendel was another, who at the time, was one of Fox's biggest stars, but his humor has not worn well and his skits are very unfunny.
"Snake Hips" is fantastic - Sharon Lynn sings it,(she sang the "Turn on the Heat" number in "Sunny Side Up") there is some great, innovative overhead photography and beautiful Ann Pennington dances up a storm. Although in her 30s, she still had "IT" in spades. Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell build a doll house to "We'll Build a Little World of Our Own". Janet's voice seemed to have improved since "Sunny Side Up" and she talked/sang the words which I found quite effective. Charles Farrell's voice was still the same - unfortunately and the song ended with Farrell and Gaynor, dressed as babies, fighting over a bottle. No wonder Janet was fed up with the movies she was being offered.
"Crazy Feet" made the whole movie worthwhile. Adorable Dixie Lee burst out of a modernistic background, which featured chorus girls, in silhouette, in letters featuring the name of the song - at one point girls came down from the ceiling, suspended on swings, showing their "crazy feet". Dixie Lee was married to Bing Crosby and her guidance really helped him on the road to success. She has a wonderful "jazz oriented" voice and she even does a chorus of scat!!! Chorus girls pile out of giant shoes, Tom Patricola does an eccentric dance, Frank Richardson leads a chorus of clowns - did I mention the beautiful chorus girls!!! Marjorie White and Richard Keene sing and dance a cute novelty number "I'm on a Diet of Love" and soon end up duking it out on stage - "Whispering" Jack Smith, who, as a singer, had huge popularity in the twenties, comes on stage to patch things up and lead the finale in "Happy Days", sung in that whispering voice that was his trademark.
It ends quickly - Most of the comedy was hard to take - but unlike "On With the Show" it was only 86 minutes long.
Highly, Highly Recommended.