Less than a week after MGM programmer "Love in the Rough" opened another golf themed musical was released (advertised as "All Singie - Talkie - Dancie - Golfie"), although this one was far more prestigious. The all Technicolor "Follow Thru" was based on the Broadway hit of 1929 (401 performances) and paired Paramount's singing sweethearts - Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Nancy Carroll. Apart from the two stars, it followed it's stage roots with Jack Haley and Zelma O'Neal repeating their roles as the secondary comic couple and also a teen couple, Don Tomkins and Margaret Lee.
To me the movie is dazzling but reviewers weren't impressed as it came so late in the early musical cycle, at a time when the public was starting to keep away from musicals. Firstly, it was a complete shock how gorgeous Nancy Carroll looked in Technicolor. The colour was very harsh - all pinks and greens but even the garishness couldn't make Nancy look anything less than spectacular!!!
Lora Moore (Nancy Carroll) the champion golfer at the Mission Country Club is defeated at an important tournament by her arch rival Ruth Van Horn (Thelma Todd). She doesn't care - she has caught the eye of handsome golf pro Jerry Downs (Rogers) and begins to wonder if there is more to life than golf!! He is, unfortunately, just passing through so Lora persuades her bubbly friend Angie (Zelma O'Neal) to use her charms on his boss, girl shy Jack Martin (Jack Haley). Haley is the hit of the film, in my opinion, he is hilarious and has a "head twitch" that happens whenever he sees a girl he likes!! Anyway, Angie tries her best with the lively "Button Up Your Overcoat" (it left you wanting more!!) but it doesn't seem to work. Lora and Jerry do their courting to the beautiful "We'd Make a Peach of a Pair" - and they do!!! but wiley Ruth is determined to win Jerry away.
Babs and Dinty (the teen couple from the stage show) sing and dance an eccentric number "Then I'll Have Time for You" ("when I'm with my kid brother and they think I'm his mother!!!", "When my spirit is broken and I live in Hoboken - then I'll have time for you")!!! At the Masquerade Ball Lora looks very fetching in kilts but the night belongs to Angie as she performs the over the top fantasy number "I Want to Be Bad" - it rivals "Turn on the Heat" for sheer outrageousness. After Angie tells the little devils that "let a lady confess, I want to be bad", down come the angels, but their dancing is so hot they turn into devils and have to be hosed down by a celestial fire truck!!!
Ruth spreads stories about Jerry and Lora, upset, challenges her to a golf tournament but with all the agitation is completely off her game until Jerry takes charge at the last hole and orders her to "Follow Thru"!!!
As often happened with those "taken from Broadway" musicals, some of the original songs were ditched - among them was "You Wouldn't Fool Me, Would You?" that was a big hit for Annette Hanshaw. She sang it in a "Helen Kane" way and it is really cute. The big hit of the movie was one especially written for it. "A Peach of a Pair" was given top treatment by Nancy and Buddy and proved to be the song people were humming on their way home from the cinema.
Highly, Highly Recommended.
To me the movie is dazzling but reviewers weren't impressed as it came so late in the early musical cycle, at a time when the public was starting to keep away from musicals. Firstly, it was a complete shock how gorgeous Nancy Carroll looked in Technicolor. The colour was very harsh - all pinks and greens but even the garishness couldn't make Nancy look anything less than spectacular!!!
Lora Moore (Nancy Carroll) the champion golfer at the Mission Country Club is defeated at an important tournament by her arch rival Ruth Van Horn (Thelma Todd). She doesn't care - she has caught the eye of handsome golf pro Jerry Downs (Rogers) and begins to wonder if there is more to life than golf!! He is, unfortunately, just passing through so Lora persuades her bubbly friend Angie (Zelma O'Neal) to use her charms on his boss, girl shy Jack Martin (Jack Haley). Haley is the hit of the film, in my opinion, he is hilarious and has a "head twitch" that happens whenever he sees a girl he likes!! Anyway, Angie tries her best with the lively "Button Up Your Overcoat" (it left you wanting more!!) but it doesn't seem to work. Lora and Jerry do their courting to the beautiful "We'd Make a Peach of a Pair" - and they do!!! but wiley Ruth is determined to win Jerry away.
Babs and Dinty (the teen couple from the stage show) sing and dance an eccentric number "Then I'll Have Time for You" ("when I'm with my kid brother and they think I'm his mother!!!", "When my spirit is broken and I live in Hoboken - then I'll have time for you")!!! At the Masquerade Ball Lora looks very fetching in kilts but the night belongs to Angie as she performs the over the top fantasy number "I Want to Be Bad" - it rivals "Turn on the Heat" for sheer outrageousness. After Angie tells the little devils that "let a lady confess, I want to be bad", down come the angels, but their dancing is so hot they turn into devils and have to be hosed down by a celestial fire truck!!!
Ruth spreads stories about Jerry and Lora, upset, challenges her to a golf tournament but with all the agitation is completely off her game until Jerry takes charge at the last hole and orders her to "Follow Thru"!!!
As often happened with those "taken from Broadway" musicals, some of the original songs were ditched - among them was "You Wouldn't Fool Me, Would You?" that was a big hit for Annette Hanshaw. She sang it in a "Helen Kane" way and it is really cute. The big hit of the movie was one especially written for it. "A Peach of a Pair" was given top treatment by Nancy and Buddy and proved to be the song people were humming on their way home from the cinema.
Highly, Highly Recommended.