The copy of show of SHOWS that plays occasionally on Turner Classic Movies is a mess. With almost all the Technicolor footage lost, and what remains distorted by being clumsily reformatted for sound-on-film instead of full frame, not to mention the rather blurry nature of almost all of it, it does not present well. Frank Fay as the master of ceremonies seems mumbly and ill at ease, the performers try too had at swinging their plywood cutlasses, and the constant big production numbers of mediocre songs in long distance are wearisome in their sameness.
And then, after half an hour, there are some signs of life; Winnie Lightner sings a nonsense song, and you can see how she wowed them on Broadway. Nick Lucas plays the guitar and sings in close-up, and it's intimate. Then it's back to the canned gags and overlarge production numbers in blurry focus, until John Barrymore gives a riveting excerpt as Richard III, and Nick Lucas and Myrna Loy appear in "A Chinese Fantasy". That's where you get to see a clean and crisp version of what the original movie must have looked like. True, the monotonous (duotonous?) salmons and cyans pall before the number is over, but it's good looking for a while.
And there are the many performers, almost everyone on the Warners' lot except for Al Jolson and George Arliss, many of them speaking on the screen for the first time. You can see why it's a hit, even as you are puzzled by Bull Montana's almost incomprehensible muttering, or ted Lewis showing up in top hat for a production number about pirates. These are the stars of an era and venue that were about to vanish from public consciousness, even as they continued to work profitably for decades. As for this movie, it made money, then went into the vault for decades. Except for those of us who are interested in the freaks and sports that get thrown up at these moments of transition, that's were it belongs.
And then, after half an hour, there are some signs of life; Winnie Lightner sings a nonsense song, and you can see how she wowed them on Broadway. Nick Lucas plays the guitar and sings in close-up, and it's intimate. Then it's back to the canned gags and overlarge production numbers in blurry focus, until John Barrymore gives a riveting excerpt as Richard III, and Nick Lucas and Myrna Loy appear in "A Chinese Fantasy". That's where you get to see a clean and crisp version of what the original movie must have looked like. True, the monotonous (duotonous?) salmons and cyans pall before the number is over, but it's good looking for a while.
And there are the many performers, almost everyone on the Warners' lot except for Al Jolson and George Arliss, many of them speaking on the screen for the first time. You can see why it's a hit, even as you are puzzled by Bull Montana's almost incomprehensible muttering, or ted Lewis showing up in top hat for a production number about pirates. These are the stars of an era and venue that were about to vanish from public consciousness, even as they continued to work profitably for decades. As for this movie, it made money, then went into the vault for decades. Except for those of us who are interested in the freaks and sports that get thrown up at these moments of transition, that's were it belongs.