Great entertainer. Mediocre actor. To focus on the character played by Louis Prima (as Louis Evans) is cause for automatic snickers, especially paired buxom British playboy playmate June Wilkinson. She's certainly attractive, but when she opens her mouth, you'd swear that you were listening to Elmer Fudd's distant British cousin. The film is not helped by a very low budget, with the nightclubs looking like they were made out recycled cardboard boxes and the concert scenes of Prima appearing to be staged in front of a very wrinkled dime store curtain.
As a struggling singer and club owner, Prima gets into all sorts of trouble, even ending up in jail. Veteran actress Gertrude Michael is perhaps a bit too hardboiled looking to be playing a supposed high society snob (as "Letitia Clunker"), and she seems to be trying to emulate either Tallulah Bankhead, Veronica Lake or Lizabeth Scott, or all three. This was rushed out far too fast to jump on the twist bandwagon, and it makes the Sam Katzman rock musicals seem like something from MGM's Freed unit in comparison. The dancing scenes are decent but forgettable, and the songs instantly in and out of the viewer's memory. No cult status for this twisted turkey.
As a struggling singer and club owner, Prima gets into all sorts of trouble, even ending up in jail. Veteran actress Gertrude Michael is perhaps a bit too hardboiled looking to be playing a supposed high society snob (as "Letitia Clunker"), and she seems to be trying to emulate either Tallulah Bankhead, Veronica Lake or Lizabeth Scott, or all three. This was rushed out far too fast to jump on the twist bandwagon, and it makes the Sam Katzman rock musicals seem like something from MGM's Freed unit in comparison. The dancing scenes are decent but forgettable, and the songs instantly in and out of the viewer's memory. No cult status for this twisted turkey.