Paper thin plot but what great music!! James Cardwell was attractive but the star presence just was not there which shows whenever another actor that has it like Linda Darnell or Jack Oakie is on screen, he just disappears. Lynn Bari and Allyn Joslyn add nice touches of spice throughout. Benny Goodman was no actor but it doesn't matter when the music starts. Linda Darnell is fantastically beautiful even able to carry off some of the elaborate hairstyles of the period that swamped many women. This is the kind of part that 20th Century Fox wasted her in through her years at the studio. To get a glimpse at what a great actress she could be catch "Summer Storm" her next film after this where she shows given the chance that she was capable of brilliant things.
7 Reviews
Goodman not Goodactor!
David-24026 July 1999
Benny Goodman is the star of this wartime film and he's a rotten actor - but who cares? This is all about his music and it's very good. The plot is nowhere, the ending very silly and the performers attractive but bland - except for Dickie Moore who is hilarious as an uppity cadet. See it to hear it and forget the rest.
Mr. Clarinet
bkoganbing16 November 2019
The Benny Goodman Band is playing in Chicago when a kid is spotted stealing
Benny's clarinet. He's trailed by the King of Swing himself Jack Oakie one of the band members. The young thief has a brother who plays a mean trombone and
is played by James Cardwell.
Socialite Linda Darnell also takes a liking to Cardwell. But he has a chip on his shoulder about just everything.
But this film is about the music of Benny Goodman and you get a lot of that. Goodman is no actor, then again Cardwell comes across as churlish and stiff.
This one is for those who love their WW2 era swing.
Socialite Linda Darnell also takes a liking to Cardwell. But he has a chip on his shoulder about just everything.
But this film is about the music of Benny Goodman and you get a lot of that. Goodman is no actor, then again Cardwell comes across as churlish and stiff.
This one is for those who love their WW2 era swing.
Good music by a Master.
Bijou-514 February 2000
Benny Goodman's music is what makes this film. Bad plot, but it somehow must have impressed Woody Allen to have him rework it into a 1999 film. The trombone playing was dubbed by Bill Harris, then playing in Benny Goodman's band. Harris is considered one of the outstanding jazz and swing trombone players of all time. Too bad he wasn't on screen in a talking part, but he is seen in the action shots of the band playing. He would have bested Benny Goodman in acting.
Sweet and Little Plot Low-Down **
edwagreen14 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Uneven and a rather bland 1944 film. A young guy, a factory worker, supporting his widowed mother and younger brother and sister, becomes a hit with the Benny Goodman Band.
In a flash, success goes to his head and he soon breaks with Goodman and takes the orchestra with him. When their gig doesn't work out and they're fired, the guys go back to Goodman and by the end, so does our hero.
That's essentially it. Lynn Bari is along for the ride in her usual tempest role. However, that may be why the picture is a flop. Barry, under the influence of manager, Allyn Joslyn, timidly returns to Goodman and hands our guy over to Linda Darnell.
Will someone please explain why Darnell pretended to be a 14 year old at the beginning of the film. Why was it a secret that the young guy was her nephew.
Jack Oakie really steals this low-down film as a realistic band member.
In a flash, success goes to his head and he soon breaks with Goodman and takes the orchestra with him. When their gig doesn't work out and they're fired, the guys go back to Goodman and by the end, so does our hero.
That's essentially it. Lynn Bari is along for the ride in her usual tempest role. However, that may be why the picture is a flop. Barry, under the influence of manager, Allyn Joslyn, timidly returns to Goodman and hands our guy over to Linda Darnell.
Will someone please explain why Darnell pretended to be a 14 year old at the beginning of the film. Why was it a secret that the young guy was her nephew.
Jack Oakie really steals this low-down film as a realistic band member.
The music is sweet, but the vacant plot is too absent to be lowdown.
mark.waltz8 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Benny Goodman returns to his old neighborhood in Chicago on a goodwill tour and ends up loosing his prize clarinet thanks to a Chicago version of the Bowery Boys. All the kid wants to do is have Benny and his assistants hear his trombone playing brother. Benny and one of his piano players join in, but this isn't enough to convince James Cardwell believe that he's on the level. But once mom steps in and confirms that he is, Cardwell agrees to join. After all, even in the slums of Chicago, you always listen to your ma.
But once Cardwell assumes the leading trombone player spot, his temperament comes out and he is determined to start his own band. This is a big band/male variation of "42nd Street" Where the discovered newbie is even more egotistical than the vet's. This makes Cardwell rather unlikable, no matter how much of a mean trombone he plays. Toss in socialite Linda Darnell out for a good time, with nice girl Lynn Bari waiting in the wings, and this is about as much plot as you get.
As far as the music is concerned, none of the songs really stand out although the rhythms are hot and the feet do move. One song is a definite rip-off of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" and is perhaps the only one you'll remember.
Supporting Goodman are Jack Oakie and Allyn Joslyn, with handsome teen Dickie Moore playing a military cadet pretending that his young aunt is his girlfriend (Eew!). I wish I could have liked it more, so while it ain't no "Orchestra Wives", it at least is often pleasant to listen to.
But once Cardwell assumes the leading trombone player spot, his temperament comes out and he is determined to start his own band. This is a big band/male variation of "42nd Street" Where the discovered newbie is even more egotistical than the vet's. This makes Cardwell rather unlikable, no matter how much of a mean trombone he plays. Toss in socialite Linda Darnell out for a good time, with nice girl Lynn Bari waiting in the wings, and this is about as much plot as you get.
As far as the music is concerned, none of the songs really stand out although the rhythms are hot and the feet do move. One song is a definite rip-off of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" and is perhaps the only one you'll remember.
Supporting Goodman are Jack Oakie and Allyn Joslyn, with handsome teen Dickie Moore playing a military cadet pretending that his young aunt is his girlfriend (Eew!). I wish I could have liked it more, so while it ain't no "Orchestra Wives", it at least is often pleasant to listen to.
Has Its Moments, but Not Many
dougdoepke19 February 2014
Plot-- A blue-collar trombone player joins Goodman's orchestra but lets it go to his head. So he has to learn humility before he can be a real success.
The movie is typical of the musical programmers turned out during the war. It's Goodman's name and his swing band that's intended as the draw. Among the leads, Bari and Darnell look enough alike to be sisters-- same hair-do, same coloring, same features. In fact, I got them mixed up, at times. Seems unusual to find two such look-alikes in the same movie, but they're sure a lot of eye candy. Then there's poor Cardwell, who's got all the charisma of dried cement, which doesn't help. Good thing his trombone playing is well dubbed. Good thing too that Oakie's on board to supply comedy relief.
The sequence at the military school is the funniest, and the music and dancing the movie's best. Most of the numbers I didn't recognize, but that's okay since it's the trademark Goodman sound. Anyway, TCF was obviously counting on the big band name to put this slender B-production over to wartime audiences who doubtless could use some musical uplift.
The movie is typical of the musical programmers turned out during the war. It's Goodman's name and his swing band that's intended as the draw. Among the leads, Bari and Darnell look enough alike to be sisters-- same hair-do, same coloring, same features. In fact, I got them mixed up, at times. Seems unusual to find two such look-alikes in the same movie, but they're sure a lot of eye candy. Then there's poor Cardwell, who's got all the charisma of dried cement, which doesn't help. Good thing his trombone playing is well dubbed. Good thing too that Oakie's on board to supply comedy relief.
The sequence at the military school is the funniest, and the music and dancing the movie's best. Most of the numbers I didn't recognize, but that's okay since it's the trademark Goodman sound. Anyway, TCF was obviously counting on the big band name to put this slender B-production over to wartime audiences who doubtless could use some musical uplift.
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