Fritz Feld

Kathryn Kane

John Carroll

Charley Foy

Jerry Colonna

Helen Lynd

Irene Franklin

George Brent

John Garfield

Leo Gorcey

Huntz Hall

Billy Halop

Stuart Holmes

Bobby Jordan

Eddie Kane

Priscilla Lane

Rosemary Lane

Frank Mayo

Fay McKenzie

Kansas Moehring

Pat O'Brien

Jack Perrin

Marie Wilson

Kenner G. Kemp

Humphrey Bogart

Crane Wilbur

Wilfrid M. Cline

Stanley Jones

Charles Novi

M.K. Jerome

Milo Anderson

Jack Scholl

Everett Dodd

Comedy

Music

Swingtime in the Movies

Warner Bros. Pictures

The Vitaphone Corporation

United States of America

CinemaSerf

I bet there were quite a few Hollywood directors who might have seen a bit of themselves in the “Nitvitch” character amiably portrayed here by Fritz Feld. He has a musical in the pipe called “Texas Tornado” and is struggling to find a leading lady who can speak with a Texican accent. Then, as luck would have it, a visit to a staff canteen full of real-life stars supping their 1930s equivalent of a kale smoothie and aspiring actresses who fawn at him, he discovers waitress “Joan” (Kathryn Kane) who has just the voice he’s been seeking. Thing is, though, can she act, or sing, or learn lines? It’s fair to say that his film is really just a portmanteau of themes from the western genre, so we have plenty of opportunity for her to show off her skills on stage and off whilst we take a pop at the vanity of the industry and the pomposity of directors who do that daft thing with their eyes through the square of their fingers. It’s all very predictable, but I think that’s part of the joke. How many movies did we ever sit down to watch and not know just what was going to happen at the end after five minutes? It pings the world of shallow characterisations, derivative writing and is actually quite an entertaining little twenty minutes. It is almost certainly not what you’d expect, given it’s title, so give it a go.

English