Deanna Durbin

Dick Haymes

Vincent Price

Albert Sharpe

Tom Powers

Hobart Cavanaugh

Thurston Hall

Howard Freeman

Mary Field

Tom Pedi

Moroni Olsen

William Skipper

Nellie Fisher

Bess Flowers

Patricia Alphin

William A. Seiter

Milton Krasner

Otto Ludwig

Howard Bay

Russell A. Gausman

Ted Offenbecker

Mary Grant

Carmen Dirigo

Bud Westmore

Howard Christie

William Holland

Leslie I. Carey

Joe Lapis

Neal Beckner

Tex Hayer

Pat Betz

Karl Tunberg

Sigmund Romberg

Dorothy Fields

Irving Aaronson

Maurice Goldberg

Herbert Fields

Music

Up in Central Park

Universal International Pictures

United States of America

CinemaSerf

Despite not featuring in the top billing, this film really belongs to the honest emigrant Irishman "Moore" (Albert Sharpe). Straight off the boat with his feisty daughter "Rosie" (Deanna Durbin) he bumps into a welcoming committee that lets him know how he can take part in the democratic process (for a new mayor) and make a few bucks at the same time. He excels at his task and by a quirk of fate finds himself superintendent of Central Park - on a wapping great $3,000k per year! He is hands on, so likes to feed the animals - an activity that is clearly prohibited and attracts the attention of journalist "Matthews" (Dick Haymes). Realising the man's job and the purpose of the feeding - geese, grouse, duck all destined for the table of kingpin "Tweed" (Vincent Price), he writes a column, gets "Moore" fired and rouses the wrath of "Rosie" who intercedes for her father and also manages to attract the attention of "Tweed" too. It's quite a fun tale of corrupt local politics, naivety and integrity this, with Sharpe delivering well and Durbin doing the lively characterisation that she always did engagingly, too. Price makes for a reasonable sophisticate-cum-power-broker and Hobart Cavanaugh also chips in nicely as the hapless Mayor just doing what he is told. The ending is all a bit rushed, the story is really quite incomplete on a number of fronts and the musical numbers don't do a great deal for maintaining the pace, but it has a certain plausibility to it. It's quite possible this is what New York might have been like at the start.

English