Flirtation Walk

Even with Ruby Keeler's tinny voice and the fact she doesn't dance a step, Flirtation Walk is an utterly charming musical from the Thirties with Dick Powell at the height of his lyric tenor period.

West Point's image has done very well by Hollywood. The West Point Story and The Long Gray Line are the other two big films about the U.S. Military Academy on the Hudson. But this was the first film of a grand tradition.

Dick Powell is an army private stationed out in Hawaii who's assigned by his sergeant Pat O'Brien to be a driver for Ruby Keeler, daughter of General Henry O'Neill. She's got a boyfriend in her Dad's aide John Eldredge. But on a moonlight night in Hawaii, the old boy/girl thing happens.

Powell receives a rude awakening the next day when he's made to realize the difference in class between officers and enlisted men. Something like the rude awakening John Agar got in Fort Apache when he was courting Shirley Temple even though he was an officer, albeit a newly minted one from an enlisted man's family. So Powell decided he's going to become an officer and sets about applying for West Point.

The next half of the film is set in West Point and in Powell's final year, Henry O'Neill becomes the Academy Superintendent bring of course Keeler and Eldredge come with him. Here we have the same plot device that was later used in The West Point Story, breaking precedent in having a woman in the Hundred Nights show for the graduating class. Who do you think the woman that the cadets want?

Allie Wrubel and Mort Dixon wrote two nice numbers that are used in the musical show, Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name and Flirtation Walk. Powell sings them well although he didn't need Ruby's thin voice doing the reprise. During the Hawaiian portion of the film Powell sang Aloha Oe. Why Ruby wasn't given any dance numbers is beyond me since that was her strength as a performer.

I should also mention Ross Alexander, who came to a tragic early end three years later, as Powell's roommate at the Point. He was a funny guy and had a nice career going in playing best friends to the hero in film. A sad waste.

I think you'll like the characters created and directed by Frank Borzage in this very charming film.

FLIRTATION WALK (First National, 1934) directed by Frank Borzage, teams Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler for the fifth time, and the first to present their names above the title. When released in November 1934, this sentimental musical-comedy was so successful that it was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture, along with eleven (yes, 11!) other movies that year, but no win.

The predictable plot begins in Hawaii in which Powell plays Army Private Richard Palmer Grant Dorcy, better known as "Canary," who meets and falls in love with General John Brent Fitt's (Henry O'Neill) daughter Kit (Ruby Keeler) on a two day visit at the base. Kit happens to be engaged to Lt. Robert Biddle (John Eldredge), but she doesn't care. She gets Dick to take her out for a moonlight drive, and they are later are caught embracing by Biddle. Fearing Dick would get court martialed, Kit discourages and cures the lovesick private before she leaves Hawaii. Determined to forget Kit and become an officer and a gentleman, Dick decides to leave Hawaii and enroll at West Point. After more than three years at the military academy, and close to graduation, Dick encounters Kit once more. (Her father is stationed there as the new superintendent). Dick then tries to ignore Kit and give her a hard time, but risks getting a dismissal from the academy when caught embracing Kit once more in her quarters by Biddle.

Pat O'Brien co-stars as Scrapper Thornhill, Dick's sergeant in the first half of the story set in Hawaii, while Ross Alexander and John Arledge appear as the cadets in the second half set at West Point. Alexander, the one with the physical appearance of dancer Ray Bolger, supplies some fine comic touches here. Directed by two-time Academy Award winning director, Frank Borzage, FLIRTATION WALK focuses more on plot than musical interludes. Powell sings a little, but tap dancer Keeler does not do any fancy footwork here. There are no real lavish production numbers to speak of, with the exception of a Hawaiian luau some 20 minutes into of the story. The 15 minute segment of the Hundredth Night Show at West Point consists of songs by Allie Wrubel and Mort Dixon: "No Horse, No Wife, No Mustache," the lively and amusing "Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name" and the title song.

Aside from scenes filmed in Hawaii and West Point, light comedy, sentimental moments and good tunes, Dick and Ruby are believable their roles, while Pat O'Brien, as a tough sergeant, isn't afraid to shed a tear, especially during Dick's West Point graduation. Quite different from the previous Powell and Keeler musicals, from Broadway theater setting to military background, which actually works to good advantage, although there is too much time devoted to plebe year and Powell reciting the definition of "Leather."

FLIRTATION WALK was distributed on video cassette through MGM Home Video in 1992, and can be seen on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel. One final note: Although it's been said that future film star Tyrone Power appears as one of the extra cadets, he is so hard to find. (****)

Some good songs, good cast. Dick Powell handles most of the singing, sounding great as always, even in Hawaiian. Pat O'Brien is enjoyable in a familiar role as the tough guy with a heart of gold. Biggest disappointment of the whole movie is no dancing by the lovely Ruby Keeler. What were they thinking? The movie is very different from the 42nd Street-Footlight Parade-Golddiggers musicals that the Powell/Keeler team is most famous for, and if you expect to see that type of movie, you might be disappointed. I love them in those movies, but I also enjoyed this as something different. It would be nice to see this movie released as part of a DVD box set to complement the great Busby Berkley set released in early 2006.

Flirtation Walk is a 1934 musical starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ross Alexander, Pat O'Brien, John Eldredge, and Henry O'Neill.

Powell plays Dick Darcy, a private stationed in Hawaii. He meets the general's daughter Kit (Keeler). The two fall for one another, but she's engaged to another (Eldredge). They break up.

A few years later, they meet again, this time at West Point. Kit is still engaged, but very happy to see Dick. Feeling used by her, Dick rebuffs her and hurts her feelings.

Dick has to write and appear the annual show, and the other cadets want Kit to play the lead. Dick refuses as women are not allowed, but the cadets appeal to her father, who gives the okay.

I love Dick Powell. I'm not such a fan of Ruby Keeler, who was certainly very pretty and did some good films with Powell. I did not find this a scintillating musical. The music was dull, and the story was flat.

I actually watched this to see if I could do what no one else has been able to - find Tyrone Power, who was a cadet in this film.

The only reason he is listed on IMDb is that he became famous as he was not a featured cadet. He was an extra, probably answering a call for young men to be extras at West Point. He cannot be spotted.

By the way, he and Linda Christian lived directly across the street from Dick Powell and June Allyson on Copa D'Oro in LA.

Dick Powell had such a beautiful voice, but it wasn't used a lot or to great advantage here. In short, this can't hold a candle to "42nd Street" or "Dames," or other musicals of the era.

'Flirtation Walk' may not be a great film, but it entertains and charms and it is difficult not to like. Flawed? Yes. Worth watching? Absolutely, with the many good points nearly making up for the few points that don't come off quite so well.

Coming off least is the story, which even for a musical-comedy is formulaic and extremely simplistic. Sadly, Frank Borzage tends to make heavy weather of it, meaning that 'Flirtation Walk' is not quite as light-on-its-feet as it could have been and the patriotism present in some of the film is a little too overt and heavy-handed.

However, 'Flirtation Walk' while not lavish still looks handsome and colourful as well as skilfully photographed. The songs are very tuneful and very easy on the ear, the best of them being the witty and clever "Mr and Mrs is the Name". The script is smart and amusing, if a little too frothy in places.

Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell are immensely likable and their chemistry is incredibly charming and a large part of the film's appeal. Despite the story being less than perfect, it has enough pep and zip to keep things moving at a bright and breezy pace, and the penultimate scene is very moving. Pat O'Brien similarly brings sympathetic emotional impact.

In summary, the story is flawed but the charm and likability (especially from the performances and chemistry of the two leads) is immense. 7/10 Bethany Cox