Cheer Up and Smile

Cheer Up and Smile begins with Arthur Lake being harassed by his potential fraternity brothers, among them a young John Wayne. Eddie (Lake) has to kiss the next woman who talks to him, so he speeds by all the girls he sees so he can kiss his girl Margie (Dixie Lee) at the music shop. Of course his plans go awry, but that's okay. She's all for him. Eddie wants to be a musician and gets a chance to play on the radio with Whispering Jack Smith, but the club owner's wife (Olga Baclanova) has eyes for him and causes more trouble between him and Margie.

This is a harmless light film with a charming cast, with Lake in a role that emphasizes his abilities. The college setting makes it especially appealing because it shows off how much times have changed, and how much they've stayed the same.

This film was screened at Capitolfest in 2017.

...For example, if you've always wanted to see a young John Wayne in a modern dress role being handed some flowers from Franklin Pangborn and the Duke not then punch him in the nose, this is your film! "Cheer Up and Smile" has the always whiney Arthur Lake whine some more as underclassman Eddie Fripp being hazed by a fraternity to which he is trying to gain admittance. Two of the stunts he must perform get him in bad trouble. Kicking a professor gets him kicked out of college, and kissing a random girl on the street gets him in trouble with his girl Margie, played by Dixie Lee.

So a despondent Eddie leaves college even though the fraternity wants to explain things to the dean and his girl, and he gets a job as a musician in a nightclub. In this part of the film you get to see Whispering Jack Smith sing in a contraption that appears to be a china closet. Olga Baclanova as the wife of the hot tempered jealous owner of the night club plays a Russian who only speaks a little French and thus does not have to talk at all (Her English was awful, and when she was originally recruited as a silent star by Paramount, that didn't matter). However, for some reason she just can't keep her hands off Eddie, with the night club owner always walking in on what looks like a mutually compromising situation.

Then some gangsters decide to rob the nightclub, knock out Whispering Jack Smith who is supposed to sing on the radio from the nightclub, and Eddie has to sing in his place, with the robbers' guns at his head. Why they just didn't scram with the loot is anybody's guess. Well Eddie's nervous stammering singing style is a huge hit, although he gave a fake name when he went on the air - Eric Dare - because he couldn't remember his own name due to his extreme fright.

Does this sudden fame and fortune lead to Eddie squaring things with his girl? If so how? Watch and find out.

I like musicals and comedies as much as anybody, but you have to give me something to root for. "Cheer Up And Smile" is a flop on several levels; it's not funny, the songs are forgettable, the screenplay is lousy, and Arthur Lake is completely over-the-top hammy. He singlehandedly ruined the slender thread of the plot by chewing the scenery every time his grating presence was on the screen. Additionally, he can't carry a tune in a suitcase.

Well, I guess that covers all the bases. It was nice to see John Wayne on foot instead of in the saddle, and if you watched closely you could catch a glimpse of Ward Bond as an extra. The only cast member worthy of a pay check was Charles Judels, who lent some professionalism to the absurd storyline as the radio station manager. If it shows up on your TV, switch to a cooking show.

The 23 year old John Wayne handles leadership well in this film. There are moments where he proves that he can express deep feeling to lift him above the status of a personality. He demonstrates good horsemanship too, and hones his tools ready for subsequent productions.