Chasing Rainbows

What a potentially great film (finally got hold of a copy), a big hit MGM musical that boasted Bessie Love, Charles King, Jack Benny, Marie Dressler, and Polly Moran.

What a shame that all the Technolor is gone from the existing print, and even worse, so are all the big production numbers! Title cards appear to tell us where the numbers USED to be. Even the audio is gone.

Indeed we miss Bessie Love leading a chorus in "Everybody Tap," Charles King singing "Love Ain't Nothing' but the Blues." and Marie Dressler singing "My Dynamic Personality." Also the entire finale of "Happy Days Are Here Again" is also gone. Thanks to Richard Barrios for listing the missing songs in a footnote in A SONG IN THE DARK.

The few numbers that are left aren't too great. King sings "Lucky Me and Lovable You" to Love (who does not sing). But they do a short dance number. Dressler does an early number on the train, and Nina Martan (odd spelling) also sings one song.

In this backstage musical about an acting company traveling across country in a show called "Goodbye Broadway," we get the usual stories about jealousy, love, etc. Love is adorable as Carlie, King is better than he was in THE Broadway MELODY, Benny is funny, and of course Dressler and Moran steal every scene they're in. George K. Arthur has a small role as a (gay?) member of the troupe, and so does Gwen Lee as the member who quits early on, requiring them to hire Martan. Eddie Phillips plays the smarmy lover.

After smash hits with THE Broadway MELODY and Hollywood REVUE OF 1929, MGM launched this musical with its A Cast, but by the time the film hit theaters, the craze for musicals was winding down. Revue films were so unpopular that MGM included "Not a Revue" in its advertising for CHASING RAINBOWS. Bessie Love was MGM's #1 musical star of the time, and Marie Dressler and Polly Moran are just plain hysterically funny together.

Let's hope these Technicolor musical numbers are found some day. What a treat that would be!

Jack Benny, a violin-playing vaudeville performer, had just finished co-emceeing the "Hollywood Revue of 1929" for MGM. With a five-year studio contract under his belt, his next role for the studio was playing a stage manager, Eddie Rock, for a road show group. The February 1930's "Chasing Rainbows" contained Benny's first cinematic dramatic/comedy role. He looks very comfortable mixing with the film's stars by giving funny quips about their situations back stage.

As a loose sequel to the Academy Awards 1929 Outstanding Picture "Broadway Melody," Carlie Seymour (Bessie Love) and Terry Fay (Charles King) continue their cat-and-mouse relationship, but amped up ten-fold from the original. The roadshow premise gave MGM producers an excuse to expand the cast of characters to broaden its entertainment value. Veteran actress Marie Dressler teamed up with fellow-Mack Sennett alumni Polly Moran, their second of nine movies together, to deliver a sideshow of laughs. The main plot, however, involves Carlie's secret passion for Terry, only to be jilted a number of times by his habit of falling in love with the show's leading ladies.

Set in America in the waning days of World War One, "Chasing Rainbows," similar to the then-trending early film musicals, wrapped its dramatics with several song-and-dance numbers. The most familiar tune for modern viewers is "Happy Days Are Here Again," written in 1929. The song appears for the first time here on film, where it's sung just as the war's Armistice is announced. Presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt played the peppy song during his 1932 Democratic National Convention, and it was his adopted theme song throughout his campaign. A year later, 'Happy Days' was linked with the Repeal of Prohibition in December 1933, sometimes rephrased as "Happy days are beer again." In "Chasing Rainbows," the song was designed to conclude the movie in an elaborate Technicolor ending. However, the final reel has disappeared and only stills serve as a wrap-up to the feature.

The film didn't quite perk up its box office returns. Benny relabeled the movie "Chasing Customers." He appeared in two additional MGM features before the studio decided to buy out his contract. He played one other serious role in 1930's 'The Medicine Man' for Tiffany Pictures, before discovering radio in 1932. His personality was perfect for the broadcast medium when he was hired for NBC's 'The Canadian Dry Program.' Benny remained in radio as a popular comic until the mid-1950s while juggling a number of movie and television appearances throughout his life.

A troupe of musical comedy performers travel about the country, forever CHASING RAINBOWS of success & happiness.

This early MGM musical, considering its age and the obvious limitations brought on by the new sound technology, does a fair job in entertaining its audience. Although the film features a song that would become a classic ('Happy Days Are Here Again' by Milton Ager & Jack Yellen) it is on the strength of a couple of its performances that its modest success is based.

Pert & pretty Bessie Love is wonderful as a sweet young singer who adores her leading man. She is completely natural with the microphone and exhibits a tender talent which was never allowed to grow to its full potential in talking films. While good throughout, the scene in which she dissolves into hysterical laughter upon hearing some emotionally devastating news is absolutely frightening in its power.

As her love interest, Charles King doesn't fare nearly so well. This is largely due to the fact that his romantic trials & tribulations - involving women other than Miss Love - are of no interest whatsoever and his reaction to them show his character to be both shallow & immature, critical character flaws in a film's hero. King was among MGM's very first musical stars, but his movie career would be very brief, lasting only from 1928 to 1930, for a total of six films.

Playing the stage manager, Jack Benny is the emotional calm point around which the activity swirls. He has very little to do besides move the plot along. His brotherly interest in Miss Love seems platonic and Jack is left out of the film's romantic action.

While not given top billing, Canadian Marie Dressler steals the film as an aging comedienne with too much past. Using her large, homely face & shapeless body to great advantage, she grabs the viewers' attention and never lets go. At this point in her career Dressler was right on the cusp of gaining enormous personal success and within a year she would become Hollywood's biggest star. Even in such a relatively routine role, such as she fills here, Dressler reveals the tremendous heart & common touch which would be the secret to her celebrity. (For an extra chuckle, pay close attention during the opening long shot where the cast sings the last few bars of 'Happy Days' - just to the right of center screen is the Marvelous Marie, swaying across the stage with elephantine grace.)

Appearing as a drunken wardrobe lady, the ubiquitous Polly Moran makes another appearance as Dressler's sidekick. Short, spunky & buxom, Polly was always fun to watch - but never more so than when teamed with Marie.

In a small role, George K. Arthur plays Benny's gynandrous assistant; an important silent comedy star for MGM, this Scottish-born actor would soon sink into talkie anonymity.

It should be noted that the film's original Technicolor sequences - including several songs and the entire conclusion - are now completely missing.

Pretty big role for Jack Benny in his very first film acting role, playing someone besides himself (acc to IMDb). He rattles off many of his one-liners as Eddie, part of the big traveling (and unraveling) road show. He should know, after all those years of vaudeville, before getting his own radio and TV shows. This movie is all about taking the show on the road, and Bonnie's (Marie Dressler) facial expressions as she gets elbowed, steam-blasted by the train, and insulted by the rest of the cast. Dressler was showing her age here (sixty something, with pretty big bags under her eyes) but that didn't slow her down any. She made SEVEN films in 1930, and only made a couple more before passing away in 1934. Two of her last ones were biggies, Tugboat Annie, and Dinner at Eight! Co-stars Bessie Love (Carlie) and Polly Moran (Polly) had also started in the silents and continued on with the talkies. Lots of backstage jokes and chiding each other, mostly by Eddie and Polly. Also an on again, off again love story between Carlie and Terry (Charles King, who only made a few films). Some serious, touching moments between the girls as they talk over their intentions regarding the men-folk. Sad to note that the color song and dance portions are missing in action - hopefully someday they will be found. Directed by Charles Reisner, who had worked his way up through every occupation, starting with the silents. Written by Robert Hopkins, who would be nominated for an Oscar for his writing on San Francisco (1936). Good story, no plot holes, very family friendly. I really enjoyed watching this one.... it wasn't as hokey as a lot of those "back-stage, behind the scenes stories" were back then. Good to see J. Benny in an early role.

I really love this film - that is, what is left of it. What remains is roughly the 85 minutes which comprise the dramatic portion. What is missing are the Technicolor numbers, or approximately 20 minutes. TCM has inserted publicity stills with title cards telling the audience of any plot developments that happen during the missing scenes, and all in all it is quite watchable in its current state.

This movie reunites Bessie Love and Charles King from "Broadway Melody" fame of the year before, and throws in Jack Benny, Polly Moran, and Marie Dressler of "The Hollywood Revue", also from 1929. Many people describe this film as a redo of the Broadway Melody formula, but it really is quite different from that. The film follows the troupe of the show "Goodbye Broadway" as it moves from town to town during one theatrical season. Here Charles King plays vaudevillian Terry Fay who is oblivious to the fact that his partner, Carlie, (Bessie Love) is in love with him. Terry makes a play for every leading lady on the vaudeville circuit. Of course they use him, of course they break his heart, and of course he goes right out and does it again. However, he finally meets his match in Daphne Wayne (Nita Martin) who sees in Terry a way to make it to Broadway and off the road show circuit.

Plotwise, it isn't much, but plot really isn't the point of these early talkie back-stagers. Bessie Love comes across wonderfully as the taken-for-granted partner. You can really feel the emotional roller-coaster she is on as she thinks she may have finally gotten to Terry only to find out he's thrown her over once again. Jack Benny is great as the wise-cracking stage manager. MGM has thankfully dropped the lechery angle that he had in Hollywood Revue and instead has him adding in his biting sarcastic wit here and there, showing us a taste of what will make him a success in radio. Polly Moran and Marie Dressler are hilarious as two aging ladies of the vaudeville scene, long-time friends who are constantly at each other's throats.

The whole group plays together with such chemistry, yet Jack Benny himself always kidded about how this film landed with a thud when it opened in 1930, calling it "Chasing Customers". If you like any of the stars I've mentioned and the early talkie musicals, this one is worth watching and even has a few songs in it. If it had been released a year earlier it would probably have been a major hit and be intact today. Had it been made a year later - well, it wouldn't have been made at all a year later because by 1931 nobody was making musical films anymore. This is really worth seeking out, just don't be surprised by the condition the sound and video are in. The film really looks shaggy compared to how well the other early MGMs have been preserved.