Step Lively

"Step Lively" from 1944 is a fun, energetic musical, based on the play Room Service. It's the story of a broke producer, Gordon Miller (George Murphy) housing his actors in a hotel. The actors sign for everything to the consternation of the manager (Walter Slezak), who has to answer to the owner (Adolphe Menjou). Miller has an investor on the line but with no money yet, he has to keep making promises he can't keep.

Along comes Glenn Russell (Frank Sinatra), a serious playwright who sent Miller his script and $1500 so it could be produced. Miller hasn't produced the play, and he doesn't have the $1500. He is charmed by Miller's girlfriend and star of Miller's show, Christine (Gloria de Haven). And at dinner that evening, after watching Christine's show at the hotel, guess what, Glenn Russell sings like Sinatra! The next day, Miller stages a fake rehearsal of what is an awful play, and the man representing the potential backer (Eugene Palette) sees that rehearsal with the benefactor's girlfriend, a Miss Abbott (Anne Jeffries) and is not impressed. As a diversion, Christine has Glenn sing through a song. Abbott falls in love, and it at last looks like Miller will get his investor.

This is a charming musical with a great young cast. It's easy to see why girls were mad over Sinatra - skinny, his suits just a little too big, those huge eyes, gentle manner and romantic singing voice - he is captivating. He sings "Where Does Love Begin," "As Long as There's Music," "Some Other Time," and "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You are," some with the pretty De Haven, who does a lovely job. Walter Slezak is a scream as the put-upon Gribble, and Menjou is appropriately grumpy as the owner of the hotel.

Anne Jeffries is stunning, as she remains today, but I'm curious if her age could possibly be correct. She was supposedly born in 1923 to De Haven's 1925; that makes De Haven 19 in this film and Jeffries 21. I doubt it. The woman defies gravity, age, and everything else and if she's even older than 87 - wow! Lots of fun and nice to see the immature, sweet version of "Frankie."

George Murphy (Gordon) has taken over a floor of a hotel managed by Walter Slezak (Joe). The entire cast of his show eats and sleeps there for free to the horror of Slezak's boss Adolphe Menjou (Wagner). The film follows Menjou's attempts to throw everyone out of the hotel and Murphy's attempts to get some backing for his show.

The film is easy to watch with pleasant songs and some funny moments. Gloria DeHaven (Chris) and Frank Sinatra (Glenn) are good but Murphy and Menjou are guilty of shouting too much, The story is complete nonsense and overall it's too shouty.

Sinatra can obviously sing but it is the female backing singers that leave a lasting impression. They sing in that Wonderful World of Disney style that leaves a magical note in the air.

Yes, it's a flimsy but very funny, fast-paced script. George Murphy's brief dancing and comic delivery is excellent. Sinatra is terrific in his young, vibrant, handsome and romantic best. His ever move from his first entrance shows natural skill and timing. The songs are vastly better than most 1940s musicals. Cone Out Wherever You Are sticks with me for days whenever I hear it. DeHaven is gorgeous as us AnnJeffries. Whenever I watch a film like this I lament that there is no well known talent alive today that could duplicate this film with 1/2 the charm.

STEP LIVELY is a vast improvement over Sinatra's HIGHER AND HIGHER at RKO, but that's hardly a big compliment. Nevertheless, it's a more enjoyable romp with some good work from others in the cast, including GEORGE MURPHY and GLORIA DeHAVEN, but much of the comedy is played so broadly that it seems forced at times.

Based on "Room Service", a comedy starring the Marx Bros. and based on a stage play, it's about a nervous hyperactive producer (Murphy) who wants to put on a show and is encouraged when he finds a talented writer/singer (Sinatra). The trouble is he can't pay his hotel bill and is constantly being badgered for money by WALTER SLEZAK and ADOLPHE MENJOU who don't want him to hold rehearsals for a new show in a penthouse suite.

It's a broad farce and is played for non-stop zaniness by the entire cast, but the constant shouting by Murphy and Menjou becomes tiresome after the first half-hour. ANNE JEFFREYS has a thankless role as a young lady who is only interested in having EUGENE Palette back the show because she's got a crush on Sinatra once she hears him sing.

The songs themselves don't make much of an impression, but are handled suitably by Sinatra and GLORIA DeHAVEN. It's no more then a B-musical with some A-sets for the hotel settings and production numbers.

Sinatra is his casual self in a role that makes no great demands of him except to sing on cue, but everyone else is given to extravagant bits of overacting. His best number is "As Long As There's Music", but it's a good thing he was soon grabbed by MGM for ANCHORS AWEIGH.

Gordon Miller is a Broadway producer with not much cash and even fewer scruples. He has ensconced the young cast of his new show in a large New York hotel, and is feverishly rehearsing them for opening night. Along comes the young writer Glenn Russell, and it transpires that the kid can sing ...

A frivolous, fizzing little musical from RKO Radio, "Step Lively" doesn't even pretend to be sensible. The frenetic farce is augmented by workmanlike songs from Cahn and Styne, two numbers standing out as better-than-average - "Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are" and "As Long As There's Music". Both are staged impressively.

"Come Out" gets the full production treatment, with Gloria De Haven heading a floorshow-style ensemble. "As Long" is the big finale, with two pieces of silver-screen magic. Gloria walks down a beam of light, and the chorus line have striking black-and-white gowns which enable them to 'disappear' impressively.

The sets are fun. Glenn walks Christine home to her brownstone, and the couple is tracked by a neat crane shot. When Glenn runs out of the hotel, we see him sprint away from the camera, down the sweeping staircase, across the lobby and out through the revolving door. Now that's what I call a set.

Frank Sinatra had made his name fronting the big bands, and now he was making the transition to independent actor-singer. He is good in the role of Glenn, the jeun-naif, but clearly lacking the poise of later years.

Gloria De Haven (Christine) began her movie career eight years before this film, appearing as Paulette Goddard's sister in Chaplin's "Modern Times". She was still showing up in TV movies two years ago. How many actors working today have resumes dating back to the silent era? She is pretty and engaging as Christine, the romantic lead.

"Step Lively" is a curiously old-fashioned musical. It is almost as if RKO was trying to hark back to its heyday of a decade earlier, and the 'come on kids, let's rehearse a show' approach. Compared with "Meet Me In St Louis", it seems a cinematic dinosaur, and yet both were made in the same year.

Verdict - A light-hearted, if light-headed, musical that was already old-fashioned in 1944.