Rhythmitis

Rhythmitis (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent Musical short from Warner has Hal Le Roy basically playing himself. Here he's a young man who takes a magical pill that turns him into a great dancer when he's discovered by Lola (Toby Wing). Soon he is recruited for an act but when he loses the pills he doesn't know what to do. If you're looking for some great, smart or funny then you're not going to find it here but for the most part this is an innocent enough short that's at least slightly entertaining. The biggest problem is that there's really nothing here that's "good" but instead everything is just decent. The songs are mildly entertaining at best and while some of Le Roy's steps are very good, there's just nothing to really show them off. The filmmaking is also decent at best but fans who enjoy these type of shorts will still want to check it out.

Toby Wing whose face and figure were made famous to the movie going public and dancer Hal LeRoy star in this Warner Brothers Vitagraph short subject. This one is no exception, a short silly plot to hang a few numbers on

Dr. Hugh Cameron invents a pill that causes you to dance. And I mean you're out making moves like Fred Astaire. So a star is born, but then the pills are lost.

Rhythmitis is some entertaining nonsense you certainly can enjoy. I would have loved to have taken pills like that when I was younger.

While the plot is silly, this musical short is light and fun. Hal LeRoy performs some snappy tap steps and Toby Wing is awfully cute. (Even if her dumb blonde routine is tiresome.) The music is mundane, but there is one incredible dance routine involving a tuxedo-clad man on stilts.

Hal Le Roy dances and Toby Wing smiles. That's all you needed in 1936 to make a good musical short subject. Well, that, about fifteen dancers, Roy Mack and the facilities of Warner's Vitagraph Studio in Brooklyn.

Hal was an eccentric dancer who stole the show of the 1931 Ziegeld Follies, and wound up with a career, encompassing stage and movies. Miss Wing was a favorite Busby Berkeley chorine from those spectacular production numbers; it was she who Dick Powell sang "I'm Young and Healthy" to in 42ND STREET, and she did well enough to get up to the lead of a second feature or two before she decided to get married.

There's a song sung by someone else, and a stilt dancer, but that's about it. When people want to be entertained, you just have to make sure you don't muck it up.