Rhythm in the Clouds

Being a HUGE fan of actress Patricia Ellis I HAD to see this film and tho its meager budget shows from start to finish I enjoyed it nonetheless. The songs are nothing to write home about and leading man Warren Hull is certainly bland but the comedy bits and the fact that the lovely miss Ellis is in nearly the entire picture from start to finish makes it worth a look! Most of the films she made during her earlier days at Warner Bros she is second lead or less and spends precious little time on screen so it was a big treat for me, and she looked great! some of the supporting players are quite good as well. i found this on DVD on ebay for around $3.00 and consider it money well-spent!

The plot of "Rhythm in the Clouds" really makes no sense at all. It's an enjoyable enough film but you need to turn off your brain to enjoy it.

Judy Walker (Patricia Ellis) is a homeless lady who comes up with a scheme to find a place to live...at least temporarily. When she learns that a famous composer is going out of town, she convinces everyone that he's his niece is she is supposed to be house-sitting. However, after moving in, she oddly picks a fight with a neighbor. The irony of this is that the pair later become song collaborators...while not knowing who the other is. Soon, the actual homeowner arrives. What's Judy to do to find a way out of this mess?

This film is a B movie from Republic....and is about what you'd expect from such a picture. With a short running time (about an hour) and second and third-string actors, it's pleasant but not much more. Enjoyable...if you can look past the implausibility of it all.

Patricia Ellis is cute as struggling songwriter Judy Walker. Thrown out of her cheap apartment, she wrangles a much nicer place using a letter she received from a much more successful songwriter, the letterhead on his stationery, and a bottle of "ink eraser." Basically, she moves into his place while he is out of town.

The new apartment is awfully nice—an excellent place to work on her songs. There is, unfortunately, a loud neighbor next door; Judy and the neighbor quickly start a noisy war of banging on each other's walls. For the most part, however, Judy is set. She lounges on the couch drinking champagne, sharing high-toned conversation with her imaginary guests: "Mr. Gershwin, take it easy. Of course I'll help you write your new rhapsody….Mr. Berlin! Irving! Do tell the boys how many copies of our last number we sold....Now, Bob McKay—Let me see those lyrics of yours…." We assume that "Bob McKay" is another well-known songwriter; soon enough we learn that…

The guy next door with whom Judy has been fighting through the wall is indeed popular lyricist Bob McKay—a big star and an enthusiastic feuding partner. Naturally, it takes Judy and Bob a good chunk of the picture to discover each other's identities; the scene where they finally make that realization is nicely done and quite funny—it's one of those scenes where you can see it coming but that makes it all the funnier. That scene is typical of the picture as a whole, actually: never especially surprising but pleasantly amusing nevertheless.

Warren Hull is pretty good as Bob McKay, the lyricist next door; Hull and Ellis make a nice couple, two attractive people snapping dialog back and forth and gradually getting together.

The supporting cast have some decent roles: Richard Carle plays the exasperated head of an advertising agency looking for songs; William Newell is the assistant whose job includes rounding up the talent and getting fired every time Carle is in a bad mood; Zeffie Tilbury is hilarious as "the Duchess de Lovely," whose beauty cream products sponsor the radio program Carle is producing.

There's not much to it, but it's easy to look at these beautiful people in their classy outfits and stylish apartments and sparkling radio studio settings.

My favorite line: "Does 'resignation' have two g's?" "I don't know, I always get fired."

This tedious 'musical' from 1937 was clearly an A grade Republic production maybe hoping to tag along on the bottom half of a double bill with a smart A grade film from MGM or Paramount. Very well produced with lavish and well furnished big sets and some style RHYTHM IN THE CLOUDS is basically a company calling card or showreel of Republic's 'expertise'... but...someone forgot to create something for the audience to enjoy. Screenplay by Nathaniel West (Of Day Of The Locust fame...he also later adapted Let's Make Music for RKO) who must have used a blunt pencil for this one. An A grade film out of Republic was a B+ for RKO or Columbia which might indicate the level of expertise on show. Basically it is about a dishonest female music arranger sneaks into the apartment of a vacationing composer and creates the impression they are collaborating. Her music with his name on it too. It becomes a hit and makes the radio. He returns: "screwball situations" . It just isn't very interesting. A no-star cast who might have been Boston stage actors recently and a forgettable music score makes this film dull. If you want to some ambitious production imagery and set design and camera work etc hard at work at Republic in their early days of 1937 here it is. A 30s production curio only. Amusingly, it is what Grand National or later in 1937, Monogram was striving for.

Cute little screwball comedy. Sure, it's not going to set funny bones on-fire, but the Republic programmer shows what a no-name cast and a cleverly nutty script can do for cheap entertainment. So can desperate Judy Walker (Ellis) manage a musical career by hammering on neighbor's walls, insulting her musical soul-mate, and pretending all sorts of screwball things-- stay tuned! Anyway, B-movie director Aurer keeps things moving and the humor in focus, showing again that even Hollywood no-names can deliver when proper elements converge. So give the little flick a try, even for a not-so-slow evening.