The Canary Comes Across

Erik Rhodes gets a leading role -- albeit in a short -- in this MGM musical two-reeler about a a singing convict who escapes from prison, putting the kibosh on the convicts taking part in a chorale competition. One of the convicts threatens to rat out the opera-loving gangsters unless they finger him for the authorities.

Rhodes, despite being best known for playing neurasthenic Italians in Astaire-Rogers musicals in the 1930s, was born in Oklahoma.

Like many of the MGM shorts of this period, it comes off as more bizarre than funny, but the squeaky-clean prison with its extensive rose garden takes this one to new realms of silliness.

The Canary Comes Across (1938)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Rather two-reeler about a warden's daughter (Virginia Grey) who just happens to be leading a group of prisoners in a singing contest, which will eventually be on the radio. Before all of this the best singer, a convict known as The Canary (Erik Rhodes) escapes and now the contest is up in the air. However, another prisoner plans to have an innocent man (Rhodes) arrested and take The Canary's place, which will then cause him to get jealous and want to come back to the prison. Yeah, a real good story we have here. I really thought this MGM short was pretty poor all around. This includes the musical numbers which were all quite forgettable and even sillier was the love story that takes up a majority of the running time. The warden's daughter and the fake convict strike up this relationship and it's just not believable. Now I know this type of film isn't all about "story" but when there's no music and no story there's just not much going on. Rhodes just can't carry the picture but Grey is the only saving grace here. It's too bad she wasn't given more to work with.

Some SPOILERS may follow: Most movie watchers remember Erik Rhodes from his performances in two Astaire-Rogers movies. The jewel was THE GAY Divorcée in which he played Tonetti, the co-respondent in the divorce, one of the best supporting roles in all the Astaire films of the 30's. Here, in this musical short, produced by MGM and written by the Burton-Jason team (who wrote the popular standard "Penthouse Serenade"), Rhodes plays a dual role, totally unlike his Italian impersonations. He is supposed to be "the Canary,"a prisoner with a gifted singing voice. The daughter of the warden, played by Virginia Grey, is trying to get a group of inmates to sing beautifully so they can compete in a singing contest over the radio involving prisoners. (We eventually see a women's trio and a group of African-Americans performing songs.) The Canary makes his escape from prison, and three guys set out to find him. They think they see him as a member of a chorus in an opera, grab him, and drop him off at the prison. The Canary is ostensibly captured, and he and the warden's daughter find a kind of wonderful harmony. Well, eventually, the real Canary gets wise to the situation and breaks into prison to set things right. Some knocking on the heads of two Canaries ensue. Eventually events lead to a resolution bringing a happy ending. We are left with the image of Rhodes as a would be leading man given the chance to sing a romantic song to a lovely blond in a prison filled with the most gentlemanly inmates in the world. Pure fantasy, of course, especially depicting the men interacting with the warden's daughter, and a failed experiment in creating a different more romantic image for a man who was a superb comic actor. Worth a look you like Rhodes as an actor, but clearly not unless you want your preconceived expectations of his performance to be jarred.

"The Canary Comes Across" is a very unusual short film...one I recommend you see. One of the big reasons is just to see the faces of the prisoners in the short--they have some of the ugliest and most expressive mugs I've ever seen! The other is that unlike most musical shorts, this one is rather funny.

The film begins in a prison where the Warden's daughter runs a glee club. Unfortunately, their lead singer, Canary Dillon escapes and the club is disbanded. But when promised that the glee club will be restored IF they find Canary, the prisoners have their friends on the outside find Canary. Unfortunately, they find a lookalike....but at least he CAN sing!

In addition to being clever and funny, this film also has some great singing routines--and they are much more fun than those you see in other musicals. Well worth seeing.