Street Girl

This musical comedy near the dawn of the sound era follows the routine formula (boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl) but sports a nice jazz combo, with John Harron playing piano and trumpet (sometimes at the same time), Ned Sparks playing violin, Jack Oakie with a mean clarinet and Guy Buccola on the accordion. I never tired of the one bouncy show-stopper by Oscar Levant and Sidney Claire called "Lovable and Sweet," despite it being played and sung several times. In fact, I was humming it for a day or so. What surprised me was seeing Jack Oakie looking so thin I almost didn't recognize him, and John Harron as the romantic lead, since I was used to seeing him only in bit parts in 30's movies. I'm not sure if the music the boys played was dubbed or not, but the female lead, silent star Betty Compson, was an accomplished violinist and surely did her own playing. I rather enjoyed watching this film despite its triteness.