Mr. Dodd Takes the Air

Popular radio tenor Kenny Baker plays a naive country bumpkin who gets a chance to sing on radio and becomes a big hit, while falling for the station's secretary, Jane Wyman. I enjoyed Baker's singing of the five songs in the movie (one as a baritone that was undoubtedly dubbed), but the plot is so thin the writers introduce a subplot, which has him the inventor of a gadget that makes a $19 radio sound like a $500 one. Naturally, there's a villain (John Eldredge) who wants to steal it, and a gold digger(Gertrude Michael), who loves Baker's $1000 per week salary, helping the villain. Baker's manager, Frank McHugh, is there for comedy, while Alice Brady shows up as a famous but ditsy egotistical opera singer, a role some people may enjoy but I found totally superfluous. Michael pits herself against Wyman, who patented the gadget in her name to protect Baker, and he is so disillusioned about it all, he fakes losing his voice to return to his home town of Pewamo to work as an electrician, leaving his device and everyone back in New York. But they haven't forgotten about him.

Popular radio singer Kenny Baker stars in Mr. Dodd Takes The Air about a singing electrician who invents gadget that cuts down on static with those old big cabinet radios. This was obviously an attempt by Warner Brothers to keep Dick Powell in line because this was just the kind of film Powell was trying desperately to get out of doing over there. Even though it has an Academy Award nominated song in the score by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, Mr. Dodd Takes The Air is not much more than your average film from Warner Brothers at the time.

Baker is a small town kid who is discovered and reaches fame and fortune as a radio crooner. He also has money in the bank with that invention, but hasn't gotten around to patenting it yet. All of which makes him the object of interest for three women, mercenary Gertrude Michael, good girl Jane Wyman, and diva Alice Brady. Guess who Baker winds up with?

I have to say that Alice Brady really made the most of her part as an opera star with temperament to match. She really went to town with the part.

The biggest problem of the film is Baker's character. Nobody could be that naive. And I'm sure Powell must have seen this script and ran with horror from Jack Warner's office.

Warren and Dubin did a good score for the film which includes Remember Me which got for Mr. Dodd Takes The Air an Oscar nomination for Best Song. Am I In Love also stands out in the musical numbers also.

Baker on screen was best known for playing Nanki-Poo in The Mikado and later on Broadway co-starred with Mary Martin in One Touch Of Venus where they introduced Speak Low. He also introduced George and Ira Gershwin's last collaboration, Love Walked In in The Goldwyn Follies. Good thing for Baker he got a hit song out of the score.

Nice film, the kind Dick Powell was looking to get out of doing.

None of the shenanigans in MR. DODD TAKES THE AIR ring true due to a weak script of Hollywood clichés prevalent in many of the '30s films, and the fact that KENNY BAKER, while possessing a fine tenor voice, has very little charisma for a man who has to carry most of the film. True, he's likable enough, but his acting leaves a lot to be desired. He would be featured in a few more films in the '30s and '40s, but never had a breakthrough role.

JANE WYMAN, who gets fifth billing when she has a major part in the story, is pert and vivacious as the secretary who takes an immediate interest in Baker and wants to help his career. GERTRUDE MICHAELS is "the other woman," a conniving socialite who wants to steal a device Baker has invented for improving radio's sound quality.

ALICE BRADY has an inconsequential role late in the film, as an egotistical opera singer and seems out of place in an overplayed role.

It's a minor item, an entirely forgettable film that is only worthwhile for hearing Baker sing a few songs in his own crooner style.

Hayseed electrician Kenny Baker becomes a radio crooning sensation in New York, has women trouble.

This looks like it was intended for a Dick Powell vehicle as a singing Stu Erwin, which he turned down, and good for him. Alfred Green doesn't take any of it seriously, so hackneyed are the plot elements; as a result, it's a snickering movie from beginning to end. Alice Brady gets an over-the-top role as an opera diva, Warner Brothers' regulars show up: Frank McHugh as Baker's pal, a brunette Jane Wyman as the girl he loves, and so forth. The result is fun, but slight. Harry Warren and Al Dubin got an Oscar nomination for one of their songs.

I had never heard of Kenny Baker till this turned up. He certainly could sing but not in a way that appeals to me. He's likable as the hick who becomes a star. Gertrude Michael is excellent as the gold-digger who tries to get his money. Jane Wyman is sweet as the girl who truly cares for him.

But Alice Brady is a scream as a diva. She's an opera singer -- who dubbed her singing voice?? -- and a very grand lady. She presages Mary Boland's classic performance as the Countess in "The Women." There's no reason not to like this harmless movie. And Brady elevates it to having a reason to like it very much indeed.