Swing Hostess

Plot- a talented songstress tries to break into the business, but is hampered by mishaps and a connaiving rival.

Okay, I'm a sucker for low-budget quickies, hoping for the occasional over-achiever. Happily, this is one of them. The flick's really more a comedy with a complex plot than a musical. But the pacing's snappy, the acting's colorful, and Tilton's such a sweetheart. Sure, it's the sassy Adrian and the scheming Brodel who get the acting and screentime, still, songstress Tilton's lovely voice carried me away. I just wish she had more numbers uncrowded by the screenplay. On the other hand, I'd never seen the feisty Brodel before. Too bad she didn't opt for a longer career since her talent for villianry is darkly clear. At the same time, I was hoping for some swing dancing with the flaring skirts so popular at the time, but maybe the budget didn't allow it. Anyway, the pacing never drags, while the sticky plot's happily softened by a supporting cast of humorous oldsters. So give it a look-see, especially for the "liltin' Martha Tilton".

Made at PRC pictures in 1944 this very funny musical is a near cousin to SINGIN THE RAIN. It delivers a good swing musical soundtrack set in the record industry with a Lina Lamont sound-a-like bad girl called Phoebe Forbes getting inappropriate bitchy stardom over good girl Martha Tilton (who just died Dec 8, 2006) and her hilarious wise-cracking room mate Iris Adrian. The whole film is a case and chase of mistaken musical identity with horrible tuneless Phoebe deluding herself that she has singing talent and allowing Martha's music to be heard as hers. If you watch this film then have a look at Betty Hutton in THE PERILS OF PAULINE made in 1947, you can put the jigsaw puzzle of both films together and get a rough cut of SINGING IN THE RAIN made in '52. One fascinating scene in SWING HOSTESS involves a fantastic deco style jukebox where instead of button pressing, the client phones a switchboard/DJ girl who has a library of records at her fingertips in a room somewhere and she plays the selection. They can talk (in this case shout and be insolent) to each other thru a microphone and speaker in the jukebox. What an invention! What an installation. PRC spent some real money on this film and it is well produced with some excellent sets and decor...so unusual for them. I would suggest this film did very well for them and proved once again that there is so many hilarious musical gems to be found in 'poverty row'. The showbiz boarding house they all live in if crammed with idiotic vaudeville types who can't stop running about and performing tricks and stunts on each other. The whole film is pitched at a silly level which only adds to the fun.

Sig Neufeld made a ton of cheapo movies during the 1930s-50s. Some (such as some of his Tim McCoy westerns) were pretty good but some were pretty bad....and all were made quickly above all else. In the case of "Swing Hostess" he not only made the film but released it through PRC...one of the cheapest and worst outfits of their day. So, it's not particularly surprising that "Swing Hostess" isn't particularly good.

When the film begins, Judy (Martha Tilton) is a poor aspiring band singer. She's out of work and cannot seem to get anywhere when she tries out for various producers. However, her break seems assured when she makes a lovely recording at a local studio...but it's lost when the record is accidentally mixed up and a no-talent gets credit for the single. Can they manage to straighten all this out and Judy get a chance to sing for the Benny Jackson band?

This film, not surprisingly, has a lot of singing. After all, Martha Tilton was a famous big band singer and so she croons repeatedly....and it's rather pleasant. However, despite decent music, the film also suffers from sloppy writing and some obnoxious characters. Overall, a passable time-passer but not exactly a film you should rush to see. And, actually, for PRC this is all very glowing praise!

This WONDERFUL film from 1944 is a pure joy ! Not to mention the music throughout... Martha is a beauty as well as a pretty hot singer from her day.. She really shows the evil Phobe (Betty Brodel) a thing or two about singing. One of the better films from PRC during the war years. Sure to please ! That is if you can find it. The film is Public Domain and nobody, I mean nobody runs it, and thats ashame. Some great music from JAY LIVINGSTON & RAY EVANS who ARE credited boldly in the print I own...If you get a chance to catch this lost gem then sit back and enjoy ! JUKEBOX FANS will die over this film featuring ROCKOLA JUKES !

Martha Tilton has been auditioning for a position as a band singer for what seems like forever. Finally, she and her friend Iris Adrian take a job as operators in a juke-box center, where customers call in for a particular song at their location. Meanwhile, a test record a friend made for her gets mixed up with one done by Betty Brodel, who's being drooled over by record producer Harry Holman. Because it's actually Miss Tilton's voice -- she had been a vocalist for Benny Goodman, with a hit recording of "And the Angels Sing" -- Miss Brodel gets a contract and a chance to sing for Charles Collins' band.

It's a plot that's not remarkable in broad, and it's been done many times, well and poorly. This one has several advantages, including songs by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston, a couple of years before they hit it big. There are also some nice moments of gag comedy, and it's a pleasure to watch the professional musicians gawp in horrified astonishment at Miss Brodel's voice.

It also has a nice example of inadvertent documentary, showing how centralized jukebox systems worked.

The names in this are not ones to conjure with. Behind the camera was Jack Greenhaigh, a talented cinematographer who never got out of the Bs and frequently used his considerable talents lensing ludicrous films like ROBOT MONSTER and HITLER -- BEAST OF BERLIN. Sam Newfield, a mainstay of the usually dire PRC, directed, and shows that with a good script and eager talent, he can turn out a happy, modest movie.