Swingin' Along

This Great Comedy starring Peter Marshall(Hollywood Squares) and Tommy Noonan trying to compose a winning musical number.This movie also has great singers including Ray Charles,Bobby Vee and Roger Williams give this film superb musical numbers.Unfortunately, never released on dvd/vhs but hopefully it will in the near future otherwise try to catch it when it's on television.

Tommy Noonan is a would-be composer, who gets hooked up with Peter Marshall, when Marshall wants to get romantic with Noonan's psychiatrist, Barbara Eden. There's a contest that Noonan wants to win, so Marshall noodges him for 25%.

There's something flat and uninspired about the classic gags that the two of them execute, and the best part of the movie are the musical interludes -- including Ray Charles doing "What I Say?" -- but Marshall seems to vanish towards the end.

I guess he got tired. Noonan was John Ireland's half-brother, and his then-sister-in-law Joan Dru introduced him to her brother, actor-singer Peter Marshall. The team had Noonan as the nebbishy zany, with Marshall as his straight man. Although they had a good deal of success in live shows and on TV, their attempt to be the new Martin & Lewis failed, and they went their own ways.

Noonan was a fair actor, with a couple of good roles, most particularly as "Danny Maguire" in the Judy Garland version of A STAR IS BORN. That apparent talent isn't on display here. He died in 1968, only 46 years old.

The careers of Peter Marshall and Tommy Noonan, successful as singles never quite made it as a comedy team as demonstrated by Swinging Along.

In this Marshall is a grifter who owes some big bucks to bookie Mike Mazurki and needs a place to lie low. Along comes Tommy who is a Jerry Lewis like schlepp who lives with Aunt Connie Gilchrist. A game of billiards brings these two together.

Noonan was good at both comedy and drama and sadly died young. Marshall became known as the host of Hollywood Squares. Barbara Eden is here as the love interest.

As a tram, just not meant to be.

As a fan of comedy teams, I have wanted to view this film for years. What a disappointment. Tommy Noonan and Peter Marshall have to be the most lackluster comedy team ever. Noonan had a successful career as a character actor ("A Star Is Born", "Bundle of Joy", "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"), while Marshall's fame rests on his work as a TV game show host ("Hollywood Squares"). In this film, they do one marginal routine together, a pool game routine. It is marginally amusing. The rest of the film deals with con-man Marshall's attempts to get procrastinating composer Noonan to finish writing a song for a competition. The chemistry is really missing between these two guys. They are less a comedy team and more like two actors who happen to be paired in a film. There is a little slapstick, but it is very mild. There are musical numbers, but none are performed by Noonan and Marshall, both who have musical comedy backgrounds. Guest stars Ray Charles, Bobby Vee, and Roger Williams handle the musical end. I have been told that of the two Noonan and Marshall starring features, this is the better one. I have never seen "The Rookie", but it must really be terrible. "Swingin Along" is not unwatchable; it is merely mild, and a bit boring. As a side note, Alan Carney, of the defunct comedy team of Brown and Carney, has a small cameo in this film.

Watching older movies, I'm not always looking / expecting great comedy intrigue or story line (see some great Fred & Ginger movies of the 30s). Here, they did well with the views streets and a couple parks of San Francisco, at a particularly beautiful period (early 60s, a couple yrs after Vertigo's seminal SF). The early Ray Charles pieces.with entire ensemble, were outstanding, and Barbara Eden is beautiful and delightful on screen, as she was in a few other small early roles, pre-Jeannie. And I'll give an honorable mention to Connie Gilchrist, who literally slaved in her many stereotype supporting roles her whole career, always making the most of what she was given, took advantage of the opportunity here in a real role. And watch for early Ted Knight as a ... Gives it a minimum of 6 for me, and kept my attention while I worked - so 7.