Batuta da Alegria

Ted Lewis is top billed but does not appear till almost half of the film has elapsed.The actors with most screen time are Ted Healey and Nat Pendelton.Maybe MGM couldn't sell the film on their names alone.The film also features a very pleasing singer,Harry Stockwell,who is the male lead.He sings a number of very enjoyable songs most notably "Roll Along Prarie Moon".Unfortrunately he has one major problem,he is not photogenic.It is little surprise that his screen career seems to have been rather short.The plot such as it is is wafer thin and there is in fact virtually no story till the last half of the film.Nevertheless it is very entertaining particularly Billy Gilbert's sneezing act

The man who provided Disney with the voice for Prince Charming in SNOW WHITE is the leading man here, HARRY STOCKWELL, father of Dean and Guy Stockwell. He's an unphotogenic man with a splendid voice, but it's easy to see why he never made it in films. He's totally unphotogenic and lacks whatever charisma is needed for stardom.

Stockwell and VIRGINIA BRUCE play aspiring singers who enter a radio contest, during which all the other acts are ridiculed and played strictly for laughs. Funniest bit of all is done by BILLY GILBERT who demonstrates why he played "Sneezy" in Disney's SNOW WHITE by doing a whole act based on his sneezing abilities.

Virginia Bruce is her usual bland self and the humor throughout depends on vaudeville one-liners that were corny even then. In other words, the witless script is a poor thing to endure for an hour and twenty minutes, cut drastically after a disastrous preview.

It's a curiosity. TED LEWIS is top-billed but gets brief footage--perhaps the victim of too many cuts.

Watchable but only at your own risk.