No Rítmo do Jazz

This is definitely a "B" movie churned out by RKO to fill its theaters. It is a very good B movie with lots of talented people who didn't get a lot of exposure. The most famous name is Betty Grable and a fading overage Buddy Rogers. The musical numbers are well staged (by Hermes Pan) and lively, are very witty, and due to Johnny Mercer, who is one of the stars, has some very good lyrics. The plot is nonsense and doesn't get in the way of the musical numbers. I only wish college had been like this. Did every college have an ice cream shop? The opening titles are very interestingly staged. Eric Blore is amusing and gets to explain the difference between male and female fleas. Erik Rhodes does his Italian thing, and George Barbier as Buddy's father seems to be enjoying himself. You will too.

The plot is silly and the songs are mostly unmemorable, but there are small pleasures to enjoy in this film. First, there's fifth-billed Betty Grable, who is featured in several songs. And she does a rapid-fire tap dance on her toes, ballet style, that seemed very difficult. I never thought her talent extended to the tips of her toes. Next, there's a character called "Blimp," played by heavy-set Sonny Lamont. He does acrobatic dancing usually reserved for people much lighter on their feet. I also enjoyed seeing the great lyricist, Johnny Mercer, in the first of his two acting roles. He seemed to have a natural acting talent that made me wonder why he didn't appear in more films. Finally, there was the challenge and pleasure in spotting Lucille Ball in an early uncredited nonspeaking part. She's there, but I had to re-run the tape and take my focus away from the action and look in the background.

This movie had some GREAT tunes, and not ones that became classics, these tunes will be new to you. I particularly like the one about going to college that the movie starts off with in the first scene. The movie is not about romantic rivalries between father and son, rather the father does not approve of the effect girls have on his son's grades and does not approve of his son's new fiancé' so he goes to college to sort things out.This is an older movie, but very watchable with none of the glitches that you sometimes see in these older films. It is rather an obscure movie from the early thirties, thus it has not been subtitled. I thought that this was a shame because I missed a few of the words to the songs and I would have liked to have heard every word. The kids were in the room when the movie started. They were on the computer and paying NO attention to Mom's old movie, but when the song about college came on, they drifted over and watched the whole, long song. I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I did. Thank goodness for TNT!

In which a dad enrolls in college when he learns his son has become infatuated with a blonde (dad prefers a different gal for junior). Dad is soon strolling around campus in freshman beanie and getting into trouble for walking on the sophomore pathway. When he sees that sonny is set on sticking with the blonde, he gets advised from a fellow student in the know - she's a gold-digger. So - dad pretends his business is going bust to get the gold-digger to leave his son alone!

This film is a bit of fluff, mainly held together by some really good musical numbers. The opening scene features a train ride to college, full of the students singing a very catchy tune - I particularly enjoyed this number. Best of all - one of the students is played by a very young and beautiful Betty Grable who sings, tap dances on pointe, and charms her way across the screen to coming super-stardom - every time she is on screen she is all you can look at! The story in this isn't the greatest, and Buddy Rogers (who I love in silent films) is a bit of a dud here, though still pretty handsome to look at - he even sings (or is dubbed, I'm not sure) a rather lackluster number himself. Enjoyable, light fare.

Any RKO movie with ERIC BLORE and ERIC RHODES in the supporting cast can't be all bad. This is a strictly second-rate little college musical with a trivial plot and a bevy of harmless tunes typical of the swing mood that was on the horizon. Vivacious BETTY GRABLE has one of her early campus sweetheart roles (sings a little, dances a little), and if you look hard enough you can spot LUCILLE BALL among the extras, the girl who would go on to buy the studio one day.

GEORGE BARBIER is the senior who wants to be a freshman (he wants to keep an eye on his son, BUDDY ROGERS) whom he thinks is failing subjects because his mind is on girls. Rogers is a blank in a colorless role. The female lead (unknown today) is pretty brunette BARBARA KENT. Silly nonsense with Barbier becoming a freshman subjected to student pranks with more attention on random song numbers than a plot.

The songs are strictly a blend of the type popular at the time but have the benefit of lyrics by Johnny Mercer which helps a lot and its surprising to see that the B&W photography is by Nick Musuraca who did all those great film noirs later at RKO.

Summing up: Harmless fun that passes the time quickly in 75 minutes.