Make a Wish

.Bobby Breen stars as Chip Winters, a precocious ten-year-old singing prodigy who is attending summer camp in Maine. Across the lake from the camp lies the residence of composer Johnny Selden (Basil Rathbone), who has moved from the city in order to overcome his creative stagnation. Selden meets Chip and the two become friends, and the youngster decides to try and set the older man up on dates with Chip's mother Irene (Marion Claire).

This cornball schmaltz had to have been irritating even in 1937. Breen sings a lot, Claire sings, and everyone's sweet and wholesome. Yuck. Was there really a time when a large group of boys would sit around quietly and watch Bobby Breen sing "Polly-Wolly-Doodle all the day"? I wasn't even there and I wanted to scream. I watched this for Rathbone, who may have appreciated getting to play something other than a creep or scoundrel. The movie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Score (Hugo Reisenfeld).

An amusing incident occurred during the filming of this movie. Henry Armetta and Basil Rathbone were talking between scenes. Armetta had placed a cigarette stub in his pocket (an old habit) so he could finish it later. But it came into contact with an open book of matches in his pocket. One observer on the set reported that Armetta then gave "a very good imitation of a Roman candle on a rampage."

This is truly a cute, family friendly, music-filled movie! Not a box office hit by any means but definitely a cute entertaining movie.

This musical is mostly pleasant, but is almost entirely predictable after the first few minutes. Everything is watchable, but that's all. Basil Rathbone seems pretty well cast as an eccentric composer, but the plot does not give him all that much to do. Bobby Breen is likable as a young boy at camp, and there are some fairly amusing moments from some of Rathbone's associates. It's easy to pull for the main characters, but any excitement or real interest is dissipated by the completely routine story-line. It's an average musical, no more and no less.

Bobby Breen is at camp where he meets Basil Rathbone. Rathbone is trying to write an opera. When Bobby's mother, Marion Claire comes to visit, Bobby tries to play matchmaker, but she already has an understanding with another man, who wants her to retire from the stage. Rathbone decides to go away, while his valet, Donald Meek, along with Henry Armetta and Leon Errol punch up the score.

It's a thoroughly innocuous and pleasant musical, with Bobby Breen singing several songs, while opera star (and concert violinist) Marion Claire sings the title song twice. She's one of several opera stars who tried out for Hollywood stardom, but this was her only venture into the field.

It's also a rare movie venture for Gertrude Berg, better known for writing and starring in radio's THE GOLDBERGS for twenty years. RKO had four writers (including Al Boasberg) punch up her script, which lends it a rather disjointed air. Still, Breen is a fine boy tenor, and that's what this movie is about in the end.

For me this film goes in the excellent group because I find myself coming back to it over and over again. The storyline is uncomplicated and perhaps predictable, but the content of the story is a very worthwhile glimpse of a young boy's life during one eventful summer which starts at a boys' camp in Maine. Chip (Bobby Breen) and Pee Wee (Billy Lee) and the other boys make the story forever delightful. Here a young boy, Chip, feels keenly that his happy life is about to be invaded, and he is intent on changing the course of events. With a truly sincere heart and boyish cunning he sets his plan in motion. He is always more clever but also more polite than the adult antagonists he confronts. There is much to love and much to enjoy in this story. The boys in particular are excellent in their parts, nicely developing individual characters. The singing is wonderful, as are the very meaningful expressions on Bobby Breen's face.