Ready, Willing and Able

This film is of a long lost art--the lighthearted, unpretentious tuneful musical that provides breezy entertainment without apology. One number, "Be Handy With Your Feet," is actually rather catchy and fun, and shows Ruby Keeler off quite well. Even the chorines look like they're having fun. The casual opulence of the set (a kind of nightclub on an ocean liner) is another example of how even "B" films from a major studio gave a certain panache to frivolity far and above what was required. Overall, not bad at all.

Ready Willing and Able (Warner Brothers, 1937). I finally had a chance to see this film and I have to admit, it's a cute little film from Warner Brothers in the late 30's. The actors seem like as though they are having a lot of fun and the musical numbers especially "Too Marvelous for Words" and "Just a Quiet Evening" are great. However, while watching this film, I feel a little sad for the late Ross Alexander who plays Barry Granville. Ross Alexander was very talented, nice looking, and had a great screen presence, but I guess Warners didn't know what to do with him. It seems as though his role was originally intended for Dick Powell, but he may have been unavailable. Keeler and Alexander have good screen chemistry and if he didn't die, maybe they would have made more films together.

Overall, a nice way to pass time. Definitely check out it.

Lee Dixon and Ross Alexander are minor actors in the history of Hollywood and here they both star as two struggling guys trying to peddle their musical show. But when you read their back story on IMDb, they are a very sad couple of guys. Before this film even debuted, Alexander (Barry) was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound (he was 29)! And, less than a decade later, Dixon (Pinky) would be dead...a guy who drank himself to death at age 42! Talk about tragic! Fortunately, their co-star, Ruby Keeler, had a much happier life!

When the film begins, Pinky and Barry are both struggling to market their new show. Fortunately, they just found a backer--and in order to get this backing they need to sign a British actress. When they go to meet her, the duo make a mistake and accidentally hire an unknown chorus girl (Ruby Keeler) with the same name. She's excited about the opportunity and so she keeps quiet and just accepts the offer. Unfortunately, when folks learn the truth, the show closes. What's next? See the film.

What follows at the end of the movie are a whole bunch of production numbers. Some are a bit dull, though the typewriter sequence is pretty amazing to watch. Overall, a passable bit of entertainment...but not much more. The songs aren't all that memorable and the plot is slight to say the least. The film could have used a bit more comedy to lighten the mood.

Mistaken for a famous British singing star, an American college girl decides she's READY, WILLING AND ABLE to conquer Broadway - especially after meeting the young scriptwriter who's producing the play...

A fine example of the musical comedies which Warner Brothers seemed to produce so effortlessly during the 1930's, it's a shame this film has become so obscure. With good production values & a snappy storyline, it's still a pleasant entertainment. The major missing component is Busby Berkeley; the final production number, with Ruby Keeler & dancer Lee Dixon hoofing it upon the keys of a giant typewriter, fairly cries for the Master to send it over the top.

Pert & pretty, Miss Keeler is, as always, much fun to watch. Many of her scenes are given the added attractions of the lovely Carol Hughes, playing her best friend. Wini Shaw, as a singer with too much past & tart-tongued secretary Jane Wyman also contribute to the fun.

The comedy relief is largely handled by Allen Jenkins as a loudmouthed agent, Louise Fazenda as a faded Shakespearean actress & Hugh O'Connell as a society fuddy-duddy. Comic cameos by E. E. Clive & Lillian Kemble-Cooper as an English knight & lady, and Barnett Parker as a helpful British butler, are also welcome. Movie mavens will spot an unbilled Carlyle Moore Jr. as a dockside reporter.

Ultimately, though, there is sadness attached to this film. The leading man, Ross Alexander, shot himself before the film could be released. This was his final film; he was only 29. Born Ross Smith in Brooklyn in 1907, Alexander had the personality, talent & good looks which should have spelled significant stardom. But Hollywood is notoriously unpredictable, and Alexander, unhappy with the way his career was going & obviously still troubled by the gunshot suicide of his first wife in December of 1935, placed a pistol to his own head on January 2, 1937.

Once dead, it was Warner Brothers that paid him the final indignity. Having a completed film with a star who was not only deceased, but a suicide as well, was a bit more than the Studio wanted to deal with. So, cutting their losses, they gave Ross Alexander fifth place billing on the lineup of performers for READY, WILLING AND ABLE, where he should have received first or second.

Outside of his appearance in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1935), he is almost forgotten now. Ross Alexander was a victim of the Hollywood system and his own private anguish, each of which fed on the other. He should be remembered as a fine young actor, who, in a very few years, brought lots of enjoyment to movie audiences. This is typified by his best scene in READY, WILLING AND ABLE, where he introduces the Johnny Mercer lyrics for 'Too Marvelous For Words,' by gently reciting them to Ruby Keeler. It is a tremendously poignant few moments.

Lee Dixon and Ross Alexander, struggling songwriters, are dancing in their boxers because the tailor has their pants. The tailor wants fifty cents for his work, but they haven't four bits between them and so must resort to musical distractions. "Every time I come up here," the tailor complains, "you sing me out of your pants."

Meanwhile, shipboard, Ruby Keeler and a bunch of other "college girls" put on a show for their fellow ocean liner passengers. They're amateurs—but this is a Warner Bros. musical, so the show is big and polished. Ruby does a great song and dance; she would love to be a real Broadway star, but she knows that could never happen….

Music and high spirits abound in this lively musical about getting one's big break. Keeler, of course, gets her shot at the big time, as do Dixon and Alexander. And of course there is a major complication.

Allen Jenkins is at his best as a failed stage actor who, having tried everything else, becomes an "agent" and thinks he sees his big chance when he overhears a telegram being phoned in, sending to England for a big star.

Louise Fazenda is very funny as Ruby's teacher or chaperone, who admits that she herself once had aspirations as an actress—and then spends most of the movie reciting jumbled bits of Shakespeare. She holds her purse like a skull: "Alas, poor Yorick," she intones, "I knew him…intimately." (At which Allen Jenkins gives her a funny look: "What's your friend doing now?")

Ross Alexander, as the songwriter, has the privilege of speaking and then singing the film's great song, "Too Marvelous for Words." Keeler's most memorable dance is the finale, in which she and Dixon dance from key to key on a giant typewriter.

Somewhat oddly, Keeler doesn't really sing and Alexander doesn't dance, and so the leading couple don't do any true duets—Alexander sings to Ruby instead of with her, and Dixon fills in as dancing partner.

Overall, it's no classic but still very entertaining—especially for fans of Ruby Keeler's wonderful dancing.