I really didn't know who Pinky Tomlin was when I stumbled on this film, I bought it (it's available on dvd from Alpha quite inexpensively) due to the fact that Toby Wing, the blonde chorus girl who became well-known in the 1930's and today to movie buffs despite rarely playing anything but bits and cameo roles, is the leading lady. What a surprise to find this is a very enjoyable little movie. Pinky Tomlin was a moderately popular male vocalist of the day who hit pay dirt by writing the classic "The Object of my Affection". He was one of the very first singers to write most of his own songs. All of the songs in the movie are written by Tomlin, including one performed by The Peters Sisters, an obscure but excellent African-American trio. These songs sound like something that could have been written decades later, particularly the easy listening pop of the 1950's, and are considerably better than most tunes you find in B movies of the era. Tomlin plays a hick in Arkansas who sends one of his songs to a popular radio crooner in New York. When he hears the singer performing it on the radio - and claiming to have written it ! - he hocks the family cow to pay for a railroad ticket to the Big Apple and confront the slick singer (Kane Richmond, usually a hero in B movies of the era but here a sleazy singer). Tomlin also runs into a pretty city girl (Toby Wing) he met back home when she passed through town needing directions, coincidentally she's a singer too, in nightclubs, and Tomlin works up a hit for her as they plot to get his rights to his song back. This movie is so brief and moves so fast you can't hardly complain. Tomlin sings very well and if he's nothing to look at, he's a more agreeable presence than some of "hick" types who had longer careers in movies. I suspect both Richmond or Ms. Wing are dubbed given their "voices" are polished and neither did other vocals in film to my knowledge. The movie also looks pretty slick and with good sets for an independent "poverty row" effort for the era (some films of this nature have sets less detailed than the average high school play). This movie was apparently successful enough for Pinky and Toby to quickly be reteamed for another B, the more elusive SING WHILE YOU'RE ABLE.
