La grande vie

This is one of the few movies I've had a hard time sitting through to the end. One might guess that the title was an intentional effort by MGM to draw an audience in the dark times of the Great Depression that had just begun. The film came out less than six weeks after the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929. Otherwise, the title, "It's a Great Life," is meaningless with the story.

This is one of the first MGM sound pictures, and it even has a couple of short scenes at the end that are in color. Those are of staged dance and costume extravaganzas. But, at best, they are B-level talent and entertainment. The film's opening scene is a real hoot and the only real comedy in it. What this movie is otherwise, is a scripted play that serves to knit together a few skits and song and dance routines of the Duncan Sisters, Rosetta and Vivian. They were a vaudeville team for some time, and Vivian wrote some of the songs for their act. They had played the title roles in a Broadway musical, "Topsy and Eva," that ran just over four months from late December 1924 to early May, 1925. Those were black face roles of the two characters from "Uncle Tom's Cabin," in a musical play written as a sequel to the Harriet Beecher Stowe story.

MGM was casting about looking for the talent that would soon make it the master and premier studio of cinema musicals. But this film clearly is third-tier for entertainment. The singing would hardly qualify for professional anywhere. The hoofing of the sisters amounts to nothing more than some synchronized steps and movements. And their comedy is lame. It may have been good enough for the smaller venues of the huge vaudeville circuit of the late 19th and very early 20th centuries. In that time, every town big enough to have a theater and people hungry for entertainment had vaudeville.

Some of the early 1929-1930 films with vaudeville-like revue formats had very talented entertainers, some of whom went on to have successful careers in cinema. But, others had people with lesser talents who wouldn't make the cut. This movie is in that group. Besides the lesser music and dance talent, the three leads are very hammy throughout. And the screenplay is sappy melodrama and overacting in the frequent epithets of disgust between Jimmy and Casey.

So, it It should come as no surprise that this was the only sound picture and last of three total feature films that the Duncan Sisters made. But for one more short they made together seven years later, they were finished in films. It is interesting, though, that most of the rest of the staff, including the bit players here, had long careers in film. Jed Prouty who plays David Parker would have 149 credits in films and then television into the 1950s. Benny Rubin who plays the Hogan Sisters' agent, Benny Friedman, acted in cinema and TV for more than six decades, and has 212 credits. Others have more.

One doubts that many people today would find this film entertaining. Most would probably give up on it by halfway through. I'm something of a cinephile who's interested in all aspects of the cinema and its origins and performers. Some others with similar interests, or students studying cinema may appreciate this film for those purposes. But I doubt that there will be many more to join the few who have commented positively on this film to this time. Most may even find my four stars a stretch. But the opening scene is worth one all by itself, and the color sequence toward the end with the choreography and unusual sliding scene earn it one more of the four stars I give it.

Here's an example in the dialog where the vaudevillian hamminess blots out the slight humor. Babe Hogan, "Jimmy, Jimmy, were...were you really thinking of me when you wrote that?" Jimmy Dean, "Sure I was. Every great composer has a girl who inspires his masterpieces."

IT'S A GREAT LIFE (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1929) directed by Sam Wood, is another one of those "Broadway Melody" variations produced during the early sound era, with the plot revolving around the up and down stage career of two singing sisters and a songwriter, in this instance, piano playing composer. What makes this one more natural to MGM's own Academy Award Best Picture winner of "The Broadway Melody" (1929), which starred Bessie Love, Anita Page and Charles King, is that this one features actual sisters in the leads. The sisters in question are The Duncan Sisters. And who are the Duncan Sisters? No, they are not the originators of the franchise of Duncan Donuts. Both blondes, they were popular vaudeville headliners with one previous feature film to their name, the silent production of TOPSY AND EVA (UA, 1927). As a result from viewing IT'S A GREAT LIFE, Rosetta (1886-1959) is best described as the shortest of the two with a flare for comedy in the manner of Winnie Lightner with a sort of raspy voice; Vivian (1899-1986), slightly taller yet prettier, sings and dances, but lacking in acting ability, especially when it comes to heavy dramatics. As with many big names during this period, the Duncan Sisters are virtually forgotten today. It's interesting to point out on how Vivian closely resembles Anita Page at one point with a cross variation to future screen actress Dorothy McGuire. Had IT'S A GREAT LIFE been distributed earlier in 1929 instead of the tail end or early 1930, it might have become an equivalent to "The Broadway Melody," considering how both films are somewhat similar in theme, which makes one wonder if the writers of "The Broadway Melody" story had the Duncan Sisters in mind. Regardless, there were no further Duncan Sisters musicals to follow, indicating that IT'S A GREAT LIFE left little or no lasting impression to 1929 audiences. By the time of its release, musicals were showing signs of decline, thus making their talking debut the final feature film for the Duncans.

Synopsis in brief: Set in New York City, the story opens with a chase after two girls are seen running from their apartment building, down the street, and immediately being pursued by a policeman and some passersby, causing some traffic accidents as the girls cross through heavy traffic, ending with them heading into a department store where it is soon revealed that they are late for work. The plot development introduces the Hogan sisters, Casey (Rosetta) as the wisecracking elder sister to Babe (Rosetta). Babe loves Jimmy Dean (Lawrence Gray), with whom she works in the sheet music department. For some reason, Rosetta dislikes Jimmy, which is never revealed why. She always finding fault in him and takes every opportunity to criticize him whenever possible in hope that Babe will become discouraged and forget about him. After getting fired from their jobs following the annual store show by Mr. Mandelbaum for his disapproval of Casey's clowning, the trio make a go for the big time in vaudeville. Although they become successful, things become complicated when Babe marries Jimmy, causing problems in her relationship with Casey, thus breaking up the act. While failures on their own, they all become too stubborn to make the first move and admit their faults, even when one of them becomes seriously ill with pneumonia.

The musical program: "Smile, Smile, Smile" (sung by employees); "What the Debutante Must Do" (fashion show sequence in two strip Technicolor), "I'm a Son of a ---." "Lady Love" (sung by Vivian Duncan); "I'm Following You" (sung by the Duncan Sisters); "Smile, Smile, Smile," "I'm Following You," "It Must Be an Old Spanish Custom," "Rigoletto," "It Must as Well Be You," "Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella" (sung by unseen vocalist during dramatic moment); "I'm Following You" (sung by Lawrence Gray); "Dance Number" (performed by Rosetta dressed up like a little Dutch Boy); "Hoosier Hop" (production number in two-strip Technicolor with the Duncan Sisters); and "I'm Following You." With the songs being the main attraction, only "I'm Following You" is quite memorable, even after several reprises.

Aside from the aforementioned leads, only Benny Rubin as Benny Friedman, the booking agent, and Jed Prouty (who played the stuttering uncle in "The Broadway Melody" ) as David Parker, the store manager who loves Casey, assume billing in the opening casting credits while others do not.

The title to IT'S A GREAT LIFE has been used several times over the years: Paramount (1935) with Joe Morrison; Columbia (1943), as part of the 28 film series featuring "Blondie and the Bumsteads" with Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake, as well as the long forgotten TV comedy series starring Michael O'Shea and Frances Bavier (1953-55).

The movie as a whole is really not bad. After it is all over, it'll be hard to get these lyrics, "Wherever you go, whatever you do, I want you to know, I'm following you" out of your head. IT'S A GREAT LIFE may never be categorized as a great early musical, but mostly a curiosity for fans of movies from this particular era as well as a rediscovery look into the careers of the once popular Duncan Sisters. Only the final minutes, highlighted by a Technicolor production number choreographed by Sammy Lee, comes off a bit weak.

Once shown on a frequent level on Turner Classic Movies cable channel prior to 1996, it's become more of a rarity today. (** Duncans)

The Warner Archives got this one right. The last time this film was shown in its entirety on TCM back in the 1990's, the color finale was still lost. After it was found, the restored film was never shown on TCM to my knowledge, but the discovered color finale was often shown on Turner Classic Movies under its "One Reel Wonder" series between films. The Warner Archives DVD-R release restores the color finale to the film itself, so we get to see it as it was supposed to be seen and was seen in 1929.

The story involves sisters Babe and Casey Hogan, (Vivian and Rosetta Duncan), salesgirls at a department store, which is ruled somewhat like a banana republic in that store employees are required to assemble and sing the store song each morning. The girls have been orphaned since Babe was a child, and Casey is the older sister. Thus Casey is accustomed to looking after sister Babe and deflecting the advances of Jimmy Dean (Lawrence Grey), who has a strong romantic interest in younger sister Babe. This was the Duncan Sisters' only sound film, and they come across oddly on camera. Vivien is somewhat like a husky Anita Page, and Rosetta reminds me in voice and actions of Lucille Ball, although Rosetta does not have Lucy's delicacy of features.

Pieces of this story looks like it inspired Singing in the Rain. For example, there is a show by and for the department store employees about half way into the film that includes a fashion show. A song is sung by a male tenor as each girl steps down a staircase to present the latest in flapper fashions - much like the Beautiful Girl number in Singin in the Rain. Also, Babe gets deathly ill towards the end of the film and goes unconscious, allowing a couple of over the top musical numbers that are the highlight of the movie - "The Hoosier Hop" and the recently found finale "Sailing on a Sunbeam". These numbers are supposed to be Babe's hallucinations as she lies unconscious. These numbers rather reminded me of the long "Broadway Melody" number in Singin in the Rain, with its wild colors and big sets in that film within a film.

Recommended for those who enjoy the early sound films.

Rosetta and Vivian Duncan have always done things together. When Rosetta gets fired for being a little free in her vocabulary, Vivian quits. Fortunately, agent Benny Rubin has seen their act at the company show. Along with Lawrence Grey at the piano, they are a hit in vaudeville. But Rosetta thinks it's all them, so Grey gets downgraded... until Vivian marries him. That breaks up the act, and neither is particularly good without the other.

The Duncan Sisters had commitments that made them unavailable for THE BROADWAY MELODY, so MGM made this diagetic musical for them You can see what made them a starring pair in live performances in their performance of "I'm Following You". There are also a couple of two-strip Technicolor sequences for the big production numbers. They definitely were crowd pleasers, but given the advances made in movie musicals over the years, they haven't aged particularly. Even so, it's a decent if unremarkable movie, and excellent for 1929. With Jed Prouty, Oscar Apfel and, I am told, Ann Dvorak in the chorus.

"It's a Great Life" is a relic from another era when sound was in its infancy. A very early MGM musical, the film stars the Duncan Sisters, Rosetta and Vivian, who were a famous vaudeville act achieving Broadway stardom with "Topsy and Eva" (so politically incorrect to never see the light of day again) in 1923. "It's a Great Life" was their shot at movie stardom and its failure dashed those hopes. You can see why.

Even taking into consideration that comedy and entertainment in general were different a century ago, it is a mystery why the Duncan Sisters became popular and famous. They are not good singers or dancers nor funny. Rosetta is particularly grating. Bear in mind we are still laughing at their contemporaries such as W. C. Fields and the Marx Bros.

Movie plot is threadbare serving as showcase for the sisters to perform their routines. Rosetta was the "comic" pulling funny faces and Vivian the dim blonde. Whatever they had live on stage did not translate to the screen. No charm as they overwork selling themselves. The film falls flat and 1929 audiences did not buy the Duncan Sisters who turned to nightclub act the remainder of their career.

The best aspect of "It's a Great LIfe" are the restored technicolor sequences concluding with the "Hoosier Hop" production number finale. The film is worth running just for the curio affect and developing sound musicals.