Crooner

Ken Murray.... started out in a few film roles and tv roles, but quickly moved into a "behind the scenes" role; he ended up filming many of the stars on the sets and about town with their family, kind of an early paparazzi. This one stars David Manners and the band trying to make a go of it in a nightclub, but when they use a megaphone to project his voice, "Ted" (Manners) really takes off as a singer. Guy Kibbee, Claire Dodd, and Anne Dvorak were hollywood regulars in the 1930s and 1940s. pretty good story line. moves along without problems. love story. hollywood. show biz. good film, if a little uneven. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, who had worked at all the various studios. Didn't win any oscars, but sure made some great films along the way (humphrey bogart, bette davis !) this one is a good one.

Teddy Taylor (David Manners) leads a struggling band looking for a big break. That break comes through serendipity when a drunk (Guy Kibbee) dances past the band stand and mockingly hands him a megaphone to project. In no time he's "making the charts and the girls are tearing him apart." With overnight success Teddy's demeanor goes from team player to prima donna causing a huge rift between him band members, agent and girl friend (Ann Dvorak).

Crooner is a rather benign story about the pitfalls of instant stardom and the virtues of humility. The handsome Manners is surprisingly effective in the transitioning and there's some light comedy and catchy tunes to keep one's attention. Still, I can't help but wonder if this is a veiled attempt to expose the out of control ego of one of the day's big time crooners. The megaphone prop would suggest Rudy Vallee but it was no secret back then that Bing Crosby dumped his back up band and went on to solo super-stardom.

I'd looked forward to this Warners B as a rare chance to see the underappreciated David Manners in a leading role. As a struggling bandleader who discovers he has a voice and becomes a star, he's fine. But the character is such a jerk. Teddy, aided by a PR man (Ken Murray, who had a long career exhibiting home movies of Hollywood stars, but not much of one as an actor, and this shows why), who lusts after Teddy's girlfriend (Ann Dvorak, always welcome but doing nothing surprising here), soon is vain, demanding, unfaithful, greedy, and unreasonable with his bandmates. Nothing in the backstory indicates why this would happen. It's trite, and so is his comeuppance, as he suffers a PR disaster and returns to his saxophone. Even at 65 minutes it feels padded, with too many renditions of the two same old songs, and it feels like it's shaking a finger at us: Stay nice when you get famous, don't let this happen to you.

"Crooner" is a 1932 film starring David Manners, Ann Dvorak, and Ken Murray.

Manners plays a band leader Teddy Taylor whose singer becomes ill before a performance, so he has to take over. He has a voice the size of a mosquito, so someone hands him a megaphone, and a star is born.

His girlfriend (Ann Dvorak) brings a publicist (Murray) to hear him, and Murray signs him, promising Teddy and the band big money. He actually doesn't like Ted's voice, but when he sees how the women fawn all over him, he decides he can take him to the top.

Ted becomes successful and becomes a major jerk, two-timing his girlfriend, refusing to conduct the music at a tempo people can dance to, and demeaning the band.

It's an okay comedy/drama, but the only really comedic part is when Ted is taking voice lessons. I actually didn't find Ted's voice so awful as some other people on this board is - I've heard worse, except when he goes crazy singing high notes for his teacher.

This film apparently was a big success for Manners, who had played standard leading men up to then. He was attractive (and related to Princess Diana on his mother's side), but he didn't stay in films long, preferring writing and painting.

Ann Dvorak turns in her usual good performance, as a sweet, patient woman who becomes fed up.

This film may be the veiled story of Rudy Vallee or perhaps even Bing Crosby -- an egotistical crooner. I imagine both would fit the profile.

Crooner (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

David Manners (DRACULA) gets his first top-billing in this familiar rags to riches back to rags tale. In the film he plays Ted Taylor, a mediocre singer who rises to fame after a gag with a microphone makes him a hot pick. Soon the fame and money goes to Ted's head and he begins to hurt those around him including his girlfriend (Ann Dvorak). If you've ever seen this type of drama before then I'm sure you're not going to find anything original here as it follows the familiar story that we've seen countless times. What does make the film work is some nice music and some good performances by the cast. This is a Warner "B" picture that doesn't have the greatest screenplay but it does its job, which is to keep you entertained for 64-minutes. Manners, an underrated actor in my opinion, turns in a nice performance as the young punk who quickly gets in over his head. I thought Manners did a pretty good job with the more dramatic moments but he also managed to be quite funny when needed to be. Dvorak is also very good in her role and Ken Murray and J. Carrol Naish add fine support as the agent and club owner. The cinematography by Robert Kurrle is also pretty impressive for such a low budget film and he seems to enjoy swooping the camera in on the intended target and this really mixes quite well with the style of music being played. Those who aren't really fans of "B" pictures probably won't find anything here for them but if you like short, to the point films then this one here isn't too bad.