L'or du ciel

I admit that I selected this not because of the amazing Jimmy Stewart at his bumbling best. Nor for Paulette, presumably Hollywood's greatest charm of the period.

No, I was drawn by Horace Heidt, the real life bandleader who stars under his own name here and carries his band with him. For some reason unfathomable to me, his bands always seemed to come out on the second tier of music history while lesser groups are remembered fondly. Ah well, I guess that's the music business, and he did well enough before he left it to be a professional investor.

I met the man in 1964, a time closer to this movie than to now. He said a few things to me about music that I have never heard as intelligently since. From anyone. About any art.

The story here is a well built one: a food magnate with a cannon in his plant (to puff rice) has a feud going with the boarding house next door which houses Horace's band. The businessman's nephew comes to town and falls in love with the innkeeper's daughter.

The device of the show is a radio show that Steward takes over and which hosts the band.

Its a musical and true to the form at the time, has no consistency to how the music finds an excuse to appear. Sometimes it is a show within the show. (Even then, there's some strangeness. A big number is for a radio audience, but morphs into an elaborately costumed dance stage routine.)

Sometimes it is somewhat real, with the band-members just breaking into song and that developing into a number. And sometimes its strangely internal, where the thing stops being real and itself becomes a show. I think this was not deliberate but a simple affirmation of what they thought the audience would accept. Much of the music (except the big stage number) is more musically exciting than what you normally find in movie musicals. I'd recommend it on that basis.

And there are some nifty cinematic jokes, too, a few quite clever mixed in with the corny ones.

The radio show in the movie was based on a real radio show of the same name and gimmick featuring Horace Heidt, so there's yet another fold for the show within the show.

If you don't care about the movie and its story (and few folks seem to with musicals) and you think of musical numbers more in terms of musical than big dance numbers, you will like this. You will.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

A really fun movie. The music was performed live in front of a camera, no overdubing. I was amazed at how well arranged, choregraphed and performed the pieces were. I only wish that the DVD master had cleaned up the sound more and brought out better frequency response.

Jimmy Stewart was his usual charming self. Its hard to hate a movie with Jimmy in it. Even better, Jimmy actually sang and did quite well with the song. The first half of the movie had me laughing out loud!

This movie was found in the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, and it couldn't be resisted, simply because Jimmy Stewart movies are worth watching, even oldies like Pot of Gold. Clear back in 1941 his trademark common man persona was much in evidence with this quirky little madcap comedy/musical. Considering this movie came just five years prior to It's a Wonderful Life, it's surprising it hasn't received more notice. The plot in a nutshell is that Stewart has to close up his music shop due to poor business, and goes to the city to go work for his cranky rich uncle. Along the way Stewart becomes involved with a band, a pretty Irish girl, thrown in jail, and could be arrested for running a illegal lottery. While there are plenty of madcap moments, honest understated humor, and delightful performances, it's the music that is absolutely incredible! Jimmy Stewart bluffs his way fairly incredibly on the harmonica and even sings a song. It may not have been his favorite movie, but it is still a Jimmy Stewart gem. Even if you have to pay more than a dollar to watch the movie, it's still a movie, especially for Jimmy Stewart fans, to find and enjoy. The dining room musical number is worth the rental fee alone (but dig through the Wal-Mart dollar bins anyway).

This is a nice little part for Stewart, he's the reason to watch it. Stewart's demeanor and delivery are a joy to watch and he delivers some great classic comic moments. The story has that Shakespearean comedy feeling: comedy driven by mistaken identity which ends in marriage. Some good color added by journeyman studio character actors. There's some nicely blended musical numbers which mesh naturally with the story ... then there's the big production number during the radio program which feels like it dropped in from another planet and during the boarding house initiation number, I kept worrying about the stew getting cold. Aside from the musical interludes, the story is tight and never loses its way, delivering comic payoffs all along.

This light-hearted film sees James Stewart playing Jimmy Haskell, the owner of a failing music store in a small town. His music-hating uncle C.J. Haskell wants him to give it up and join the family business. Shortly afterwards he is forced to sell so heads to the city. Here he finds himself in an argument between a group of musicians, living at Ma McCorkle's boarding house and representatives of a local business man who is disturbed by their playing. Jimmy throws a tomato and hits the businessman... his uncle! He gets away without being recognised and is seen as a hero by the musicians; and Ma's daughter Molly. He is now in a predicament; his uncle is determined to identify and prosecute the man who threw the tomato and the McCorkle's might not take kindly to having a Haskell in their midst. Will he be able to reconcile the families or is he just going to upset everybody when the truth comes out?

This film won't provide too many surprises but that doesn't matter. It is charming, witty and features plenty of musical turns, but not too many. James Stewart is a delight as Jimmy and the rest of the cast are solid. The comedy is gentle; mostly based on the facts that Jimmy's uncle doesn't know he threw the tomato, the McCorkle's not knowing he is a Haskell and his attempts to keep it that way. Highlights amongst the musical numbers are a performance in a jail cell and the pre-dinner performance featuring 'musical glasses. Comedy highlights included making Uncle C.J. think he was hearing and seeing things that nobody else could and the finale where Molly comes up with a plan which could unfortunately land Jimmy in jail if he can't think of a way to implement it legally. Inevitably there is also some romance between Jimmy and Molly. Overall a fun little film with no offensive material and plenty of gentle laughs; well worth a watch.