Broadway Rhythm

Talented Eddie "Rochester" Anderson stars in another fine example of racism at work in America, namely the unwritten rule of black actors not being allowed to perform with their white counterparts unless they are domestic servants. The exception here is the George and Ira Gershwin number "Somebody Loves Me," performed by Lena Horne. Many scenes with black performers, including the Hazel Scott piono swing version of "Minute Waltz," are positioned in such a way that theaters in the South could cut them without losing the storyline.Archie Savage is Horne's dance partnet in "Brazilian Boogie-Woogie," another noteworthy number, and leading lady Ginny Simms does a good job with "All the Things You Are." Nancy Walker and Ben Blue are hilarious in the "Milkman Keep Those Bottles Quiet" number with Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra.

A pleasing enough entertainment, working primarily as a pageant of various MGM specialty acts - impressionists, contortionists, nightclub acts, tap-dancers, as well as the standard musical theatrical numbers. The film isn't a musical in the traditional sense, as all the musical numbers are in the contest of an actual performance (some done toward the camera). It's much more in the tradition of a 1960s-70s variety TV show.

There is a connecting plot, though only the slimmest possible. For me, the movie dragged whenever it stopped the music for a little story updating. George Murphy doesn't really dance much here - just briefly toward the beginning and end - and he does an OK piano medley in the middle. Ginny Simms isn't much of a screen presence, but has a great voice used to advantage. Close your eyes while she's singing and you won't miss much onscreen, other than the costumes.

The highlights are in the supporting cast; great numbers from Lena Horne, Tommy Dorsey, Hazel Scott, and Nancy Walker (though you really have to wait for hers; she's a bit underused here). Really nice work from Gloria DeHaven and Kenny Bowers in their couple of tunes, as well as Walter Long's tap-dancing. The singing-contortionist Ross Sisters are something to see, but the impressionist got on my nerves after a while. (Some of his subjects will not register with viewers unfamiliar with the era; there's a couple of topical jokes elsewhere in the film also.)

And Charles Winninger is a pleasure to watch in a diversion for him; I've rarely seen him in musical roles.

In short, worth seeing for most of the musical segments; the rest is unremarkable.

7 of 10

Whomever took a look at the final script for "Broadway Rhythm" must have realized that the only thing that might put this one over would be an abundance of talented performers, since the plot was a mere trifle.

As a result, the film is full of gifted performers unable to bring much life to this routine musical about a producer quarreling with his father over how to produce their next show and walking out on him. Of course, everything is straightened out by the final reel and the show is a smash hit.

MGM produced this in velvety Technicolor with all the trimmings but there's no disguising the fact that the witless script is full of flat lines and only occasionally does a song get that MGM treatment.

George Murphy and Ginny Simms get top billing with Gloria DeHaven, Charles Winninger, Nancy Walker and Ben Blue in good support. Guest star Lena Horne gives the film its most solid moments with two specialty numbers and Hazel Scott does magic with her finger work at the piano. Eddie "Rochester" Anderson provides some comic relief.

But Murphy gets only one dance routine at the finale and Ginny Simms only gets one memorable song ("All The Things You Are") to warble before the show is over. It all has a slap-dash kind of organization, the story flow stopping every few moments to accommodate another frenzied number.

The tiresome script is the problem, lacking wit and originality. Six years later, "Summer Stock" with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly (and Gloria DeHaven) did a much better job with similar material and better songs.

I can hardly believe that Broadway Rhythm started out as Very Warm For May on Broadway, one of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, II's flop musicals. A look at the biography of Jerome Kern by Gerald Bordman tells me that other than it being a backstage story, the plot of Very Warm For May and Broadway Rhythm is completely different. The character names have been changed and almost an entire new score was written for the film.

The one song retained from Kern's score is one of the best he ever wrote, All The Things You Are. It happens that way sometimes, a flop musical can yield a gem of a hit. Ginny Simms sings it beautifully.

Don Raye and Gene DePaul wrote the original songs, nothing terribly memorable. Some other material was interpolated among them my favorite George Gershwin song, Somebody Loves Me which guest star Lena Horne sings to perfection. Oddly enough the song Broadway Rhythm isn't heard here or may have wound up on the cutting room floor.

George Murphy plays a Broadway producer and son of an old time vaudeville performer Charles Winninger. Winninger thinks Murphy has gone too high hat and feels that sentimentality and schmaltz will always sell on Broadway. To prove it he and movie star Ginny Simms who Murphy is trying to get to star in a new show he's producing go out and invest their money and produce an old show that Murphy had discarded years ago.

Broadway Rhythm has a lot of good talent in the cast like Nancy Walker, Ben Blue, Hazel Scott, and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Sad that it was all wasted on a very trite backstage story.

Ginny Simms was at her best in acting and at the height of her beauty. The movie is worth watching just to see Ginny. Tommy Dorsey was great as usual, wish he had played more tunes. George Murphy, Ben Blue, Rochester, Lena Horne, Nancy Walker all helped make the movie very enjoyable.