Ever Since Venus

Intended as a showcase for singer/bandleader Ina Ray Hutton [who only has to act in a few scenes], this fast-paced little musical about the selling of a kiss-proof lipstick works up some real charm with the help of an expert B-picture cast.

The leading lady is Ann Savage--soon to become the seediest femme fatale in film noir--who looks genuinely glamorous here, sings respectably, and handles her comedy with aplomb, but still hints at the edge that would immortalize her in Ulmer's DETOUR. The leading man is Ross Hunter, baby-faced but also with some bite, who would soon change careers to produce Douglas Sirk's glittering melodramas at Universal. Adding to the fun, Alan Mowbray plays a henpecked but lecherous cosmetics tycoon, while Hugh Herbert personifies a dizzy millionaire. This is surely the only movie that features a novelty duet sung by acerbic Glenda Farrell and bubbly Billy Gilbert.

Though hardly standards, Sammy Cahn's songs--like "Glamour for Sale" and "Rosebud"--are not bad. The tiny budget accomodates one busy dance number ["When the Samba Met the Boogie"] and an amusing "tableaux" production illustrating "Beauty Through the Ages". Director Arthur Dreifuss had already labored for Regal, Grand National, Coronado, and PRC, as well as guiding stripper Ann Corio in THE SULTAN'S DAUGHTER for Monogram. This movie was his big chance to step out of Poverty Row, so he showed Columbia what he could do with energy, timing, and budget-stretching. It worked: he stayed at Columbia for twenty years, but how unfair that this minor but enjoyable movie has dropped off the radar screens even of musical historians.

Ina Ray Hutton, playing herself, leads a band and gets to sing and dance. She is the best thing about this film. We get an entertaining opening song that involves her and an ending where she gets to do a short tap dance sequence. The only other entertainment comes from an amusing scene with Glenda Farrell (Babs) as she tries to steal a contract from Alan Mowbray (Webster). She pretends to be ill so that Mowbray goes to another room, whereupn she quickly gets up and rushes onto another room herself to crack a safe. She repeats this method 3 times and it is entertaining on each occasion, so she gets credit.

The plot involves a newly invented lipstick and some songs. It's all nonsense and the film is basically very boring. All the men are annoying. It's a musical comedy with irritating men who are never funny. The film is almost saved by the women characters but yawn, blah, blah

Ross Hunter tries out his new lipstick on Ann Savage and kisses her. She slaps him, of course, but when it turns out they live in the same rooming house, his partners, amateur songwriter Billy Gilbert, and artist Fritz Feld charm her. They decide to enter the lipstick in the annual industry show, but competitor Alan Mowbray....

It's a surprisingly strong cast in this black & white musical from Columbia, including Glenda Farrell, Hugh Herbert, Ina Ray Hutton, and Thurston Hall. Everyone has a part to play in the clockwork plot, with the result that Ross Hunter comes off as wan and unappealing. Good thing he had producing to fall back on. Miss Savage is surprisingly charming after seeing her mostly as sociopaths in films noir. A set of unexceptional but decent songs complete the film without particularly distinguishing it.