La Fièvre du swing

Plot-heavy MGM musical, not likely to turn up on studio highlights. I suppose war demands account for many shortcomings, like the unlikely Kyser in the lead, shoestring production values from a big-budget studio, and a roster of undistinguished supporting players. Then too, musicals need lightweight stories to coordinate with overall mood. This one can't make up its mind. Too bad that outside of Maxwell, the performances are spotty. Kyser tries manfully but the seams show, nor does the lumpy screenplay help.

Nonetheless, there are some highlights. The production number "I Planted A Rose" shows spunk, along with a classy Lena Horne, a lively Marilyn Maxwell, and hep-cat swingers doing their acrobatic thing. And for fans of 50's sci-fi, there's the lordly Morris Ankrum mugging it up, of all things. Still, the plot's too convoluted for a musical and overshadows many of the more lackluster numbers. All in all, the package remains little more than spotty wartime escape.

Columbia, RKO,and Republic, among others, turned out escapist wartime musicals by the dozens, and their lack of availability is probably a blessing; this one, from MGM, has sleeker production values but is similarly impoverished of imagination. It's a mishmash involving boxing, swing, hypnosis, Marilyn Maxwell twitching cutely, the unwatchable Ish Kabibble, Nat Pendleton still playing a punch-drunk heavyweight over a decade after "Horse Feathers," and lots of pulchritude to please the boys overseas. (Even Ava Gardner has an unbilled bit.) Kay Kyser could swing it, all right, but he was no actor, and it's almost painful to watch him go through these contrived paces. There's one good number -- no, check that, there's one not-very-good number made bearable by Lena Horne and some good production design -- among lots of trivial swing, and lots of camera trickery in the production numbers, presumably to disguise the paucity of invention. Tommy Dorsey and Harry James show up briefly; they look like they visited the set on lunch hour from other, better movies.

Kay Kyser is an aspiring composer with the gift of an "evil eye" that allows him to put people in a trance. He gets mixed up with gruff boxing manager William Gargan and his girlfriend Marilyn Maxwell. A rare outing where Kyser plays a character that isn't himself. It might be the only one come to think of it. The evil eye scenes are silly fun. The musical numbers are good. The best parts of the movie are Kyser's interactions with his regular bandmates, who in this play a swing band that is reluctantly saddled with Kyser's more classical oriented composer. Harry James and Tommy Dorsey also have a funny cameo with the film's biggest laugh. Despite a solid cast offering support, this one is little more than a passable time-killer.

For some reason, most of the commenters on IMDb are overly harsh and critical. Swing Fever isn't Gone With the Wind; it's not even the Marx Brothers. But for a light comedy with a fun plot, interesting characters, and a lot of great music, it's worth every penny of your video rental cost.

Kyser is as sympathetic and fun to watch as ever... and sure, I would have loved to see more of the band, more Ish, more dancing, more singing, more plot. But come on, we don't have five hours! It never drags, I wasn't looking at my watch, nothing to make me cringe, no bad performances. Even the bad guy isn't a total heel; he just doesn't know any other way.

I taped this off Turner, and it's definitely a keeper. I know I'm going to watch it several more times. You should see it at least once.

At the end of the 40s Kay Kyser left show business rather abruptly and never came back, almost Garbo like. He was wildly popular in the 40s and Swing Fever is an example of his homespun appeal.

Kyser who has ambitions to be a classical composer gets involved with a group of musicians who know nothing but current swing. He's a square from Delaware as they said back in the day, but he's soon in the groove.

He also has what they call back in the piney woods where he comes from an 'evil eye', one hypnotic stare and you're in a trance.

Fight manager William Gargan hopes to use Kyser's gift to get his palooka of a fighter Nat Pendleton a few wins for a change. And Marilyn Maxwell wants to sing with the band.

She and regular Kyser male vocalist Harry Babbitt do a few numbers and Lena Horne sings in this film as well.

Swing Fever is a pleasant piece of World War 2 era fluff.