The Big Show-Off

In between the hiatus of the Blondie movie series, Arthur Lake made several films independent of them of which this was the only one I found online. Co-starring Dale Evans-yes, the partner and future wife of Roy Rogers-this is a mistaken identity plot involving wrestlers and also has some music like the song "There Is Only One You" which Ms. Evans wrote and sung here and would also eventually perform on "The Roy Rogers Show" on TV a decade later. Also in this picture is Lionel Stander-the future butler Max on "Hart to Hart"-as the nightclub owner employer of Lake and Ms. Evans and their best friend. All I'll now say is this was quite funny for an obscure movie. So on that note, The Big Show-Off is worth a look.

after a miserable day at work I watched this 1945 film and my mood immediately lifted. How can you go wrong with Arthur Lake (during his period of playing Dagwood in the Blondie series)and Dale Evans (sans her hubby Roy Rogers)making a delightful duo. He's a shy pianist at the club where he teams with Dale, a singer. He can't get the girl and is the butt of jokes from George Meeker (as sleazy MC). But his boss Lionel Stander likes him (Max from Hart to Hart)and helps him in his plan to pretend that he is really the manly masked wrestler!!! that Dale admires so that she will fall for him. Lots of fun and mistaken identities abound. Especially liked two of the song numbers- Dale singing Hoops My Dear to a background of chorus girls with hoola hoops (got to be a first!!)at the nightclub and Dale singing (her own composition)at the music school where the musicians all wander in from their various rooms to join in. Also liked the cartoon drawings over the credits they got Lionel Stander's crumpled features to a T. Don't think to hard about this one just enjoy it, I certainly did.

Arthur Lake takes a break from the BLONDIE series to appear in this very pleasant comedy for Republic. He's the piano-player at Lionel Stander's nightclub and in love with Dale Evans (who's taking a break from Roy Rogers), and unaware that Dale is sweet on him. Convinced that she likes muscular, aggressive men, Lionel convinces her Lake moonlights as "The Devil", a masked wrestler, played by a picture-painting Paul Hurst. Naturally, Dale is distressed by the thought and tries to get Lake to quit the ring; however, Hurst doesn't want to give up the character, and no one can figure out how to fix the situation.

Republic is best remembered for cowboy pictures and one Oscar winner, THE QUIET MAN, but it was quite a lively minor studio which produced some good movies when studio boss Herbert Yates wasn't trying to promote his wife, Vera Hruba Ralston, into a major star. Under the direction of studio jack-of-all-trades Howard Breatherton, it's a lively little musical comedy, with a nicely shot production number early on, a few good eccentric comedy bits by minor players, and some nice acting by the leads; Miss Evans shows more range than she had since her early days at RKO and Lake gets to moderate the flustered idiot he had been playing since silent movies. In total, it's a very pleasant movie with a couple of laugh-out-loud moments.

Apart from Wally Cox, I have a hard time imagining an actor LESS likely to be able to convincingly play a professional wrestler than Arthur Lake. Lake played Dagwood Bumstead in a long series of Blondie movies in the 1930s-1950s.....and Dagwood was a decidedly non-macho guy...but here he is in a film where he's pretending to be a wrestling he-man!!

Sandy (Lake) is a mild-mannered pianist who is occasionally picked on by the emcee of the club where they both work. June (Dale Evans) is a lovely singer at the club and Sandy is secretly smitten with her. However, when he sees her at a wrestling match, he realizes she loves burly he-men like The Devil, a bad-boy masked wrestler. Their boss (Lionel Stander) decides to help and tells June that Sandy IS The Devil....but it's a secret! What's Sandy to do....go with this ruse or tell her the truth?

This film requires a bit of suspension of belief...that's for sure! But the story is cute and made me smile...silly as it is. And, for a cheap B-movie, "The Big Show-Off" is terrific...one of the better B films you can find.

Now that The Big Show-Off is available on Amazon fans of old films can learn 2 things. First that Dale Evans did do films without Roy Rogers and secondly Arthur Lake played someone besides Dagwood Bumstead.

Dale before she became Queen of the West was a vocalist with Anson Weeks's band. So she is here as well and the band is appearing at Lionel Stander's nightclub. Playing for the band is shy pianist Arthur Lake who really is crushing out bad on Dale. But supercilious master of ceremonies George Meeker wants Dale for his own.

Stander who likes Lake tells him he has to assert himself caveman like style. To help him he starts a rumor that he's really noted masked wrestler the Devil played by Paul Hurst. I think you can see where this is going and the comic possibilities along the way.

The players who are pretty well known fall into typecast roles. Dale sings a few forgettable songs and Lake is just Dagwood with another name. Stander is his usual tough guy.

Nothing special here, but fans of all the aforementioned folks should enjoy The Big Show-Off.