Honeymoon Ahead finds Allan Jones in of all places, prison and leading the prison choir. That's only natural since his avocation before incarceration was as a church choirmaster. His profession was as bank teller where he was accused of embezzlement and tried and convicted.
But Jones has become a model prisoner and he's got a good choral group going. The cons are singing beautifully and not in a way that will get them shanked in the men's room. In fact they do radio broadcasts and earn some extra money that way which will no doubt keep them in good cigarette money.
There's even a lucrative radio contract in the works which is only good if Jones stays, but it looks like he's got a pardon coming through. His fellow cons are upset at this and try to get him back in prison through some contacts on the outside. A mob boss who owes some favors sends two of his men to frame Jones.
But you can't get good help these days and when two lunkhead henchmen frame Jones for a bank robbery, boss Murray Alper reminds them of the new Federal Deposit Law which makes bank robbery a federal rap and Jones would not go back to the state penitentiary to rejoin his choir mates if convicted. Now they have to get the money back they've planted on him.
In the meantime Jones has joined a troop of itinerant players headed by Raymond Walburn and takes a fancy to Walburn's daughter Grace McDonald.
The running time of the tape I got for Honeymoon Ahead is short several minutes so I'm assuming there's some things missing that would explain a few holes in the story. For that reason I can't rate it higher than what I've given the film. Also the musical score is singularly uninspiring, a problem with a lot of Allan Jones's later features.
Still Honeymoon Ahead does have some good spots in it. Allan Jones gets to spoof his Gaylord Ravenal character from Showboat when the players put on some turgid Civil War drama. That's worth seeing and his legion of fans will like it as well.
Hopefully the folks at Universal might find those missing minutes some day.
