Swing Parade of 1946

This is a pretty good movie, it's relatively short and it's got the Stooges, however they're more side characters in this film, but great side characters they were. The plot is also simple, a man opens up a nightclub, but his rich father objects and wants to shut it down so his son will take over the family business. He doesn't want to deliver the paper that will shut down the nightclub himself, so he offers a woman who had just visited the club looking for a job singing (she's just been evicted from her apartment) $50 to deliver it. She gets there and now she is offered a job, so she doesn't even mention the paper. The father sees her name in a newspaper so he heads off to the club himself. The Stooges make an appearance every now and then, and when they do, they steal the show. This movie wouldn't have been all that great without them, but they're in it, so check it out.

Swing Parade plays almost like one of those early talkie musical revues, that is, it has an acorn of a plot concerning an ambitious singer (Gale Storm) trying for a job in a nightclub. There are many musical numbers in the film's relatively short 74 minute running time, and just about everybody except The Three Stooges (quite funny here) gets a chance to sing. Gale Storm, one of my favorites, really gets a chance to show off her singing (and dancing) abilities here. Connee Boswell does a swell job on "Stormy Weather" and Louis Jordan tears up the stage doing "Caledonia". There is a big finale which looks like it cost little Monogram more of a chunk of money than they usually had to pay which again hearkens back to those early talkie revues. The version of the film I got can be viewed in it's original black-and-white or in a colorized version. A good example of an upscale Monogram film.

"Swing Parade of 1946" is a Monogram musical. Have you heard enough yet? Actually, it's not that bad a movie, with better production values than you would suspect. It's even in color, which is a definite plus. They gathered several 'B' list actors and some fairly good musical talent, and even some cute chorus girls. They just didn't get a good enough story to go with the rest of the production.

The Three Stooges are billed near the top of the ticket but their screen time is only about 6-8 minutes, which will be a disappointment to Stooges fans. Gale Storm is pretty, can sing and dance a little but I always felt her acting tended towards ham, and a little of Gale goes a long way. Louis Jordan and his Tympani Five are on hand, and they do "Caldonia", which livens up matters but the rest of the score consists of several forgettable songs. The dance routines are fair-to-middling.

I would have given this picture a rating of 4 but for the presence of the aforementioned Stooges - I confess I am a fan of their mayhem/ humor. I ended up with a 5 despite the uninspired storyline.

the stooges take a small departure from their usual high powered rough house antics and the change will not detract 99% of Stooges fans...I looked that up!

good screenplay, smoothly directed...with great musical spots, talking about Louis Jordan and Gail Storm.

something about a struggling club run by a rich man's kid...Dad wants the whole enterprise to fail to teach his Son a lesson. but the very cute Gail swings in (she's the recently hired bearer of bad news) and the kid is gaga.

the stooges are the enforcers > they will cause as many impediments as possible to block the foreclosure, as they can...with an emphasis on keeping Gail (six years shy of "My Little Margie") in the "spotlight".

"Swing Parade of 1946" is a most unusual film for two reasons. First, because it was made by tiny Monogram Studios, I was surprised to see them take a stab at a traditional 1940s sort of musical extravaganza....the sort of movie usually made by the more prestigious studiots with more talent. Second, the Three Stooges were apparently slumming it and instead of being with their usual studio (Columbia), they were loaned out to Monogram. I wonder if perhaps Columbia was punishing them...though I must admit they did help the movie quite a bit.

The plot involves the son of a rich man trying to build a nightclub while process servers sent by his father are trying to stop him. Mostly, however, the plot is ultra-thin and the movie actually is a giant musical showcase with one song after another after another--occasionally punctuated by funny bits by the Stooges or some plot...but mostly just singing. As far as the singing and dancing go, it's all quite competent but none of it is memorable and the songs (aside from those done by the African-American band) were poor. I think a lot of it was because unlike the major studios, Monogram simply couldn't afford to pay for the rights for popular tunes.

Overall, a dullish sort of musical extravaganza made tolerable by some Stooges. While I am not a big fan of the trio, here they definitely helped.