Radio City Revels

This is a fictional film based on a fictional story about a real place in a real city , with real people playing the roles of some of the fictional characters and using their own name as the character name.

What transpires here has a character named Lester Robin (Bob Burns), a songwriter, and another character named Billie Shaw (Ann Miller), an aspiring dancer, striving to make good at Radio City (played by a sound stage in Hollywood), where a character named Kenny Baker (played by Kenny Baker)is already a star network singer. Also hanging around the premises are Harry Miller (Jack Oakie) and Teddy Jordan (Milton Berle), a Tin Pan Alley song-writing team who write songs for Radio City bosses Paul Plummer (Victor Moore) and Crane (Richard Lane.) Lester, an Arkansas show-boat performer, in his sleep composes songs which are excellent, but he is unconscious of the fact. He heads for New York City to take lessons from Miller and Jordan. Alas, Miller has gone stale but he learns the secret of Lester's sleep-time gift, and proceeds to copy the songs and market them as his own; his object being to finance the career of Miss Shaw, although she is in love with a fictional radio singer, the afore-mentioned Kenny Baker.

But through the success of Lester's songs that have been appropriated by Miller, she gets a dancing engagement, and her sister, Gertie Shaw (Helen Broderick), becomes romantically attached to Lester.

BUT...at a critical moment (a very relative term), Lester develops insomnia, and can't compose anymore since he isn't sleeping. HOWEVER...back in Arkansas, copies of his songs he produced in his sleep are discovered, with no mention of who was writing them down for him in Arkansas. Dancers Squenchy (Buster West) and Lisa (Melissa Mason)carry them to New York where Miller capitalizes upon them in a big way.

But Gertie, bless her, exposes the duplicity of Miller & Jordan, and Miller don't much care anyway as Billie has eloped with the fictional character named Kenny Baker, who just happens to be played by the real singer named Kenny Baker.

"Radio City Revels" is a comedy musical that is best for its music and dancing. The plot is silly and centers around a washed up songwriter, Jack Oakie, who discovers a correspondence student of his who composes songs in his sleep. He and his sidekick, a young Milton Berle tap Bob Burns for a number of hit songs. A young couple meet, Burns falls for Ann Miller, who falls for Kenny Baker (and him for her), while Helen Broderick latches onto Burns. Victor Moore is a radio show producer they all play up to.

Well, all the attempts at comedy (they are just that, at best) and romance pale, and just serve to tie together some very talented folks who sing and dance. It's an old-fashioned revue type of musical. Some of the leads of the cast weren't in many films. Ann Miller's tap dancing is a delight to watch, and some choreographed dance numbers are very good. This is just one of two feature films in which Jane Froman appears and sings. She had a great voice, and it's too bad she wasn't in more films. Her story was the subject of a very good 1952 musical biopic, "With a Song in My Heart," in which Susan Hayward played Froman. But one gets to hear that tremendous voice because she sang all the songs for the film that Hayward lip-synched.

I couldn't tell who a woman dancer is in this film, who seems to be triple-jointed. She does a number that includes super high kicks that seem to be perpendicular above her head. The only entertainer I know of who could do that was Charlotte Greenwood, but it doesn't appear to be her and she's not listed in the credits. Some other entertainers give good dance and movement routines that seem to have gone out with vaudeville. But they're very entertaining and interesting to watch.

A wonderfully camp and extraordinary musical offering! The story - if you can call it that - is about a simple-minded farmboy who writes songs in his sleep. Ann Miller dances well. Recommended to lovers of the genre - but Astaire and Rogers it ain't.

A late night fixture in Australia, this delicious B grade RKO musical using recycled Astaire Rogers sets is a very funny musical. The idea could easily be remade into a modern Broadway stage musical like THE PRODUCERS as it centres around a songwriting duo who cheat using a bumpkin music student who creates swing tunes while he is asleep. the couple of dance numbers are very good and 18 year old Ann Miller had a dazzler in the first few minutes. The hayseed number about 20 minutes in also features leggy antics that will draw gasps from viewers 1938-2008. I find it hard to believe it cost $810,000 as more expensive films like "Roberta" and other Astaire Rogers films cost the same amount. This one uses recycled sets and does not lose any points for that at all. It is de-licious and de-lovely even if Cole didn't write the songs. The swing tunes are great.Genuinely. A lot of deco swing fun for 90 mins.

Very silly but very entertaining movie. Great cast. And the dancing...one number, I think, compares very favorably with the big dance number in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The individual dancers are superb. One female dancer (I don't think it was Ann Miller) does steps I've never seen before and should attract the admiration of skilled orthopedists. Milton Berle and Jack Okie make an interesting pair of con men, and if you remember Uncle Miltie from his television days, you'll see that he was practicing his "schtick" long before TV. It's also interesting to see Jane Froman--beautiful face and beautiful voice--before the accident that crippled her (and led to "With a Song In My Heart" with Susan Hayward.)