L'auberge des loufoques

The Ritz Bros. are not everyone's cup of tea - imagine making a career of portraying lousy comedians, which they were. Nevertheless, many later comedians, Mel Btooks and Jerry Lewis among them, credit the Ritz Bros. - well actually Harry Ritz - as being great - mostly for trying so hard. Harry was the mainstay of the look-alike trio, with Al and Jimmy as support shadows. They are not really noted as comedians, but rather as entertainers - lots of mugging, making faces, rolling eyes in skits, most of which should never have seen the light of day, synchronized silly dance steps and decent vocals which they often worked hard at ruining.

They run true to form in this otherwise breezy little musical that will help pass the time on a rainy day. The plot is typically Ritz Bros nonsensical, but the film gets 5 stars for the Andrews Sisters and Constance Moore music. is the first appearance on film of the Andrews Sisters, who make some mediocre songs very entertaining, while showing a flair for comedy with more lines than they usually get; Constance Moore, a good vocalist, sings a few good songs as the love interest of a young, slim George Reeves (later TV's Superman), who gets to sing a bit. Well, to give them their due, the Ritz Bros. send-up of the Andrews Sisters, replete with frilly dresses and fruit and bead headdresses done to a record that both skips and slow-down-speed up is great - and the basis for the Jerry Lewis send-up of Carmen Miranda in "Scared Stiff."

Note that, in this 1940 film, the song "Hall of the Mountain Queen," sung by Bonnie Brooks' band to introduce her, while she plays piano (and then by Bonnie Brooks), they sing that "with her left hand she plays rock and rolla."

George Reeves gives a good performance as Eduardo 'El Tigre' Estaban. And the subplot of which he is the key player is the most entertaining aspect of this film. But even Super Man (the character that Reeves would later play and be identified with forevermore) couldn't save "Argentine Nights" as a movie. Come to think of it, the only plot in this film was that subplot. The rest and most of the movie is a menagerie of musical numbers interspersed with mostly dreary scenes that were probably intended to be the comedy.

The Ritz Brothers - Al, Harry and Jimmy, had the leads in this second tier studio musical comedy. Billed next to them are The Andrews Sisters - Laverne, Maxene and Patty. In these two trios, Universal had some tremendous talent. But, unfortunately, the material they were given was third rate and even awful at times. There was hardly a thread of a story, and the script was terrible, disconnected and choppy throughout. Universal was not one of the Big Five or Big Six studios during Hollywood's Golden Era.

This is the first film of The Andrews Sisters, who had become recording stars since their 1937 smash hit with "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon." They would grow in popularity during the war years and over the next decade, and would have many hit songs that would give them the all-time record for a female group. And, in the years before this film, they had many smash hits and top tunes. But, none of that is included in this film. Instead, it has much lesser numbers. The sisters would perform some of their most notable songs in the half dozen feature war-time films that followed this - all of which were successes, ending with "Hollywood Canteen" in 1944.

On the other hand, the Ritz Brothers were on the last leg of their short film career. They would make just one more film after this. This very talented trio of precision dancers began to work comedy in their stage performances a few years earlier. By the time this film rolled around they apparently were more interested in trying to be funny than in dancing. As a result, we are treated to just one number that shows their considerable dancing talent. But we get lots of scenes with nary a laugh in which they seem to be trying to force for laughter.

The Ritz Brothers are not The Marx Brothers or the Three Stooges, and audiences knew it then as well. It just took a producer or two at Universal, and 20th Century Fox before them, to figure that out.

When I became aware of this film, I wanted to see it mostly for the Andrews Sisters. But, it isn't long into the movie until one realizes that it's probably not going to have any substantial material from the Sisters, or anyone else. I wouldn't recommend this even for die-hard fans of The Andrews Sisters, considering the many good examples of their work that are available - the several movies and many albums and recordings.

The last fans of the Ritz Brothers are probably no longer with us. The four stars I give this film are a little bit for the Andrews Sisters, but mostly for George Reeves, Constance Moore, and some others of the supporting cast who do well.

If you don't like the Ritz Brothers -- and I can only take so much of their mugging myself -- then avoid this Universal B movie. It is not, I hasten to say, a complete waste of time. The best bit in it is a burlesque of those novelty Latin dances from from the Astaires-Rogers movies called 'The Brooklyn Nanga', which runs to the scansion of 'The Carioca'.

Once you've mentioned that, you've exhausted the strong points of this movie as everyone heads down to Argentina, where polo-playing George Reeves -- looking like John Carroll -- pretends to be a bandito called 'El Tigre' in order to romance Grace McDonald. Some decent although unmemorable songs and Ritz Brother routines fill out the time and while this is not the best musical ever made, it is a pleasant enough time waster to make you stay through the end --although it won't make fans for any of the talent involved.