Rhythm on the River

After you've seen this, you can't say that Bing Crosby didn't do his best--in this film and in" Birth of the Blues"--to give credit where credit is due for the origins of truly American music. Here he is teamed with Mary Martin, who starred in "South Pacific" when it played on Broadway. Crosby did a lot to popularize a smooth white, if you will, form of jazz that has helped it endure to this day and to claim its proper place in the canon. His version of the title song is a classic. --Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

This superb film draws on a variety of talented actors and musicians at the top of their form - Levant, Crosby, Martin, Rathbone, Manone are completely at home in the story that apparently was supplied by Billy Wilder. One would love to know more about how much he had to do with it, because it's an exceptionally clever variation on the sterile master/fertile servant tale - nearly an allegory of the entertainment industry, run by dried-up numskulls, but made into a vibrant world of art and play by an exploited underclass of nobodies and non-WASPs. Looking at the last six decades of music, TV, and film in the US, it's hard not to see the underlying insights of this film as prophetic.

Fans of Hot Jazz should note that the movie features the great Wingy Manone as part of the band that Bing hires to back him. Specifically there's a terrific number in a pawn shop that features the band blowing hot and Bing singing and drumming (!), harkening back to his "Rhythm Boys" days with Paul Whiteman. Don't miss it!

and what a combo. Two of the century's great singers star together in this underrated musical. He writes music, she writes lyrics, and they both work for Basil Rathbone who can't write either because his wife died (actually she just got fat!). Best scene is the pawn shop number where Bing sings an impromptu number while the swing band gets their instruments out of hock. Just wonderful. And this is a rare starring role for Broadway legend, Mary Martin, and she's quite good. Charley Grapewin, John Scott Trotter, William Frawley, Oscar Levant (once again the manic pianist), Charles Lane, and Helen Bertram co-star. And who knew Rathbone could be funny?

Poor Basil Rathbone, an egotistical composer who's lost his muse. He's been faking it for some time, buying his lyrics and his music from various sources. Trouble is that two of the sources (Bing Crosby music) and (Mary Martin words) happen to meet and fall in love. And then they discover what they've been doing. Complications ensue, but all is righted at the end.

Crosby and Martin sing terrifically. Mary had signed a Paramount contract and also at the same time doubled as a regular on Crosby's Kraft Music Hall Radio Show. For reasons I don't understand, movie audiences didn't take to her, so she went back to Broadway and did One Touch of Venus in 1944 and stayed there.

Basil Rathbone in one of the few times he played comedy does it very well. His ego is constantly being deflated by sidekick Oscar Levant and again I'm surprised they didn't do more films together.

As in most of Crosby's Paramount vehicles, no big production numbers, but I agree with the previous reviewer about the title tune being done as an impromptu jam session in a pawn shop. Good job by all.

A surprisingly original plot and great entertainment.