Kiddie Revue

There is a gimmick to this film that is not at all obvious unless you know something about early sound films. The whole purpose of this short film was to spoof the Hollywood Revue of 1929 made a few months before this short. That film had Jack Benny - he wasn't even 39 yet - introducing various acts in the style of a vaudeville show to prove that MGM had the talent that could perform in talking pictures. The kid emceeing this short is supposed to be imitating Jack Benny as he performed in that film. That is the reason for his strange speech and behavior. Even the art deco style of the Hollywood Revue is being copied.

The film has all child actors, and I'm not sure what the reason is for the sepia tone. They had two strip Technicolor at the time. Maybe they were aiming for something between the high cost of Technicolor and plain old black and white. At any rate, if you love the experimental nature of those old shorts, I'd say give this one a try. It certainly is not boring.

Kiddie Revue (1930)

** (out of 4)

MGM short is certainly a product of its time and in the end only works as an interesting note in history. A partial remake of Hollywood REVUE OF 1929, the film has a young boy introducing various musical acts, all with children of course. I must say watching this thing was rather painful because of how dull it was. The musical numbers are quite lame and the lackluster direction doesn't help matters because the camera just stays in one place without any cutting or excitement. This was probably due to the early sound era but a little more could have been done. The musical acts really aren't anything special and come across as something you'd see at any elementary school. It's interesting to note that some of the music was written by George Waggner who would later go onto direct several Universal horror movies including THE WOLF MAN, HORROR ISLAND and MAN MADE MONSTER.

WE KNOW THAT the big studios used their short subjects departments in order to try out some new ideas, players, directors or anything that would be considered Avant Gaade. In this manner, the studio honchos could at once recoup some of the $$$$ expended while at the same time assure that the short would be screened by the public as part of the regular playbill at their local movie house.

WELL, WE SURELY hope that this is so.

THIS SHORT IS one done to showcase the talents of a group of young would-be performers, most of which were gifted in either song or dance. It was sort of like an early version of the MICKEY MOUSE CLUB, sans the MOUSKETEER EARS. We can only surmise these assertions, but we'd be glad to wager that there was a whole slough of Stage Mothers on hand, waiting in the wings. You wanna bet, Schultz!

ALTHOUGH THIS WAS filmed in that early 2 Strip Technicolor process, the color, such as it is, seems to have run together and blurred into a pinkish coral look. And we all know how painful that can be! For what survives, that old practice of using Sepia tone on B & W film would have done just as well or even better.

THIS PRIMORDIAL SOUND track is faint, scratchy in sometimes nearly inaudible; which is how my family says I have become in my "Middle Age."

Caught The Kiddie Revue on TMC, which plays it as a One Reel Wonder. This is a really fun short. The tuxedoed tyke who introduces the acts looks like a tiny adult and has real style. The highlight is a group of four girls who sing the 'Poop-a-Doop' song, which is amazingly cute, adorable and hilarious, and let me say, those gals really sing it well. There's dance acts and various weirdness, like a tap-dancing contortionist, and some of it's kinda dull, but it all ends in a rousing finale where almost all the little kiddies dance and belt out the catchy 'Poop-a-Doop.'

The film is sepia tone and seems to have been reconstructed, since there are several frame drop-outs which may indicate a re-splicing. I'm glad this one was saved. It's well worth the ten or fifteen minute investment of your time.

This is a totally awful little film short that has historical value but should hold practically no interest to any sane person in the 21st century. Like so many of the very early sound films, it's an experimental film that showcases singing and dancing--a VERY common theme of the day. Many of these early films feature some pretty anemic musical numbers but this one is much worse due to the gimmick of having all the acts be kids. The overall effect is akin to being Homer Simpson being forced to watch one of his kids' school talent shows (D'oh)!! And, to make it worse, the host of this short is a bizarre little 6 year-old who just seems creepy and spouts some really campy dialog that just seems weird coming from a little kid and so it's almost like one of the kids from VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, but with curly hair. Dreadful and uninteresting, this is one short that is better ignored despite it being filmed in two-color Technicolor and sound.

FYI--It's probably due to its age and deterioration that the film was almost completely orange! The film, if it weren't so awful, would be a great candidate for restoration.