Sunny Side Up
Directed by David Butler
Written by Buddy G. DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson
1929/US
Fox Film Corporation
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube
And keep your sunny side up, up,
Hide the side that gets blue.
If you have nine sons in a row,
Baseball teams make money, you know!
Could anything be more adorable than Janet Gaynor singing the title song? I don’t think so!
The story is set in the Gay Nineties but the clothes are strictly 1929. Molly (Gaynor) lives with roommate Bea (Marjorie White) in an apartment above a grocery store. Bea has a songwriter boyfriend named Eddie (Frank Richardson). They squabble constantly and will perform several novelty numbers throughout the film. The grocery store owner Eric (El Bendel) is close friends with the young people. Molly’s dream lover is millionaire Jack Cromwell (Charles Farrell) who lives in Southhampton.
Jack’s girlfriend and intended bride is not ready to give up her flirtations so he takes off in his car, destination unknown.
Jack and Molly meet cute just before the Fourth of July block party. The neighborhood celebrates by entertaining each other with song. After Jack catches Molly’s act, he proposes that she come to Southhampton to perform in an upcoming charity gala. Her friends accompany her dressed as servants. Jack also hopes to make his fiancee jealous so she will marry him. We see several of the acts at the gala. There are numerous misunderstandings. If you don’t know how this will wind up, you haven’t been paying attention. Jackie Cooper has a small uncredited part as a kid reciting a poem.
This is a very old-fashioned story but I found it charming. Betraying its pre-Code roots we even get to see Janet Gaynor (!) in lacy lingerie. The songs are catchy. Recommended to fans of musicals or the stars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBxHSePHtq0
