Daily Archives: June 9, 2014

The Strawberry Blonde 
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Written by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein from a play by James Hagan
1941/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Amazon Instant Video

[box] Biff Grimes: I’ve been around, they can say an awful lot of things about Biff Grimes, but not that he ever gave a cigarette to a girl.[/box]

This light romantic tale is a nostalgic look back at the Gay Nineties and its music.

As the story begins, Biff Grimes (James Cagney) is a struggling dentist desperate to drum up a few patients.  Suddenly he is called on to pull the tooth of one alderman Hugo Barnstead (Jack Carson) who double-crossed him in love and business ten years before.  As he is relishing this unexpected opportunity for revenge, he reflects on his life.

Hugo and Biff were both infatuated with lovely Virginia Brush (Rita Hayworth), The Strawberry Blonde.  Virginia is a flirtatious and proper maiden of the period.  Her friend Amy (Olivia De Havilland) is a nurse and self-proclaimed woman’s rights advocate who has a yen for Biff.  He, a traditional male, wouldn’t have her because of her forwardness even if he wasn’t  pining for Virginia.  On their double dates with Hugo and Virginia, Biff is inevitably left holding the bag.

On the day Biff is to go on a longed for date with Virginia, he finds out she has married Hugo. Amy helps him cover his shame and he marries her, evidently still not appreciating her properly.  When the couple next run into Hugo and Virginia, Hugo is rich and Virginia urges him to find Biff work.  Hugo complies by making him the front man for a construction business benefitting from city graft.  Needless to say, this does not work out well for Biff. When the couples are brought together again on the day of the tooth-pulling, Biff is at last able to put his life in perspective.   With Alan Hale as Biff’s reprobate father (??!), George Tobias as his friend, and a small bit by Una O’Connor as a maid.

For a very charming musical, the plot has a bit of bite.  If there had been an award for best costumes at the time, it would have deserved a nomination.  Olivia De Havilland is absolutely irresistible in this.

Heinz Roemheld was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Trailer

Buck Privates
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Written by Arthur T. Horman and John Grant
1941/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Slicker Smith: Throw your chest out! Go on! Throw your chest out!

Herbie Brown: I’m not through with it yet![/box]

I saw this to see The Andrews Sisters do their thing and they certainly did not disappoint! This is basically a film to promote patriotism and the first Peace Time Draft initiated in October 1940. The story, such as it is,  has Slicker Smith (Bud Abbott) and Herbie Brown (Lou Costello) mistakenly join the Army to the continual dismay of everybody at their boot camp.  There is a subplot about a couple of other draftees and their love triangle with one of the camp hostesses.  There is also much singing and dancing, particularly by The Andrews Sisters.  Shemp Howard plays a cook in one of Costello’s numbers.

This almost makes one want to run out and join up without waiting to be drafted.  The camp certainly looks like a kind of lark complete with lovely camp hostesses.  I wonder did they really exist?  Sounds kind of nasty but was completely innocent.  The girls serve coffee and flirt with the boys.

The Andrews Sisters sing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, “Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four”. “You’re a Lucky Fellow Mr. Smith”, and “(I’ll Be with You) In Apple Blossom Time”. One can see why they were such a hit in the era.  The movie went forward to gross over $4 million on a shoestring budget, providing the formula for many other Abbott and Costello movies to come.

Hugh Prince and Don Raye received an Academy Award nomination for their song “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B” and Charles Previn was nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Motion Picture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qafnJ6mRbgk

The Andrews Sisters sing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B”