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The Worst Film Ever

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

What was RKO thinking? ANNE SHIRLEY, who couldn't sing (and whose dancing talent was negligible), was put into a few dismal musical comedies at RKO during the '40s, shortly before she retired from the screen. Martha Mears dubs her voice for a few not especially memorable songs. In fact, the only catchy number in the whole film is the "Boogie Woogie Conga" and it comes too late in the film to salvage it in any way.RAY BOLGER is the big star here, but even the great Bolger gets very little in the way of strutting his stuff as a hoofer--and the script, which pairs him with Anne Shirley as her romantic interest, has a hard time making them seem like a convincing couple.At least DESI ARNAZ is likable enough (with less accent than usual), and the reliable HENRY DANIELL is smoothly cast as a villain. But the script is fluff with barely a moment of reality written into it and nobody manages to look or act their best.A sad little musical easy to forget.

This is a fun B' musical. Bolger literally runs into Shirley one evening and it turns into the worst night of his life. He considers her a jinx. But later, she helps him out of a tight jam and he decides to help her in return. Bolger and his buddies play in a band at a nightclub. Shirley is a singer. So the group all get together and try to help each other out.Shirley is charming and talented. Bolger is funny and talented. Desi Arnaz is featured in an early role. The rest of the cast features a group of reliable character actors. The songs are forgettable, but it's fun, short and sweet. What more do you want in a B' musical? Of note, Bolger and his co-stars from the Wizard of Oz all starred in a B' musical at RKO in the 1940's. Bolger, here; Bert Lahr in Sing Your Worries Away 1942; and Jack Haley in Sing Your Worries Away 1945.

This is almost a shot-for-shot remake of the 1929 "Street Girl," which was equally cheerless but at least had better musical performances... Betty Compson played the violin and Jack Oakie shimmied in that one. But in the hurry to make movies during the war, they made the nimble Ray Bolger boring and whiny. Anne Shirley has great clothes for a homeless girl, and Desi Arnaz is both handsome and comprehensible in English, so you do wonder what happened to him by his "Lucy" days. This was on very late one night, so it was worth watching under those circumstances -- but otherwise, don't bother. This is a dead man's hand, indeed.

This film isn't much and it doesn't make much sense. It is one of the few vehicles designed for comedian Ray Bolger. When MGM finally cast him as the Scarecrow, they got it right. (Bolger was the goofball, Haley was the worrier, Lahr was the cowardly clown, and Morgan was the inept con artist.) Well, Bolger is at his goofy best in this film. He does a routine as a tap dancing boxer which is absolutely hysterical. The film also uses the comic talents of Fritz Feld, Eddie Foy, Jack Durant, and Desi Arnaz, but it is Bolger's vehicle. The biggest problem with the film is that it does not end. It merely stops. Bolger would fine a better vehicle on Broadway with "Where's Charley".