Stage Struck Reviews

A disappointing musical on most levels, this film managed to show a few dollars' profit, probably because Joan Blondell and Dick Powell became husband and wife immediately prior to its release, and fans wanted to see the electricity between them. Blondell is a musical performer with a minimum of talent who puts up the money for a stage show that Powell is to direct. They immediately bang heads, of course. Frank McHugh is Powell's right-hand man and provides the comedy as the couple battle, fall out, and come right back together again when she backs yet another show. Warren William is the savvy producer who smooths matters over between the pair. Not even the usually flawless Busby Berkeley can overcome the cliched material in the script. The Yacht Club Boys do some funny, timely material that ribs Franklin Roosevelt. In the smaller roles, note Jane Wyman in her fifth movie and radio star Lulu McConnell, one of the hysterical panel of "It Pays to Be Ignorant." Songs from the team of Harold Arlen and "Yip" Harburg include "Fancy Meeting You," "The New Parade," "You're Kinda Grandish," and the one hit that came from the film, "In Your Own Quiet Way."