"Spring is Here" was a modest (not a flop) Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical of 1929 (109 performances) in which the song "With a Song in My Heart" became a standard but the film version of 1930 didn't even rate a Broadway opening - it had it's "gala" world premiere in Toledo, Ohio!!
How could it fail? It starred the gorgeous musical team of Bernice Claire and Alexander Gray who had been such a hit in the recent film musical "No, No, Nanette", another Gray, Lawrence, fresh from "Marianne" and "Sunny" had a pleasant tenor and comics Inez Courtney and Louise Fazenda, plus some very hummable early song hits. But by 1930 cinema patrons were starting to rebel against any film with a misplaced song after a steady diet of dizzy films filled with mediocre music. While this movie had wonderful songs, the plot, in which Owen Davis (author of "Whoopee") adapted from his unsuccessful play "Shotgun Wedding" was just too frivolous for the now sombre tone of the depression.
It starts with the blustering Peter Braley (Ford Sterling) berating his fun loving daughter Betty (Claire, wearing a very becoming hair style) for staying out till 5 in the morning with mysterious new boyfriend, Steve Alden (Lawrence Grey). There has already been a snappy musical number with Inez Courtney and Frank Albertson bemoaning the fact that by the time Mary Jane is old enough for parties - they will be extinct!! Frank then informs her to cheer up because "Spring is Here - in Person"!! Light hearted the script may be but they still have time to discuss just how female embryos come into being as well as wondering when a "morning after" pill will come into existence!!
When Terry, Betty's long suffering boyfriend comes on the scene, it's obvious why she prefers the lively Steve - Terry (Alexander Gray) is as dumb as they make them!!! Her father forces an engagement and Betty is livid. Steve is "up to date and gives a girl a thrill" according to Betty. Terry thinks, given the chance he could be the same. He tries to convey his thoughts in "Yours Sincerely" with Claire putting her melodious stamp on the song! Mary Jane gives him more sensible advice via the song "Bad Baby" - romance another girl, preferably the vampish Miss Carewe (Natalie Moorehead) to make Betty jealous.
He tries it out at the party that night, the Brox Sisters being on hand to sing "Crying for the Carolines". The song proved the big hit of the movie probably because of the superior and more soulful version recorded by Ruth Etting. Before the night is over Betty and Steve have tunefully duetted to "With a Song In My Heart", Betty has posed the question to the stars "How Shall I Tell" and Terry has implored her with the plaintively earnest "Have a Little Faith in Me". For all Lawrence Gray's top billing he goes missing from the last half with the focus definitely on Terry's quest to live life with a kick in it!!
Steve returns in the morning with a minister but in a very pre-code scene, Betty greets her father at her bedroom door with a disheveled Terry - could they have spent the night together without the benefit of clergy!! No!! as the minister questions why is he needed to marry this girl when he already performed the service the night before!! Stacy (Albertson) returns and he and Mary Jane perform the liveliest song in the film "What's the Big Idea" complete with an eccentric dance. Inez Courtney reprised her role from the original Broadway production.
A very fun movie with the plot just a framework to present some songs - but what songs they were!! And Bernice Claire is so adorably ravishing, you will not be able to keep your eyes off her!!
Highly Recommended.
How could it fail? It starred the gorgeous musical team of Bernice Claire and Alexander Gray who had been such a hit in the recent film musical "No, No, Nanette", another Gray, Lawrence, fresh from "Marianne" and "Sunny" had a pleasant tenor and comics Inez Courtney and Louise Fazenda, plus some very hummable early song hits. But by 1930 cinema patrons were starting to rebel against any film with a misplaced song after a steady diet of dizzy films filled with mediocre music. While this movie had wonderful songs, the plot, in which Owen Davis (author of "Whoopee") adapted from his unsuccessful play "Shotgun Wedding" was just too frivolous for the now sombre tone of the depression.
It starts with the blustering Peter Braley (Ford Sterling) berating his fun loving daughter Betty (Claire, wearing a very becoming hair style) for staying out till 5 in the morning with mysterious new boyfriend, Steve Alden (Lawrence Grey). There has already been a snappy musical number with Inez Courtney and Frank Albertson bemoaning the fact that by the time Mary Jane is old enough for parties - they will be extinct!! Frank then informs her to cheer up because "Spring is Here - in Person"!! Light hearted the script may be but they still have time to discuss just how female embryos come into being as well as wondering when a "morning after" pill will come into existence!!
When Terry, Betty's long suffering boyfriend comes on the scene, it's obvious why she prefers the lively Steve - Terry (Alexander Gray) is as dumb as they make them!!! Her father forces an engagement and Betty is livid. Steve is "up to date and gives a girl a thrill" according to Betty. Terry thinks, given the chance he could be the same. He tries to convey his thoughts in "Yours Sincerely" with Claire putting her melodious stamp on the song! Mary Jane gives him more sensible advice via the song "Bad Baby" - romance another girl, preferably the vampish Miss Carewe (Natalie Moorehead) to make Betty jealous.
He tries it out at the party that night, the Brox Sisters being on hand to sing "Crying for the Carolines". The song proved the big hit of the movie probably because of the superior and more soulful version recorded by Ruth Etting. Before the night is over Betty and Steve have tunefully duetted to "With a Song In My Heart", Betty has posed the question to the stars "How Shall I Tell" and Terry has implored her with the plaintively earnest "Have a Little Faith in Me". For all Lawrence Gray's top billing he goes missing from the last half with the focus definitely on Terry's quest to live life with a kick in it!!
Steve returns in the morning with a minister but in a very pre-code scene, Betty greets her father at her bedroom door with a disheveled Terry - could they have spent the night together without the benefit of clergy!! No!! as the minister questions why is he needed to marry this girl when he already performed the service the night before!! Stacy (Albertson) returns and he and Mary Jane perform the liveliest song in the film "What's the Big Idea" complete with an eccentric dance. Inez Courtney reprised her role from the original Broadway production.
A very fun movie with the plot just a framework to present some songs - but what songs they were!! And Bernice Claire is so adorably ravishing, you will not be able to keep your eyes off her!!
Highly Recommended.