Merry Go Round of 1938 (1937)

Director:

Irving Cummings

Writers:

Monte Brice (story) and
Henry Myers (story)

Release Date:

14 November 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

* "50 grains of rice...that's the diet for swamis!" But Mischa likes his rice smothered in turkey sandwiches! (original poster)

Plot:

Two screwy characters travel to Hollywood and cause mischief. |

Plot Keywords:

Bandleader | Song | 1930s | Performer | Deception

Cast

Bert Lahr	...	Bert
Jimmy Savo	...	Jimmy
Billy House	...	Billy
Alice Brady	...	Aunt Hortense
Mischa Auer	...	Mischa
Joy Hodges	...	Sally Brown
Louise Fazenda	...	Mrs. Penelope Updike
John 'Dusty' King	...	Tony Townsend (as John King)
Barbara Read	...	Clarice Stockbridge
Howard Cantonwine	...	Hector
Richard Carle	...	Col. J. Addison Frooks
Charles Williams	...	Dave Clark
Hattie McDaniel	...	Maid
Dave Apollon	...	Dave Apollon - Orchestra Leader (as Dave Apollon and His Orchestra)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Soundtrack:

More Power to You

Great cast, so-so script, dreary female lead = 5

The script is a hoary show biz tale: a mother dies and leaves her baby in the care of a quartet of fellow performers. Two of them are Jimmy Savo, who provides one of the two top turns in the film, his famous "River Stay 'Way from My Door" routine. Savo's eccentric dancing earlier in the film is reduced to a few seconds to make room for a lucklustre singer. The second highlight is "The Song of the Woodsman", one of Bert Lahr's best routines. The third great comedian in the film is Alice Brady, one of Broadway's and Hollywood's most underrated actors. She dithers like Billie Burke, but in a few other films is a straight actor of considerable power, Stanwyck or Davis. Mischa Auer and Billy House are both in fine form, and they, Savo and Lahr play the four stepfathers. Louise Fazenda, Hattie McDaniel and veteran Richard Carle are underused, but Dave Apollon does his thing for his fans. The director, Irving Cummings was a Grade C hack who rushed through 76 movies in 29 years years, screwing up films starring comedians Groucho Marx, the Wiere Brothers and in this, Lahr and Savo. Cummings even made Spencer Tracy look bad in two of Tracy's worst films. This could have been a '8' out of a '10' movie, but the script, the pacing and the look take it down a few stars to a '5'. It seems (I have a 16mm copy) as though Unversal only allowed the production two cameras and three lights. Yet this film is a must for comedy buffs and students who wish to see two of Broadways great and most unusual comedians, Savo and Lahr, do their specialties and try to be funny when there is little to make amusing. Joy Hodges, the grown-up orphaned baby, is an awkward and lifeless presence in the film. Every minute she is on stage the energy and believability level drops below zero.