It's beyond me why MGM chose to release "Dancing Romeo" last instead of following the sequential production order and releasing "Tale of a Dog," the very last "Our Gang" short subject made, as the final entry.
"Dancing Romeo" did appear somewhat more "put on" than some other Metro-produced (non-musical) "Our Gangs," especially during Marilyn and Gerald's big production number and the scenes where their faces are superimposed in Froggy's eggs and on the billboard advertising bathing suits. (Like the other reader, I too preferred to eat my eggs scrambled after I saw that scene for the first time!)
But, the saving grace of "Dancing Romeo" had to be Froggy's dance "recital" (especially the part near the end where it looked like he was doing a kazotsky, with his arms folded while kicking his feet out). Of course, snotty and stuck-up Gerald had to mess up the whole thing, but when Froggy told Marilyn he did it all for her, Froggy's concluding surprise was rather funny, too.
I also could never find out what that piece was that was heard during Froggy's dance until recently; it was Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody" (which was also heard in the Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short "Rhapsody in Rivets" three years earlier, and what Milton Berle's cast, dressed like Texaco gas station attendants, sang at the beginning of his old "Texaco Star Theater" show in the 50's).
There could also have been some irony in the scene where Gerald cuts Froggy's cables, manipulated by Mickey and Buckwheat. Maybe that was a veiled way of MGM saying the "Our Gang" series was officially over with?....
So although "Dancing Romeo" wasn't as funny as "Tale of a Dog," it *wasn't* entirely bad, either. I'll give it a 7.
And, when audiences first saw this film on Saturday, April 29, 1944 in theaters, who'd have thought when they saw the closing title card, showing the kids running down a neighborhood street hand-in-hand into a sunset (sandwiched between "The End" and the mini-MGM-Leo-the-Lion-and-torch-insignia logo), it would be the *very last* time?....
"Dancing Romeo" did appear somewhat more "put on" than some other Metro-produced (non-musical) "Our Gangs," especially during Marilyn and Gerald's big production number and the scenes where their faces are superimposed in Froggy's eggs and on the billboard advertising bathing suits. (Like the other reader, I too preferred to eat my eggs scrambled after I saw that scene for the first time!)
But, the saving grace of "Dancing Romeo" had to be Froggy's dance "recital" (especially the part near the end where it looked like he was doing a kazotsky, with his arms folded while kicking his feet out). Of course, snotty and stuck-up Gerald had to mess up the whole thing, but when Froggy told Marilyn he did it all for her, Froggy's concluding surprise was rather funny, too.
I also could never find out what that piece was that was heard during Froggy's dance until recently; it was Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody" (which was also heard in the Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short "Rhapsody in Rivets" three years earlier, and what Milton Berle's cast, dressed like Texaco gas station attendants, sang at the beginning of his old "Texaco Star Theater" show in the 50's).
There could also have been some irony in the scene where Gerald cuts Froggy's cables, manipulated by Mickey and Buckwheat. Maybe that was a veiled way of MGM saying the "Our Gang" series was officially over with?....
So although "Dancing Romeo" wasn't as funny as "Tale of a Dog," it *wasn't* entirely bad, either. I'll give it a 7.
And, when audiences first saw this film on Saturday, April 29, 1944 in theaters, who'd have thought when they saw the closing title card, showing the kids running down a neighborhood street hand-in-hand into a sunset (sandwiched between "The End" and the mini-MGM-Leo-the-Lion-and-torch-insignia logo), it would be the *very last* time?....