While MGM was producing immortal big-budget musicals in Culver City, the producer Johnny Taps was churning out low-budget very forgettable "B" features like this 1952 one for Harry Cohn at the Columbia Pictures studio on Gower Street. Very pretty Charlotte Austin, the daughter of crooner Gene, is the star and never quite pulls it off the role. (Her career as a leading lady was short-lived.) Richard Quine, who had been a kid singer in Judy Garland pictures, is the contract director who keeps the silly story moving. (Quine went on to direct many of Kim Novak's early films for the same studio.) Perhaps the only plus is that the picture shows actual Columbia Pictures projection rooms and sound stages, and gives the viewer of feeling of what this famous Hollywood studio looked and felt like back then. Other than that, not much else to recommend other than the chance to see and hear 1950's nightclub performers Frankie Laine and Billy Daniels entertain.
Review of Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder
