Ben Pollack & His Orchestra (1934)
** (out of 4)
Warner and Vitaphone probably made a killing by inviting musical talent to their New York City studio where they'd put them on film and then release them to hundreds of theaters. This practice by the studio lasted nearly fifty-years and this one here features Ben Pollack. 'L'Amour, Tourjours, L'Amour', 'Got the Jitters', 'Beat o' My Heart' and 'Mini' are the four songs featured here and for the most part I was impressed with Pollack and his band but I thought the film went way overboard on the romantics. Doris Robbins joins the band on both 'Got the Jitters' and 'Beat o' My Heart' and does a very good job with the singing but sadly the director, for some reason, decided to add some "flash" to the picture. This includes during 'Heart' him putting Robbins face inside a heart and then putting up music notes in the back. The final duet as the two acting all flirty towards one another and to put it mildly they didn't come off very believable at all. I was a little surprised to see some "story" in this short as most of these early films in the series were straight music. I don't mind them trying something different but it really didn't add anything to the film. The four songs make this worth sitting through though.
** (out of 4)
Warner and Vitaphone probably made a killing by inviting musical talent to their New York City studio where they'd put them on film and then release them to hundreds of theaters. This practice by the studio lasted nearly fifty-years and this one here features Ben Pollack. 'L'Amour, Tourjours, L'Amour', 'Got the Jitters', 'Beat o' My Heart' and 'Mini' are the four songs featured here and for the most part I was impressed with Pollack and his band but I thought the film went way overboard on the romantics. Doris Robbins joins the band on both 'Got the Jitters' and 'Beat o' My Heart' and does a very good job with the singing but sadly the director, for some reason, decided to add some "flash" to the picture. This includes during 'Heart' him putting Robbins face inside a heart and then putting up music notes in the back. The final duet as the two acting all flirty towards one another and to put it mildly they didn't come off very believable at all. I was a little surprised to see some "story" in this short as most of these early films in the series were straight music. I don't mind them trying something different but it really didn't add anything to the film. The four songs make this worth sitting through though.