Dick Powell stars with Adolphe Menjou, Joan Blondell, and the Mills Brothers in "Broadway Gondolier" from 1935.
Powell plays Dick Purcell, a cab driver with an impressive singing voice. So good in fact that the producer in the cab, E.V. Richards (Grant Mitchell) in the cab tells him to come to his office. He gets an audition but shows up too late.
Meanwhile, Purcell is interested in the secretary there, Alice (Blondell). When Purcell sees Alice, Richards, and the sponsor of a radio show, Mrs. Flaggenheim (Louise Fazenda) board a boat for Italy, he jumps on and pays his way by washing dishes.
Once there, he becomes a gondolier and impresses Mrs. Flaggenheim, who hires him for her show. He is given the name Ricardo Purcelli and marketed as an Italian. For this, he grows a mustache and acquires an accent. His voice teacher, Eduardo DaVinci (Menjou) plays along.
I think this film contains Dick Powell's best singing, since he fools around with opera and we are able to experience more of his range. His voice was so smooth, and he was very musical. His number with the Mills Brothers, "Lulu's Back in Town" was spectacular.
Powell and Blondell are adorable in this film. They married a couple of years later. What I love about Blondell is that although she often played the wise-cracking role, she was never the same character. Here she is flirty with a soft spot; other times she's tough, or serious, or snappy.
Adolphe Menjou is hilarious as da Vinci, and Grant Mitchell plays flustered well as Richards. Louise Fazenda is also a riot as the cheese company owner.
Interestingly, the next year, Kraft Cheese hired Bing Crosby for their radio show.
I have one bone to pick. At the beginning of the movie, Lyons is discussing "Rigoletto" with another man, and we hear the last line of the opera, sung by Rigoletto, "la maledizione" as they leave. They're talking about how good the tenor is. He sounds like a tenor, too. One small problem - the role of Rigoletto is for a dramatic baritone.
Other than that, I loved it.
