Swing Out, Sister (1945)
Universal cowboy star Rod Cameron plays Geoffrey, conductor of a high-toned symphony orchestra. Secretly harboring the desire to become a swingin' jazz trumpeter, Geoffrey takes a job at a "hot" Broadway nightclub. Here he meets and falls in love with café songstress Donna (Frances Raeburn), who has led her family to believe that she's studying for a classical-music career. Meanwhile, a comedy-relief romance develops between Geoffrey's snooty valet Chumley (Arthur Treacher) and Donna's best pal Pat (Jacqueline De Wit). For those not interested in the plot (what there is of it), Swing Out, Sister includes specialty numbers by organist Selika Pettiford and the Lou Diamond Quintet.
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I love this movie so much
An Exercise In Nonsense
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
The droll Arthur Treacher steals the scenery as the assistant to the bland Rod Cameron, trying to promote two society girls who really know how to swing their obbligatos. They are Frances Daeburn and Jacqueline deWit, two obscure young actresses who are trying to break away from the rather staid society functions, or at least liven them up. While Billie Burke is second billed as a flighty matron who can't understand why swing is called swing, she is secondary to the story; in fact, stout Constance Purdy gets better material through her bad singing, sounding like a castrated moose, and getting her share of insults in the process of trying to become the head matron of society's music festival. But it's Treacher as "Chumley" who steals every moment, getting a few good asides at the expense of the butler, a role that he was more than familiar playing. The songs are only so-so, which when added to a silly story, keep this as second rate.