George White's Scandals (1945)

That was an excellent one.

Pretty Good

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

A Masterpiece!

Jeez this is hard to watch and this era would be my favourite. Joan Davis doesn't know whether she wants to be Martha Raye, Betty Hutton or Eve Arden and fails in any comparison to them. Jack Haley is my (and I stress) personal least favourite "leading man" or song and dance man of this era despite the legendary Wizard of Oz being in his resume. Some of the routines are cringe-worthy. Check out Haley's impression of a fly landing on a cube of sugar and a chunk of limberger. Then if you can stomach it, Davis' rendition of an outboard motor trying to start. The sound effects of both were so obviously dubbed over and the paltry effort to be funny so bad, that I couldn't help imagining the embarrassment Davis and Haley must have felt actually standing on set in front of a camera and doing that stuff. Margaret Hamilton saved this horror from a 1 rating. Her cynical spinster shtick is endearing as always. I'm glad I saw it though and I'm consigning the memory to experience rather than pleasure.

One of the great screen musicals? Hardly. But that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. Remember, this is not an MGM film...the one studio that really "got" musicals (although they had some misses). This is just little old RKO.I have to admit that I didn't realize Joan Davis had been in so many films. She was very good with the right role...and this is one of those right roles. She fits her talents into this role well without exaggeration.Jack Haley is the male lead here, and although somewhat forgotten now, he figured pretty big in Hollywood for quite a few years, although here he was past his prime. Nevertheless, the part works for him.The other gem here is the wonderful Margaret Hamilton with a bigger role than she often got...and she makes the most of it! A lot of the laughs here belong to her.The musical numbers are "okay", a "Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries" is quite good.The plot is mainly an excuse for entertainment numbers, but it's okay --a man (Haley) is in love with a woman (Davis), but the man's spinster sister (Hamilton) won't have it! Pretty standard fare, although it seems like it might be more at home about 5 years earlier.

This is the type of musical comedy that only works when the comic players are on screen. What is going on with the more traditional romantic plot line just isn't as interesting here. Where it is very funny (and very worth watching) is for the re-teaming of Joan Davis and Jack Haley as musical revue comics who have to deal with the fact that Haley's spinster sister (the wonderful Margaret Hamilton) does not approve of her brother being in show business and is determined to keep Davis from marrying him no matter what. Davis and Haley are perfectly matched (having worked together at 20th Century Fox in the late 1930's, and of course it is a delight to see Hamilton playing sister to her "Wizard of Oz" co-star (Haley). While she doesn't threaten to turn him into a beehive here, she does threaten to pull Davis's blonde hair out by its black roots, and tries to knock off Davis comically with a hatchet after finding out that the man Davis tried to fix her up with is a gigolo (played by that French lip popper, Fritz Feld). Hamilton, a gentle soul off screen, screeches "Who put you up to this?" with all the venom she had demonstrated as a wicked witch later known as Elphaba. The film sags when they are off screen, which identifies why it is perhaps not as well known as it would be otherwise. The other story deals with the daughter (Martha Holliday) of one of Davis's old "Scandals" cronies who wants to break into show business in spite of the fact that her father is a British nobleman. In that story-line, only Jane Greer (billed as "Bettyjane") offers any heat as a bitchy headliner whose dancing talents are obviously limited, getting acquainted with a bucket of paint as Hamilton meets her match in a sandbag.It all starts off wonderfully with a lavish production number sung to "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" by Joan Davis's real life daughter, Beverly Willis, who is playing Joan as a kid. The line of chorus girls goes on forever thanks to a nice mirror trick. Willis is absolutely hysterical in her bit, although Davis herself provides the voice for this character. Two comical production numbers with Haley and Davis are fun too---"Who Killed Vaudeville?" has Davis and Haley imitating various contraptions, most notably Davis sounding like a stalled automobile. Another number has the two complaining about dreaming of people like Cary Grant, John Wayne and Ginger Rogers (appearing silently in outtakes from one of their recent RKO films) while looking over at their mate to find them either covered with cold cream or snoring like the car motor Joan would later imitate. Specialties by organist Ethel Smith and Gene Krupa's band round out the musical numbers, while a montage of production numbers representing a "Scandals" performance appear to be outtakes from other RKO films. Krupa's drum playing is filled with energy. Another sweet moment comes when Davis's helium voiced maid (Rosemary Murphy) sings "Wishing", originally heard in the 1939 classic "Love Affair". While Ms. Davis would be paired by RKO in two films with Eddie Cantor, I much prefer her pairing with Haley. They seem like an ideal sitcom couple, although her later partner on "I Married Joan" was a perfect foil for her--- Jim Backus.

This typical mid-40s RKO musical is enlivened a bit by Joan Davis' goofy mugging. The plot, of course, only serves to gives people time to take a break between the comedy bits and the musical numbers. We also have a view of Roach silent comedy star, Glen Tryon as George White.The musical numbers are pretty good, particularly the first one with Gene Krupa, a triumph of choreography and camera-work. Krupa seems a little.... weird in the number, however, like he's on strong drugs and flipping out. Although this is not unheard of in drummers who are not on drugs, it may be significant that Krupa had spent time in jail on a marijuana rap in 1943, and this might have been an attempt to capitalize on his 'bad boy' image.