Thrill of a Lifetime (1937)

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Silly plot about a trio (Johnny Downs, Eleanore Whitney, and Judy Canova) trying to get into a show at a summer resort camp where the Yacht Club Boys are posing as the theatrical producers Wattle, Wattle, Wattle, and Wattle. Of course the big summer event is a show and everyone gets a chance to shine.Camp is run by a rather glum Leif Erickson who does not believe in real romance so he manufactures it for summer guests via employees like Betty Grable and Buster Crabbe who schmooze the guests. But romance is everywhere. Who will end up with whom? Lots of comedy here especially once Canova meets up with Ben Blue. They have a bubble dance number that is very funny and very well done. Grable gets to sing and dance to "Sweetheart Time" with Erickson, and the Yacht Club Boys sing two rousing and clever numbers. Downs and Whitney finally get a novelty dance number toward the end (along with a doll and Tommy Wonder). Canova gets a spot of her own (along with Anne Canova and Zeke Canova) and is very funny with her hillbilly yodeling act.Dorothy Lamour, dripping in satin glamour, shows up as a guest star and sings "Thrill of a Lifetime" and steals the show. She's spectacular and is filmed in loving close-up. Wow! Others in the cast include Franklin Pangborn as the real Wattle, June Schafer as his secretary, and Marjorie Reynolds is one of the chorus girls.Oh yes, and the Yacht Club Boys were James Kern, Billy Mann, George Kelly, and Charles Adler.

I dreaded an unpretentious and perhaps a bit silly old low-budget movie of the Thirties but that film entertained me beyond expectations. Everybody, except Leif Erickson, is great in it.First, the ever gorgeous Betty Grable...her role is tiny in it and, as in most of her movies of the Thirties, it has more a decorative purpose than anything else, but that lady WAS indeed extremely pretty and talented. When on the screen, you look at nothing or no one else. That's star quality! AND SHE SINGS! What a pleasure to hear her sweet singing voice when she sings "Sweetheart Time". And she waltzes too to the sound of Leif Erickson's barytone. This one, who has a great voice, should keep singing and stop acting because he's terrible. And looks terrible.But, besides that, everybody else is great. Judy Canova, like so many character actors, steals the show many times. She's delightfully homely and funny. Ben Blue does his usual but effective clowning. More physical than talkative, he reminds a bit of Buster Keaton but with even more comical sadness in the eyes. One must see him in Buster Crabbe's bathing suit...while the latter gorgeously fills every fiber of it with tanned flesh and the sculpted body of the professional swimmer that he used to be, the former is lost in it, literally! That'S effective slapstick.Eleanore Whitney is charming, pretty (she looks a bit like Paulette Goddard) and taps energetically in one dance sequence. The Yacht Club Boys are a real delight. They were seasoned performers and it shows. Their voices blend wonderfully and are a real pleasure to the ears.Johnny Downs is, again, excellent but not featured enough. Each time I see him I think it's a real shame he never was the first rate star he deserved to be. He's a slight and light dancer that moves with grace. He could have been the Fred Astaire with good looks! Besides his dancing talent, he can act and is very handsome. See him! As for the film itself, it IS light and, though a bit messy, very entertaining. Though low-budgeted, part of it is shot outside. The long camp sequences literally CRY for color because they're very good! Every musical sequences are extremely well produced, directed and filmed. And performed with greatness.All in all, for a mere 75 minutes, it's a very entertaining movie. Don't hesitate to see it if you can, if only for Betty Grable, Johnny Downs and the Yacht Club Boys!