I'm talking about a musical number that appears in the last quarter of the film in which scantily clad girls dance and turn an arctic scene into a tropical one with palm and banana trees popping up out of the ground in response. Only in the precode era! This film is thoroughly enchanting from start to finish, mainly because of the innocent charm of Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell as a screen couple as they make their talkie debut here after a string of silent successes.
The film opens in what is supposed to be a tenement section of New York City on July 4, but as the camera pans from flat to flat, it seems more like a portrait of Norman Rockwell's America, just more densely populated. Molly (Janet Gaynor) and Bea (Marjorie White) share an apartment here, and Molly sees a newspaper picture of her dream man - wealthy Jack Cromwell (Charles Farrell). He's not her dream man because of the money, instead she likes his looks. Fate would have it that a car accident brings young Jack up her tenement stairway and into her apartment that very night - he was directed by neighborhood grocer Eric Swenson to Eric's apartment, but in his shaken up state after the accident Jack wanders into Molly's by mistake. Jack and Molly's first meeting isn't exactly the stuff of dreams. She is in her underwear with cold cream on her face, he's bleeding from a cut on his head from the accident. But no worry, things go uphill quickly from here.
After watching the neighborhood put on performances for the July 4 block party, Jack decides the whole gang should come to his family estate and help out with a show his mother is putting on for charity. However, Jack's mom is the type that can detect the musk of Mayflower or the lack thereof a mile away and they'll have to disguise everyone's identity in order for them to pass inspection and be able to perform. Add to that the complication that Jack already has a débutante girlfriend. Also add that good guy grocer Eric (El Brendel) wants his relationship with Molly to be more than that of just good friends.
Most early musicals or musical numbers from Fox were boring at worst and inane at best, but here they get it right. The songs and their delivery are memorable, interesting, and unique for the era. I highly recommend this as a feel good film and one of the truly good early talkie musicals.
The film opens in what is supposed to be a tenement section of New York City on July 4, but as the camera pans from flat to flat, it seems more like a portrait of Norman Rockwell's America, just more densely populated. Molly (Janet Gaynor) and Bea (Marjorie White) share an apartment here, and Molly sees a newspaper picture of her dream man - wealthy Jack Cromwell (Charles Farrell). He's not her dream man because of the money, instead she likes his looks. Fate would have it that a car accident brings young Jack up her tenement stairway and into her apartment that very night - he was directed by neighborhood grocer Eric Swenson to Eric's apartment, but in his shaken up state after the accident Jack wanders into Molly's by mistake. Jack and Molly's first meeting isn't exactly the stuff of dreams. She is in her underwear with cold cream on her face, he's bleeding from a cut on his head from the accident. But no worry, things go uphill quickly from here.
After watching the neighborhood put on performances for the July 4 block party, Jack decides the whole gang should come to his family estate and help out with a show his mother is putting on for charity. However, Jack's mom is the type that can detect the musk of Mayflower or the lack thereof a mile away and they'll have to disguise everyone's identity in order for them to pass inspection and be able to perform. Add to that the complication that Jack already has a débutante girlfriend. Also add that good guy grocer Eric (El Brendel) wants his relationship with Molly to be more than that of just good friends.
Most early musicals or musical numbers from Fox were boring at worst and inane at best, but here they get it right. The songs and their delivery are memorable, interesting, and unique for the era. I highly recommend this as a feel good film and one of the truly good early talkie musicals.