I'll just get my biggest issue with this out of the way upfront: the music to plot ratio left a bit to be desired. That said... what was there was consistently funny and downright cynical, so I can live with it. After not so much gold-digging in the last entry, 1937 (although this was made in 1936) gets back to what made 1933 so great: the Depression-era obsession with hustling and "making it." So much so, that two characters* get a life insurance policy on their sickly (hypochondriac?) business partner in the hopes that he croaks so that they can fund their next show. That cynical. Obviously, they can't win the day, but it's pretty amazing that the filmmakers even went there. Music-wise, there's only one big Busby number, but it's quite a doozy. There are also a few songs sprinkled through the rest of the picture. It was great to have Dick Powell and Joan Blondell's legendary chemistry back again. Victor Moore gets comedy MVP, and Glenda Farrell does very well as the most prominent gold-digger in the cast. Honorable mention to Lee Dixon who shows off some impressive tap-dancing chops, and Rosalind Marquis who plays a nice Southern belle (and left me wanting more). The whole thing ran a bit too long, but overall, I had a swell time (as I often do with these musicals).
* One of whom is played by Osgood Perkins, father to Anthony Perkins and grandfather of Oz Perkins.
* One of whom is played by Osgood Perkins, father to Anthony Perkins and grandfather of Oz Perkins.