Tue 25 Jan 2011
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: YOU’RE A SWEETHEART (1937).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[4] Comments
YOU’RE A SWEETHEART. Universal, 1937. Alice Faye, George Murphy, Ken Murray, Andy Devine, Charles Winninger, William Gargan, Frank Jenks, Donald Meek. Music director: Charles Previn; dances staged by Carl Randall. Director: David Butler. Shown at Cinefest 28, Syracuse NY, March 2008.
Don King (Ken Murray), a bumptious promoter, hires waiter Hal Adams (George Murphy), to pass as an Oklahoma millionaire and drum up support for his Broadway show starring Betty Bradley (Alice Faye).
Betty is unaware of the deception and falls in love with Hal who may be working as a waiter, but is a terrific song and dance man.
The plan to keep the show afloat goes off track, but if you don’t think there’s going to be a happy ending, you should swear off musicals. Faye and Murphy are splendid co-stars, and the cast of talented supporting actors provides sterling support.
Both Faye (at Fox) and Murphy (at MGM) will appear in bigger budgeted films, with more illustrious casts, but they’re just fine in this ingratiating musical comedy.
January 25th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
After reading this review and realizing that I’d never heard of this movie before, I thought maybe I wasn’t as a big a fan of Alice Faye as I thought I was. Should I turn in my membership card? I asked myself.
But then I went to IMDB and saw that only two people have left comments. It looks like this is one of her lesser known films all around. I don’t feel so bad now.
January 25th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
A promotor named “Don King?”
I hope Ken Murray wasn’t wearing the Afro!
When I was little my cousins and I went to the Village Theater in Dallas, which was owned by Charlie Foy (of the Seven Little Foys), and Phil Harris was an old friend of his, so he and Alice Faye often passed through town and she was always a nice lady — though at the time I didn’t know who she was.
The ticket taker at the theater was nice too — an attractive brunette who later turned platinum blonde and went to Hollywood — Jayne Mansfield or something. Wonder whatever happened to her?
January 26th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
I’m always encountering little-known films by major stars at movie conventions and that’s one of the pleasures of attending, especially if the film is a good one.
David, I don’t remember what the state of Ken Murray’s hair was, but then I couldn’t tell you much about anybody’s hair style. If I ever had to give testimony to establish someone’s identity, the defense attorney would very quickly demolish my testimony.
Alice Faye was a guest at one of the first Cinecons I attended, and she came across as the nice lady you remember. As I recall, Phil Harris was back at their ranch and there was some comment about the state of his health, which I recall as not being great.
February 12th, 2012 at 12:12 am
Big fan of Alice Faye here. Darryl Zanuck was not pleased with Faye’s treatment in this film. He refused to lend her out again. But then, he treated her badly himself when Betty Grable came on the scene.