Fri 13 Nov 2015
DICK POWELL Movie Review #1: THANKS A MILLION (1935).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals[4] Comments
THANKS A MILLION. 20th Century Pictures, 1935. Dick Powell, Ann Dvorak, Fred Allen, Patsy Kelly, Paul Whiteman and Band, Ramona, Raymond Walburn. Screenplay: Nunnally Johnson, based on a story by Darryl F. Zanuck. Director: Roy Del Ruth.
I’ll remember this movie as the feature film debut of Fred Allen, the radio comedian, more than I will of just another early Dick Powell lead in a 1930s romantic comedy musical. Allen made very few movies. I think it was himself who said, “I have the perfect face for radio.”
Allen plays the business manager of a group of touring musicians, who when the troupe in stranded in a small hick town somewhere near New York City, offers their services as entertainment for a gubernatorial candidate for the state, a besotted old gentleman who on his own drives his audience away in droves.
But after one too many incidents of being too besotted, the powers that be for the party decide that singer Eric Land (that is to say, Dick Powell) ought to take his place. Things proceed about as expected from here. When the campaign starts to really roll, friction starts to build up between Powell and his lady friend, singer-dancer Sally Mason (Ann Dvorak), who finds the time she’s able to spend with him dwindling away.
The latter does her own dances, surprisingly well, and apparently her own singing as well. Powell does his own, of course, as well as playing (and very well, too) an apparently vacant-minded young lad barely more than wet behind the ears.
It was roles such as this one that were left far behind when Powell wisely made the transition to a new tough-guy persona, beginning with Murder, My Sweet in 1944.
But as I say, I watched this one to see (and hear) Fred Allen in action. His quick-on-the-trigger witticisms, delivered in a sour, dead pan fashion, is exactly where my sense of humor lies. I see from IMDb that he supplied (uncredited) some of the dialogue. All his own, I would imagine, but I haven’t yet researched that.
In passing, however, this film does have a lot to say about the political climate of the time, with entertainment mattering more than issues, when a jazz band leader could end up be elected the Lt. Governor of the state of Washington. (A true fact.)
November 14th, 2015 at 9:53 am
” In passing, however, this film does have a lot to say about the political climate of the time, with entertainment mattering more than issues, when a jazz band leader could end up be elected the Lt. Governor of the state of Washington.”
Unlike thirty years later when an actor could end up elected governor of California.
November 14th, 2015 at 12:19 pm
The casting of Ann Dvorak in a light musical is decidedly odd though it works and she does well. You have to wonder at the choice though.
Allen is at his acerbic best. Sadly they never took advantage of his running ‘feud’ with Jack Benny on radio for a series of films with the two.
The ease with which Powell played these parts belied how good an actor he was becoming in them. By the time he worked for Preston Sturges it was clear he was ready for bigger things.
January 5th, 2016 at 11:06 pm
Well, David, the one Allen/Benny feud film they did make, LOVE THY NEIGHBOR, was a sad affair.
July 24th, 2018 at 9:54 pm
I watched this one for Fred Allen too and I thought he did a great job. Fans of Fred’s radio work will recognize his writing style in a lot of his character’s lines. He could have had a good movie career. Have you seen It’s In The Bag? I love that one, and Jack Benny is in it too.