King of Burlesque (1936)

''Wait a minute, wait a minute - I'm having an idea''.. ''No, you're having a stroke''. Well he'd better hope it's the former as theatrical producer ''Bolton'' (Warner Baxter) is desperately in need of an idea. He was once the most succesful, and partnered with long time pal ''Joe'' (Jack Oakie) and leading lady ''Pat'' (Alice Faye) was on top of the world. Then he met down on her luck socialite ''Rosalind'' (Mona Barrie) who turned his word upside down. With him swiftly and expensively getting married and then ''Pat'' talking a job in London, he decided that he wanted to ditch his more working class approach to his work and go up-market. The critics were no more impressed than his new wife and so a downward spiral loomed. Back to that idea, again? Well that might have been something to do with his best friends recruiting the services of a faux-millionaire. ''Mr. Kolopopeck'' (Gregory Ratoff) who enters the fray offering unlimited funds to spark the imagination of this constipated impresario. What chance things can all come right in the end? Although much of this is fairly predictable, I thought there was quite a bit of amiable chemistry between Baxter and just about everyone as this seamlessly mixes a few musical numbers from Jimmy McHugh and Ted Koehler into it's lightly romantic storyline. Not for us any vocal stand-ins, so much of the singing is done by the cast themselves and with the briefest of appearances from Herbert Mundin (before he knew how to hit Norman lords on the head with a mace), this makes for an enjoyable ninety minutes of song and dance with way more of a story than many of it's contemporaries. Not great, no, but quite good fun.