Something to Shout About

Forget the plot (which is a pretty nifty screwball scenario, by the way). What matters here is the pacing, the music and the crackerjack performances of Don Ameche and Jack Oakie. Oakie is an absolute fireball and Ameche is alternately acerbic and romantic. Great specialty numbers (including the phenomenal Hazel Scott) and those Conga rhythms really send me! I'm still not sure if Janet Blair did her own singing in this picture (she sang for herself later on, of course, but Columbia loved to dub in the early 40's). William Gaxton, a Broadway juvenile from the early days and star of pictures as FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMAN in the early Vitaphone Days does a very nice character job here. Cobina Wright is tops as the nouveau riche "star" with talent that is perfectly Wrong! Gregory Ratoff's pictures are usually pretty Seiterly in their pacing. This one snaps, crackles and pops. And there's one in-joke that is delivered with perfection. As Ameche goes to use the telephone, he is asked "you sure you know how to use that thing?" He replies, "you kidding - I INVENTED it!" Catch this one if you can.