Although "Follow the Leader" has poor reviews and a pathetic overall score of 4.7 on IMDB, I decided to give it a look because it is one of Ginger Rogers' first films. Plus, it gives you a chance to see a young Ed Wynn as well as Ethel Merman in her first movie.
The plot is strange. Crickets (Ed Wynn) is somehow made the leader of a gang of crooks...which makes about as much sense as Pee Wee Herman being a gang leader! Regardless, one of their infamous deeds will be to kidnap the leading lady in a Broadway review...so that her nice understudy (Rogers) can show everyone her talents. Easier said than done? Perhaps.
Lou Holtz (father of the famous college coach) and Ed Wynn both perform like they are doing Vaudeville skits and BOTH are about as subtle as a nudist going to a Baptist wedding! They are loud and brash...perfect for Vaudeville but not for films. As for Merman...she's loud. And, Rogers....well...it's easy to miss her because everyone around her is over-emoting and she's just trying to act...film style.
I think this is a movie that might have worked in 1930 or in the early days of TV when America re-discovered Wynn on his weekly TV program...which was incredibly popular. Otherwise...Wynn's voice and CONSTANT talking becomes tiresome...and since he's the lead...that is a major problem with the movie. Fortunately, in the later 50s and into the 60s, he had a resurgence in his career and I think it was because he toned his routine WAY down and seemed very believable in dramas as well as Disney films. But here...he's terrible. As for Sam Holtz, he is a walking, talking Jewish stage stereotype...and so overdone, he and Wynn took turns trying to outdo eachother!
Overall, an interesting film simply because who's in it...but a very bad movie nevertheless. I think most modern audiences would just turn it off and find something else after they watch a few minutes of it. If you are a glutton for punishment, the film is on YouTube.
