George White's 1935 Scandals

What there is of plot in this film is held together with bailing wire and chewing gum. George White is taking a train to Florida after the closing of the 1934 season of his Scandals revue. When the train stops at a rural station in Georgia for a few minutes, White gets off to send a telegram when he notices a sign advertising "White's Scandals". Curious, he makes arrangements to take a later train and decides to investigate. What he finds is that the "White" in question is Elmer White (Ned Sparks) - mayor of the small town and emcee of the Scandals musical revue. He also happens to be the show's cashier and usher and the town's sewer department. White likes the show and hires the entire bunch to be in his next season's show - the 1935 Scandals.

What follows as far as plot is a very clichéd tale of small town stars going Hollywood - except they're on Broadway. It takes up very little time with most of the movie being the revue itself. Unfortunately, the revue portion is very unmemorable, which is hard to believe with Alice Faye singing and Eleanor Powell tap dancing in her film debut, but believe me it is true. One song, "The Hunkadola", is pretty catchy but seems like almost a copy of 1934's "The Continental" from The Gay Divorcée. Overall the musical revue just lays there. It lacks the snap of the popular Warner Brothers musicals of the era and the flair of the MGM musicals of that same period.

Cliff Edwards and Ned Sparks get the best lines and give the film what little genuine comic flavor it has. I've always been a big fan of James Dunn, but again, since there is very little plot, there is no chance for him to really distinguish himself. Plus I really noticed how old he looked here compared to roles I'd seen him in just a couple of years before - and he was only 33! This was his last year with Fox as his heavy drinking finally caused them to give him the boot.

I'd say this is worth viewing just for the history of it all, but don't expect too much.