After nearly a year off from this self-imposed project (of which you can read about the genesis here), what an apt title to be kicking off proceedings with. I actually watched On With the Show nearly a year ago at the UCLA Archives. Interestingly, in the intervening year, this film has now been digitized, and is available from the Warner Bros Archive store. Historic preservation excitement aside, On With the Show isn't an entirely memorable film. Perhaps the effort of walking across the sprawling UCLA campus, the heat, and a long bus ride back to Hollywood erased my memory. Or it just wasn't that brilliant.
The film is described on director Alan Crosland's IMDb biography as "creaky", and a "real flop." My year-old notes tend to agree. As the above clip shows, On With the Show features amazingly elaborate sets, stunning costumes, and wonderfully detailed chorus numbers. It really is a shame that despite being Warner Bros' first film to be released in technicolor, no color plates survive, because other than these wonderfully lavish numbers, On With the Show does not have a lot to commend it. The plot, based on a play, centres around the onstage and backstage trials and tribulations of a Broadway Revue, and while song and dance features quite a lot, the numbers are all about the show within a show, not intended to propel the plot forward or give insight to characters' feelings. The intervening dialogue is stilted, lead actors Arthur Lake and Betty Compson are painful to watch (a feeling generally shared by critics), and with continued use of title cards, it all still has the air of a silent film being converted to a talkie. In his wonderful book, A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film, Richard Barrios states that watching these old films is a long slog with precious little of any interest, and one can sit waiting, waiting. Then, suddenly, there's something unexpected - a performance or song, an exchange of sharp dialogue, some surprising camera work, a fleeting glimmer of improved technique. Then it's possible to gain a sense of why audiences were delighted.That is precisely what sitting through On With the Show is all about. You sit and sit and feel kind of bored. And then you have these deliciously decadent ensemble numbers, or the fabulous Ethel Waters singing "Am I Blue," or some snappy editing showing the juxtaposition of onstage v. backstage antics, and you just feel like it's all going to get better! Richard Barrios believes we need to look at these old films on their own merits. But honestly, as a modern day lass, it is only knowing that these early movie musicals lead to something much more watchable that makes sitting through jumpy footage and patchy writing worthwhile. It is fascinating discovering that the creation of the movie musical genre took time and practise, and it took "creaky" efforts to make movie musical magic happen. As they say, despite these early painful efforts, the show must go on!
1 Comment
Mercedes
2/7/2016 02:20:09 am
It would have been wonderful to see this film in colour. The costumes are beautiful!
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Movie Musical ProjectAn attempt to watch every movie musical in chronological order. For poetry, musings, and other blog posts, check out
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