Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

efisch This is definitely a "B" movie churned out by RKO to fill its theaters. It is a very good B movie with lots of talented people who didn't get a lot of exposure. The most famous name is Betty Grable and a fading overage Buddy Rogers. The musical numbers are well staged (by Hermes Pan) and lively, are very witty, and due to Johnny Mercer, who is one of the stars, has some very good lyrics. The plot is nonsense and doesn't get in the way of the musical numbers. I only wish college had been like this. Did every college have an ice cream shop? The opening titles are very interestingly staged. Eric Blore is amusing and gets to explain the difference between male and female fleas. Erik Rhodes does his Italian thing, and George Barbier as Buddy's father seems to be enjoying himself. You will too.

atlasmb "Old Man Rhythm" is one of those musicals where the studio rounds up talent and creates a story that tries to fit them all in, including whatever specialty acts they are big on. But the plot of this film does not try much to be other than that. It opens with a musical number, on a train, that includes just about every actor in the film. That first scene tells us everything we need to know about the film: it's light and playful and filled with talent.OMR is driven by the music of Lewis E. Gensler and Johnny Mercer. If you like clever lyrics and toe-tapping tunes, this is a good film to watch. Gensler is talented, but the entire film is Mercerized by the Ogden Nashish lyrics.Speaking of which, the only slow part of the film is a scene about fleas. Yes, it's true. Apparently the entire scene (apart from being a silly plot device regarding a letter) is just a setup for a poem that is, nevertheless, interesting. The poem is called "Siphonaptera" and if you look it up on Wikipedia, you will learn its origins and its variations.One more point about the music. It captures a time in the evolution of popular music when you can easily hear the transition from the blues to jazz (and swing). The musical arrangements in this film are filled with examples.Betty Grable taps en pointe. Hermes Pan arranged the dance numbers, so I guess he might be partly responsible for this difficult feat. Among the other talented performers, I particularly liked Evelyn Poe, though her film career seems to have been short.The story is not much to write home about. A college boy's father (John Roberts) is concerned that his son (JR, Jr.) is losing his scholarly focus because of a girl (Marion). He enrolls in the same college, hoping to turn the boy's affections toward another girl (Edith) deemed more suitable. Though Junior thinks Marion is the marryin' kind, she proves to be more interested in his familial fortune. They all live in some dormitories that wow and they frequent a soda shop where the local talents shake a leg and croon competently. Which is what the film is all about, after all--the music.This double-bill special no doubt had the cats boogeying in their theater seats in 1935.

movingpicturegal In which a dad enrolls in college when he learns his son has become infatuated with a blonde (dad prefers a different gal for junior). Dad is soon strolling around campus in freshman beanie and getting into trouble for walking on the sophomore pathway. When he sees that sonny is set on sticking with the blonde, he gets advised from a fellow student in the know - she's a gold-digger. So - dad pretends his business is going bust to get the gold-digger to leave his son alone!This film is a bit of fluff, mainly held together by some really good musical numbers. The opening scene features a train ride to college, full of the students singing a very catchy tune - I particularly enjoyed this number. Best of all - one of the students is played by a very young and beautiful Betty Grable who sings, tap dances on pointe, and charms her way across the screen to coming super-stardom - every time she is on screen she is all you can look at! The story in this isn't the greatest, and Buddy Rogers (who I love in silent films) is a bit of a dud here, though still pretty handsome to look at - he even sings (or is dubbed, I'm not sure) a rather lackluster number himself. Enjoyable, light fare.

Neil Doyle Any RKO movie with ERIC BLORE and ERIC RHODES in the supporting cast can't be all bad. This is a strictly second-rate little college musical with a trivial plot and a bevy of harmless tunes typical of the swing mood that was on the horizon. Vivacious BETTY GRABLE has one of her early campus sweetheart roles (sings a little, dances a little), and if you look hard enough you can spot LUCILLE BALL among the extras, the girl who would go on to buy the studio one day.GEORGE BARBIER is the senior who wants to be a freshman (he wants to keep an eye on his son, BUDDY ROGERS) whom he thinks is failing subjects because his mind is on girls. Rogers is a blank in a colorless role. The female lead (unknown today) is pretty brunette BARBARA KENT. Silly nonsense with Barbier becoming a freshman subjected to student pranks with more attention on random song numbers than a plot.The songs are strictly a blend of the type popular at the time but have the benefit of lyrics by Johnny Mercer which helps a lot and its surprising to see that the B&W photography is by Nick Musuraca who did all those great film noirs later at RKO.Summing up: Harmless fun that passes the time quickly in 75 minutes.