Go West, Young Lady (1941)

PENNY SINGLETON gets top billing in this diverting little programmer made at the height of her fame as "Blondie". This film, directed by the same man who did that series, has Singleton in her "Blondie" mode, as a prim and proper but ditsy blonde who acquits herself well when Indians are shooting at the carriage she's riding in during the opening scene.She's so prim and proper that she refuses to even engage in conversation with the man sitting opposite her in the coach--GLENN FORD--on his way to the town of Headstone to become its new sheriff.Ford has one of his rare comedy roles and plays it to the hilt. He's continually getting in the way of Singleton's pie-throwing finesse or taking a crack on the head with a pan, accidentally of course.ALLEN JENKINS, as a cowardly interim sheriff, ANN MILLER, as a dance hall gal, and CHARLIE RUGGLES, as Singleton's uncle, all give fresh and funny performances. Miller is especially good in a couple of her dance routines, including a sing-and-dance number with Jenkins that comes as a delightful surprise.Very enjoyable romp, it seems to borrow a lot of its material from other similar westerns. It features at least a half a dozen unpretentious musical numbers that make for easy listening.Summing up: One of Columbia's better programmers.

'Go West, Young Lady' is a surprisingly delightful little film that easily straddles at least three different genres: it's a comedy western with a couple of full-fledged musical numbers, but which never quite becomes a full-scale musical. This film features the only good comedy performance I've ever seen by Glenn Ford, who is usually a dead loss in comedies. (He ruined 'Pocketful of Miracles'.) I actively dislike Penny Singleton, partly because she's so annoying onscreen and largely because (in real life), as the inept president of Agva, she nearly drove that union into bankruptcy. But Singleton gives an enjoyable performance in this film. Even Ann Miller (whom I usually dislike) gives a fine performance as Lola, the dance-hall girl in the local saloon.Allen Jenkins, one of my favourite character actors, is hilarious (as usual) as sheriff Ford's deputy. A high point of this film is the 'Yip-Ay-Yay' number performed by Ann Miller and Jenkins. For possibly the only time in his prolific career, Jenkins sings onscreen! His gravelly voice (with his prole New York accent) is completely unsuited to carrying a tune, but Jenkins sings gamely (in both senses of the term) while Miller does a couple of simple tap steps (less elaborate than usual for her) alongside him.SLIGHT SPOILER. There's a very funny running gag, well executed. Ford keeps getting into brawls with various tough guys who are bigger and stronger than him. Each time this happens, Penny Singleton tries to help him by coshing the other man ... but she always misses him and beans Ford instead. The payoff comes when she tries this one more time. As Ford looks up in horror to see Singleton bearing down on him with a bottle, he shouts: 'Don't hit him! It'll be me!' Very funny indeed, and several other scenes in this movie are funny too. I'll rate this charming low-budget gem 9 points out of 10.

A Fun movie that will leave you wishing it had been another 45 minutes. The fight between Ann Miller and Penny Singleton is astounding! Ann Miller's Dance scenes are very good, and there is even an appearance by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. Penny was a great talent and her vaudeville experience shows. This movie even includes Glenn Ford.

This is yet another movie that is not on video and few have heard of that's well worth the viewing if you can catch it on cable. It's enough of western and musical to hold the interest of fans of both, plus good comedy thrown in. It's not too much of either western or musical to make the other seem out of place. Good numbers, good acting, funny lines all in 70 minutes and a chance for those not familiar with Western Swing to catch what that is. Ironically, the two best fight scenes include women. I gave it a 7, it's well worth the watch, much better than some 7's, well deserving and fun.