Varsity Show (1937)

This movie probably won't appeal to anyone under the age of 50 - the generation gap is too great. College boys in shirts and ties, girls in saddle shoes and calf-length skirts, and riding around in 'jalopies' with topical slogans on them - not today. And the cast of this picture contains some of the oldest college kids ever seen on campus. But, if you are of a certain age, it all works.There is a great deal of energy in each scene, which is how it would be on a college campus, and there are some very tuneful songs to be found, although most of them forgotten. The most durable is probably "She's Working Her Way Through College", but several others were written by Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer. In addition, here is a chance to see Buck and Bubbles, a legendary song and dance team. They differed from the Nicholas Brothers, who were strictly dancers. Buck and Bubbles both sang, both danced and both played the piano, hence a more talented team.The story is unimportant, about Dick Powell returning to his alma mater to help put on a show, but the cast is good and the pace is brisk. Two of the Lane sisters are the female leads opposite Powell and comic relief is done in heavy-handed fashion by Ted Healy. There is also lots of able support, and there is a great finale provided by none other than Busby Berkeley. There is lots to like in "Varsity Show", a better-than-average musical of its kind.

For die-hard Berkeley fans only--this collegiate musical is certainly more a mirror of it's time than most, with lots of college men over 30 clad in beanies swooning in song over long-skirted coeds; simple plot--all the students want to present the hot new rhythms of the New Varsity Show, but the fuddy-duddy professor (Walter Catlett in usual sputtering mode) won't let them. Enter former alum and Broadway Star Dick Powell, all dimples and smiles, intent on Saving The Day With Music! The whole enterprise is a build up to the sensational Busby Berkeley finale with hundreds of dancing coeds in astounding geometrical designs; unfortunately, the less-than-memorable music is not by Al Dubin and Harry Warren (who composed the Gold Diggers series).According to Tony Thomas's Busby Berkeley book, and reliable film historian Leslie Halliwell (and numerous other sources), this should be a 120 minute film; why has Turner, usually the standard for accuracy, released an 80 minute print--40 minutes shorter? Some collector, somewhere, must be sitting on an old studio print and, if anybody is able, the intrepid folks at Turner will track it down and we can see what will probably make this the dynamic vintage musical it should be.

No need to repeat details exhaustively provided by other reviewers. I caught the 80-minute truncated version on TCM and it's a shame despite the lively cast and Berkeley's big production number. Comparing the playlist with what's on screen, most of the musical numbers that survived the edit appear condensed into the closing medley of songs—hardly a fair representation. And what's left intact is musically pleasant but hardly memorable. Generally, the same can be said of the truncated movie as a whole.(In passing—note the rebellious college students impatient with the stodgy musical tastes of their elders. Seems like musical rebellion among the young extends further back than the 1950's and Elvis. More obscurely-- note how the kids at one juncture perform a brief sit-down strike to make their point. The year is 1937, the same period as the historic General Motors Sitdown Strike of 1936-37. Looks to me like a topical reference even in a movie piece of fluff.)

the thing about Varsity Show is that it's good enough for not being bad, but bad enough for being good. yes, there are a lot of songs in it and the story is differently than the other Busby Berkeley films, but there isn't one song that really is performed well, the story is a bit stupid and it seems as if Busby Berkeley was out of inspiration. the dance performances are seen in other Berkeley films, but now they are shown to us in a worse version. still, I could quite enjoy the college humor, even more than in Buster Keaton's College and so many other movies about (art) schools (like Fame). it's not that I don't have taste for good movies, and that's exactly why I say Varsity Show is a nice relaxation but nothing more.