On the Avenue (1937)

'On the Avenue' had quite a cast, and who can go wrong with Irving Berlin. The good news is that 'On the Avenue' does not disappoint, and even exceeds eager expectations.Debits are hardly any and also minor, all subjective personal opinion and not to be taken objectively. The pace does slacken ever so slightly in the middle, which is noticeable when the pacing for the rest of the film is so jaunty and exuberant. Also had mixed feelings on the Ritz Brothers, though admittedly this is one of their better film outings.They don't disappoint in the dancing, which they are remarkably nimble at, and do have some entertaining sequences, with the slumming number being especially priceless. Their comedy is an acquired taste, to many people and to me, and while some parts work others are overdone, gimmicky and bizarre so it comes over as irritating.Flaws aside, 'On the Avenue' works absolutely terrifically as entertainment and as a film on the whole. It looks wonderful, with sumptuous set and costume design and exquisitely and cleverly shot. Irving Berlin's score and songs are an all-round winner, as well as vibrantly staged. Not a weak link in the bunch. "You're Laughing At Me" and "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" are particularly noteworthy, while "This Year's Kisses" has the benefits of being beautifully sung and providing a lot of emotion.Roy Del Ruth directs adeptly, and his reputation from getting great performances from his casts is evident. 'On the Avenue' has a lot to say about love's nature and its passion, and tells its story (which is more eventful and less corny and clichéd than most) with an impeccably bright tone and with effortless verve, incisiveness and wit. Both in the musical numbers and in the comedy and the drama, making for a script with a good balance of the funny and the heart-warming.Madeleine Carroll and Dick Powell are both stunning, as is an affecting Alice Faye in one of her better and underrated performances (though all her performances seen of her have never been less than very good). Billy Gilbert and George Barbier are particularly zany support, Cora Witherspoon is a lot of fun and Alan Mowbery is dashing. Was really expecting Stepin Fetchit to strike a false note, expecting him to be a stereotypical caricature and out of place, didn't mind him here.All in all, terrific film and highly recommended. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Silly backstage story with a beautiful but uninteresting leading lady in Madeleine Carroll, this 20th Century Fox musical is buoyed by a couple of happy factors: third-billed Alice Faye, in the last of her kewpie-doll roles (after this she was always a noble leading lady, and arguably less interesting), and an excellent Irving Berlin score. Berlin had his pulse on pop music of the times like nobody else, and he delivers sumptuous ballads, rhythm numbers, and social satire from a seemingly bottomless bag of inspiration. Dick Powell, stuck with playing the sort of insipid roles he hated at Warners, doesn't seem that happy, and Cora Witherspoon, as Carroll's dotty aunt, dithers in a part that almost certainly was designed for Alice Brady. But Faye's "This Year's Kisses" and "Slumming on Park Avenue" are fabulous, and the Ritz Brothers, while nobody's favorite comedy team, are well used. It's fast and unpretentious, and rest assured, another good Berlin tune is always coming up.

Songs include : He Ain't Got Rhythm - This Year's Kisses - You're Laughing At Me - The Girl on the Police Gazette Slumming On Park Avenue - I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"On The Avenue" has been sitting on my video shelf for more than a dozen years - unwatched and overlooked. An oversight.In spite of one of the other reviews above, the film is hardly the cinema tragedy painted by that reviewer.Dick Powell, on loan out from Warner Brothers to Fox, Madeline Carroll and Alice Faye and The Ritz Brothers head an all star cast of Hollywood favorites - Joan Davis, Billy Gilbert, Alan Mowbray, Walter Catlett, George Barbier, Cora Witherspoon, Sig Ruman, Stepin Fetchit and others.The production values are quite high, though the story in uninspired. Beautiful crisp blacks and whites fill the screen. Half a dozen hit tunes - some still performed 70 years later - written by Irving Berlin. Both Powell and Faye are in top voice and each get their share of tunes to introduce.Alice Faye receives third billing under Powell and Carroll. This was likely one of the last times she would be billed as such - top stardom was right around the corner for her.The dance routines are very 1930s and staged, somewhat generically, by Seymour Felix - lots of chorus girls and big stages. Sadly, "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", the most enduring song of the film, is kind of tossed away in a production number of modest proportions.The Ritz Brothers are an acquired taste, perhaps. They do have some better moments in the film, especially so in the opening number where they are less zany than in the rest of the film. Dance skills? Absolutely!Madeline Carroll is an attractive woman, but Alice Faye sings, dances and quietly radiant through-out the entire film.There are some amusing similarities between this film and "Hollywood Hotel" another Dick Powell from 1937 - both are show business stories, Powell gets slapped in the face in both films by a stuck up girl and uses the same facial expression both times, Powell escorts his female star around the circumference of an outdoor fountain at night in both films, Alan Mowbray also appears in both filmsIt's not a great film or a great musical, but it is as entertaining as many musicals of the era with it's greatest strengths being its score and its 2 top performers, Powell and Faye.

For someone who takes movies as seriously as I do and has logged literally millions of miles of celluloid there's still an awful lot I've yet to see including musicals, one of my favorite genres and this was one of them yet barely five minutes in I realized that I had in fact seen it albeit via a remake with non-too-subtle changes. Consider the plot: We're spoon-fed the information that Gary Blake (Dick Powell) has written and will star in a new Revue 'On The Avenue' just about to open on Broadway and co-starring Mona Merrick (Alice Faye). Cut to opening night and after a number by Mona (He Ain't Got Rhythm) we segue into a sketch satirising 'the richest girl in the world' even as the subject of the sketch, Mimi Caraway (Madeleine Carroll) takes her seat in the orchestra along with her father, Commodore Caraway (George Barbier) and fiancé Frederick Sims, the well-known Arctic explorer (Alan Mowbray). Mimi, clearly based on Gloria Vanderbilt, is not too pleased about the satire any more than the Commodore and Sims but this doesn't prevent her falling for Gary before secretly buying the show and humiliating Gary. I don't know about you but I saw a movie about a millionaire who heard about a show IN REHEARSAL that satirised him; he went along incognito and fell for one of the actresses so he bought the show secretly and put himself forward as a look-alike of the real millionaire, thus securing a role which kept him close to the actress. So, if you've seen Let's Make Love starring Yves Montand and Marilyn Monroe then you've more or less seen On The Avenue but Let's Make Love had neither Alice Faye nor an Irving Berlin score and On The Avenue had to make do with Dick Powell instead of the great Yves Montand. Be that as it may Berlin contributed a fine score in which ironically singing joke Dick Powell, on loan from Warners, got to 'sing' what has become the best-known number, I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm - for good measure he was also allotted two further ballads, You're Laughing At Me (how right he was) and The Girl On The Police Gazette, whilst Alice Faye, the best singer by a mile, wound up with This Year's Kisses, Slumming On Park Avenue and He Ain't Got Rhythm. There was fine support from Cora Witherspoon, Billy Gilbert, an underused Joan Davis, and Sig Ruman and a good time was had by all, especially patrons. One for the collection.