Colleen (1936)

A passable enough movie but all over the map, and while it was a vehicle for the Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler tandem, I liked it more for their supporting cast, featuring Hugh Herbert as a bumbling millionaire and Joan Blondell as a gold-digger. The musical numbers are mildly entertaining, but tap dancer Paul Draper lacks charisma and Ruby Keeler's singing is flat. I liked "Boulevardier from the Bronx" performed by Blondell and Jack Oakie more, as goofy as he was, and perhaps influenced by Blondells's décolleté. It's not horrible or anything, but you can do better. I suggest trying a movie like Footlight Parade from 1933 instead.

Of Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell's collaborations together, 'Colleen' is, along with 'Shipmates Forever', their weakest. This is not in any way saying that it's bad, because it isn't.It's just that the pair did make much stronger films, that had more memorable songs and much better choreographed dance numbers, especially '42nd Street', 'Footlight Parade' and 'Goldiggers of 1933'. 'Dames' is also great fun, and 'Flirtation Walk' has enough charm and likability to make up for the flawed story.There are numerous pleasures here. Joan Blondell and Jack Oakie come very close to stealing the film. Blondell is a bundle of joy with a natural screen presence and irresistible charm and Oakie is a lot of fun. Their scene together is a sheer delight and for me the highlight of 'Colleen'.Keeler and Powell themselves don't disappoint either. Powell sings beautifully and is very likable, and while singing is not a strong suit of hers (and that to be honest is putting it mildly) Keeler fares better at dancing than in a few of her previous films and also has the charm and likability factor. While none of the songs are hits, they are still very pleasant and more than listenable, certainly deserving of better dance direction.Didn't care for Hugh Herbert personally. He does have some amusing moments, but it just felt too much of The Hugh Herbert Show and, while some parts are entertaining, his broad and effete style of comedy did get tiresome. The script has the odd nice moment, but overall it's pretty feeble. The story is both silly and flimsy, yes even for a musical comedy.One always says that musicals shouldn't be judged for their stories but it does depend though on how well executed the rest of the elements are, and 'Colleen' was an example of one where some things were done well and others left wanting. Paul Draper is like agreed a minor Fred Astaire without the elegance or grace, and he shows severe limitations as an actor, even in his dance with Keeler Keeler outperforms him by a country mile.Lastly, the choreography and dance direction were seriously uninspired and leaden, am aware that you can't have Busby Berkeley all the time but the dance direction and how things were choreographed had such a lack of imagination that they were crying out for his involvement.All in all, pleasant if bland. Watchable, but this should have been a better swansong collaboration overall for Keeler and Powell. 6/10 Bethany Cox

While the film has a few interesting moments, "Colleen" is pure fluff--and the songs aren't particularly distinguished. Musical fans will probably be disappointed and non-musical fans probably won't be won over by the film.The film begins with the rich eccentric owner (Hugh Herbert) of the Ames Company showing up for work--and that's a bad thing. So, it's up to his nephew (Dick Powell) to follow behind and clean up his messes. One mess involves Herbert's relationship with a wicked gold-digger (Joan Blondell) and her 'friend' (Jack Oakey). And when Powell goes to investigate the dress shop that Herbert bought for her, he meets Blondell's bookkeeper (Ruby Keeler) and falls in love. But, it's too early in the film and naturally some monkey wrench arises that keeps them apart until their ultimate and very expected happy ending.As I said above, the film has lots of singing and dancing but none of it is particularly distinguished. In addition, Miss Keeler (who was a great dancer) sang too often--and this was a problem since her singing was pretty flat and lifeless. Oddly, when she danced they often had her dancing with a different guy (not Powell)--probably because he had a nice voice but wasn't a dancer. And, she was really a dancer and not a singer--an odd combination.As for the comedy, I agree with another reviewer who felt that basing an entire film around Herbert wasn't a great idea, as he was very much a one-not performer. He could be good (such as in "The Traveling Saleslady") but he could also become tiresome with his effete manner and shtick. The brightest spots in the film, I think, were Blondell and Oakey, but since it was a musical, this left these two out of much of the film--though their musical number together was pretty decent. All in all, a lot of fluff and a pleasant time-passer at best.

I cannot find much to say about this movie. For a supposedly WB event Dick Powell/Ruby Keeler, it is very cheap looking as if all the money went into extravagant looking Bubsy Berkeley inspired number that is dull. Worse of all, it is not funny and the songwriting fail to deliver one memorable song (they all sound the same; heck they seem as though they were recycled from other Dick powell hits). This was the end of Dick powell, once this movie seriously underperformed. (I don't know if it bombed). The plot - what there is of it - has Uncle Cedric who is pulled in by a golddigger,Joan Blondell and is taken away from the focus of his business, by the golddigger who uses sex -it's implied - to make her a daughter and thus an inheritor. Dick Powell is the one brought in to look over the business and falls for his Uncle's secretary, Ruby Keeler -Dick and Ruby were married at the time - and snoop out the golddiggers. His relationship with this lower class girll who is also an upcoming fashion designer creates a scandal and you can figure out the rest. This film contains a lot of bad crooning and extremely ineffeciently displaying of ugly tap dancing. Dick Powell is much better in Hollywood Hotel. But avoid Cowboy in Brooklyn and Going places. It wouldn't be long before Dickie's contract was not renewed an d he left WB.