Dancing Co-Ed (1939)

Lana Turner goes back to school, but only to win a dance contest (which stipulates a college student wins) to star in a new movie starring Lee Bowman, whose wife is now pregnant and can't make the movie. There are complications galore when Richard Carlson is determined to find a "plant" if there is one at their college. But "Sherlock never suspected Watson", so Lana helps him in his investigation.Costarring Ann Rutherford (at her radiant best at something other than Andy Hardy's Polly), Roscoe Karns (who's great as an Hollywood bigwig's assistant), and Leon Errol (who's very memorable as Lana's father,) this is yet another movie of the kind they just don't make anymore. Not that it's very important or very life-changing, but it shows early Hollywood and its naive look at life, before they made movies with language and excess of everything unnecessary to movie-making.Monty Woolley with his usual eloquent and memorable voice makes a brief appearance as an intimidating teacher. You can also spot Mary Beth Hughes and June Preisser, who was in a couple of the Mickey/Judy films as the rich society girl.If you want to sit back and enjoy the early unpretentious years of Hollywood, then this upbeat movie is for you, which showcases a young Lana Turner at her sweetest. Who could ask for anything more?

A musical is about ready to be filmed for a fictional studio. The only problem is that the lady from the dance team to star in the film is pregnant and they need to find a replacement. Roscoe Karnes has an idea to stage a phony search in colleges across the country for the actress' replacement--though in reality, he has already chosen Lana Turner for the role. So, he enrolls Lana at a college and pretends to have an honest to goodness competition. Unfortunately, complications arise and the film becomes a nice little romantic farce.This is a rather old fashioned but fun old MGM musical that oddly stars Lana Turner. While I was surprised how well she could dance, you just normally don't think of her and dancing. Apparently it was originally to have been an Eleanor Powell film and it sure feels like one. Either could have done a fine job in this film, though seeing Turner in her more natural look of 1939 was very refreshing--with much less make-up and more natural looking hair. She was quite beautiful and more natural looking--making me wish that more co-eds had looked like this when I was in college. Uh, oh,...if my wife reads this, I am toast! By the way, while not a great film, it's a very good film and one even curmudgeons can enjoy.

I saw this movie several times, in another life (before WWII), with another title (Invitation To Dance)and in another world (Eastern Europe). Artie Shaw was already a star, but didn't fill the expectations, perhaps too bright to stay in rank with other jazzmen.I never found an opportunity to see it again, is not even available at Amazon. I caught it last week on a TCM program, although the advertised cast mentioned only the names of Lana Turner and...Thurston Hall! In my humble opinion, this movie may illustrate a duel between the two great clarinet wizards, Benny Goodman The King Of Swing and Artie Shaw the King of Clarinet.The Midwestern jazz and majorette parade imitates but hardly matches the motorcade introducing Hollywood HOTEL (S. Sylvan Simon ain't Busby Berkeley!) but the dance contest sequence is excellent, with a special mention for TRAFFIC JAM, both for the music and for the staging. That air is bathing in Count Basian atmosphere, like the LADY BE GOOD rendition of the same line-up - with Buddy Rich for added entertainment.And in his second (and last) full-length movie,SECOND CHORUS, Artie Shaw lined up his Concerto For Clarinet, a masterpiece largely shown, not for just two minutes, like SING, SING, SING, in HH. The plot was entertaining, with many good quips and dialog. Good mentions for Roscoe Kearns and Ann Rutherford.And Lana Turner is, at least this time, fresh and unsophisticated. A must for all the Artie Shaw and Swing Era fans, although the jazz sequences - except TRAFFIC JAM - are unreasonably shortened. Harry Carasso, Paris, France

This is perhaps Lana Turner's finest vehicle. It showcases her unbelievable beauty and vitality, and it also spotlights her generally undiscovered comedic talents. The plot of this film involves a nation-wide search for a "dancing co-ed" to replace a movie-star in a big budget film. Lana's character has been planted at one of the colleges under consideration, however the student-editor of the school newspaper suspects that the company has already chosen its girl. Under the theory that Sherlock Holmes never suspected Watson, Lana becomes his assistant, and successfully evades his search...of course, the two fall in love....This movie gave me some of the biggest laughs I've ever had. It is simple, yet wonderful, and one of the most enjoyable films. Chalk up Dancing Co-Ed as another of 1939's countless cinema classics.