VividSimon Simply Perfect

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

jjnxn-1 Hoary old chestnut about the rush to stardom, losing control when you're at the top and setting things right. If you're a fan of light opera than you'll enjoy Melton's singing but his acting is strictly dinner theatre quality and he photographs like a cross between Dagwood Bumstead and a shiny lemon. Fortunately the film has Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh and Marie Wilson to inject some life into the proceedings but even with them it's an average affair. The real reason to catch this is the presence of Jane Froman in the cast. The singer famed for her war work and catastrophic accident immortalized in With a Song in My Heart didn't make many films and while this one isn't much she sings beautifully.

calvinnme ...with the exception of Pat O'Brien there are really no other big screen stars in this film. However, there are some quite famous singing stars including Jane Froman and James Melton.The story starts out in a bar with down-on-his-luck agent/talent scout Al McGillevray (Pat O'Brien) being the butt of jokes at every table he visits in the joint. Disheartened, he goes back to his hotel and requests his trunk be brought up to his room, saying he's going to check out. He is - but not the way the night clerk thinks as Al has a gun in that trunk and plans to end it all. He changes his mind when happy singing porter Jan King (James Melton) arrives with his trunk and Al thinks he can make him into a sensation and finally become a big shot which seems to be his highest goal in life.Al takes odd jobs in order to pay Jan's expenses during the weeks it takes for Jan to take some basic voice training from Professor Minotti, and then Jan makes his debut. Minotti wants to take Jan to Italy for lengthy training so that he can sing opera, since he has that potential. This doesn't mix with anxious Al's desire to drag Jan to the top as fast as possible so he can go around town crowing that he discovered him. What is dragged up fast can be dragged down in a hurry too, as Jan begins to be more interested in wine and women than song. Throughout all of this, there is the presence of a demure young woman, Nora, who wants to be a singer. She is constantly asking Al if he'll be her agent, and for some reason that's not clearly understandable, he keeps refusing. Things come to a head between Jan and Al when Jan not only is trashing his own career but is planning on making Nora another notch in his belt.This one is a little light on dramatic enjoyment but I have to take my hat off to Pat O'Brien's acting here. His character starts out a weakling who is willing to end it all over nothing more than foolish pride, but by the end of the film I really admired the guy. On top of that there's some beautiful singing by James Melton in one of his very few film appearances of the 30's.

MartinHafer When you think of musicals, you would never think of Pat O'Brien. He never demonstrated any musical aptitude in films and here he looks totally out of place as a guy trying to promote a high-brow singer (James Melton). What's more out of place, other than Melton's operatic warbling, are the terrible amateur-hour acts that are interspersed throughout the film. The worst is probably the God-awful gospel group that did more to encourage atheism than any other act in film history!! In addition to the non-singer O'Brien is non-singer Frank McHugh--who is more pushy and loud than normal (not that he ever played subtle). It's easy to hate him in this film--which is a shame, as he's generally a likable sort of sidekick.The film has a thin story, some crazy production numbers (choreographed by Busby Berkeley), a lot of annoying singing and, well, that's really about all. I love Pat O'Brien but somehow he got lost amidst the cacophony. As you might guess, I am not a huge fan of musicals--but if I do see one, I'd prefer it be a lot better than this one (such as "42nd Street" or any of the Astaire-Rogers films). Pretty dull and hard on the ears.

David (Handlinghandel) This begins with failed agent Pat O'Brien planning his suicide. A porter in his building catches his ear with his cowboy song. Could this be the new star to make his name and fortune? The porter is James Melton, who soon is taken to an operatic vocal coach presciently named Menotti. Menotti sees him as someone who could be a star at the Met with five years of training and Melton's "Celeste Aida" is sung in a fine tenor.O'Brien wants quick results, though, and betrays him, making him a more popular-style singer who can rake in the bucks. He does and stardom goes to his head but he takes to the sauce, betraying O'Brien in return.This is not the first time I've seen O'Brien in a role that suggests gay or closeted gay feelings. The reconciliation between these two is strange indeed for a scene between two men in a mid-thirties movie.O'Brien wants to make a star of Jean Muir, too, but Menotti hears her "Ave Marie" sung in church and doesn't think she has the goods. She and O'Brien end up together but the movie is really about his and Melton's characters.It is dark and quite elegant, a touching movie whose title has little to do with it and is misleading. Perhaps O'Brien smiles once but if so, it is the exception rather than the rule. His performance is subdued and he seems beaten down.