Musical Monday: French Cancan (1955)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
French Cancan (1955) – Musical #818

Studio:
Francoeur Studios

Director:
Jean Renoir

Starring:
Jean Gabin, Françoise Arnoul, María Félix, Anna Amendola, Jean-Roger Caussimon, Dora Doll, Giani Esposito, Franco Pastorino, Gaston Gabaroche, Jacques Jouanneau, Jean Parédès, Valentine Tessier, Pierre Olaf, Phillipe Clay
Specialty performers: Édith Piaf, Patachou

Plot:
Night club owner Henri Danglard (Gabin) is always looking for new talent, from dancers to a whistling Pierrot (Olaf). While “slumming” at the White Queen with his star Lola (Félix), Danglard discovers a young laundress, Nini (Arnoul), who is doing the old dance, the cancan. Lola is infuriated and jealous of Nini as Danglard decides to build an act and brand new nightclub, the Moulin Rouge, around the cancan dance. As Nini’s life changes, suitors come in and out of her life, leaving her confused about who and what she wants. She thinks she’s in love with Danglard, but his main love is art.

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Musical Monday: Texas Carnival (1951)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Texas Carnival (1951) – Musical #68

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Charles Walters

Starring:
Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Paula Raymond, Keenan Wynn, Tom Tully, Glenn Strange, Dick Wessel, Donald MacBride, Marjorie Wood, Hans Conried, Thurston Hall, Duke Johnson, Wilson Wood, Gene Coogan (uncredited), Bess Flowers (uncredited), Beatrice Hagen (uncredited), Alex Romero (uncredited)
Themselves: Foy Willing and His Orchestra, Red Norvo Trio,

Plot:
Cornie (Skelton) and Debbie Telford (Williams) work together in a dunk tank sideshow. They aren’t doing well financially, and Debbie wants a well-balanced meal. While in Texas, Cornie is mistaken for a cattle barron, Dan Sabinas (Wynn), when Cornie drives his car back to the hotel. They think Debbie is Marilla Sabinas (Raymond). Unable to untangle the misunderstanding, Cornie and Debbie wait for the real Dan Sabinas to return to the hotel. The mistaken identity leads to high gambling debts and romances. The sheriff’s daughter (Miller), Sunshine, falls for Cornie, while Sabinas’s ranch hand Slim Shelby (Howard), knows they are phonies, but plays along.

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Musical Monday: Hawaiian Buckaroo (1938)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Hawaiian Buckaroo (1938) – Musical #817

Studio:
Produced by Principal Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox

Director:
Ray Taylor

Starring:
Smith Ballew, Evalyn Knapp, Harry Woods, Pat J. O’Brien (billed as Pat O’Brien), George Regas, Benny Burt, Laura Treadwell, Fred ‘Snowflake’ Toones (uncredited), John Ince (uncredited), Robert Fiske (uncredited)

Plot:
Jeff Howard (Ballew) works as a ranch hand herding cattle in Arizona. When the rancher goes bankrupt, the ranch’s cook, Mike (Burt), approaches Jeff about a business partnership where the two would travel to Hawaii and manage pineapple crops. On the boat down to Hawaii, Jeff and Mike meet haughty heiress Paula Harrington (Knapp), who instantly dislikes Jeff. When Jeff and Mike realize their business venture is a scam, they try to find work elsewhere. They end up on Paula Harrington’s ranch, who has problems of her own with people trying to con her out of her property.

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Musical Monday: Shooting High (1940)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Shooting High(1940) – Musical #816

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Alfred E. Green

Starring:
Jane Withers, Gene Autry, Champion the Horse, Marjorie Weaver, Jack Carson, Frank M. Thomas, Robert Lowery, Kay Aldridge, Hobart Cavanaugh, Hamilton MacFadden, Charles Middleton, Ed Brady, Tom London, Eddie Acuff, Pat O’Malley, George Chandler

Plot:
In Carson Corners, there are two families who have been at odds for decades: The Carsons and the Pritchards. Will Carson (Autry) is the grandson of the town’s hero and namesake, Wild Bill Carson. But the Pritchards believe that Wild Bill was a no account. To complicate matters, Will and Marjorie Pritchard (Weaver) are sweethearts, and her scheming father, Mayor Pritchard (Thomas), is using the romance to his advantage. Mayor Pritchard is planning to build a highway through Carson’s private land. When Will finds out, he accuses Marjorie of conspiring with her father, which breaks up their romance.

Around this time, a Hollywood producer (Carson), arrives wanting to make a movie in Carson Corners about Wild Bill Carson. The Pritchards try to influence the script, and Will is jealous as Marjorie cozies up to the lead actor (Lowery). Marjorie’s little sister, Jane Pritchard (Withers) helps Will throughout the story to get the two together.

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Musical Monday: San Fernando Valley (1944)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
San Fernando Valley (1944) – Musical #815

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
John English

Starring:
Roy Rogers, Trigger, Dale Evans, Jean Porter, Andrew Tombes, Charles Smith, Edward Gargan, Dot Farley, LeRoy Mason, Adele Mara (uncredited), Pat Starling (uncredited), Helen Talbot (uncredited), Doodles Weaver (uncredited)
Themselves: Bob Nolan & Sons of the Pioneers, Vernon and Draper, Morrell Trio, Bob Nolan

Plot:
Cyclone Kenyon (Tombes) runs a ranch with his two granddaughters, Dale (Evans) and Betty Lou (Porter). Cyclone and Dale are tired of their lazy ranch hands (Bob Nolan & the Sons of the Pioneers) spend more time singing with Betty Lou than working around the ranch. The hands are fired, and they search for new hands, who are a group of women riders, and then Roy (Rogers) and his friend, Keno (Gargan), are hired on as cooks. Betty Lou hatches a plan to get their old ranch hands rehired.

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Musical Monday: Swing in the Saddle (1944)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Swing in the Saddle (1944) – Musical #814

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Lew Landers

Starring:
Jane Frazee, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Slim Summerville, Sally Bliss, Mary Treen, Red River Dave, Carole Matthews, Byron Foulger, Virginia Sale (uncredited)
Themselves: The Hoosier Hotshots, The King Cole Trio, Jimmy Wakely and his Oklahoma Cowboys, Cousin Emmy

Plot:
Two ranches, The Flying W, run by Tiny Baldwin (Guin “Big Boy Williams) and his cowhands (Jimmy Wakley and His Oklahoma Cowboys), and the Diamond Arrow Ranch, run by Steve Barrett (Red River Dave) and his ranch hands (The Hoosier Cowboys) are in search of a better cook. Meanwhile, two out-of-work actresses, Penny Marrow (Frazee) and Addie LaTour (Treen), are hitchhiking, as Addie searches for a romantic pen pal. The girls are mistaken for the new cooks for the ranches.

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Musical Monday: Road to Bali (1952)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Road to Bali (1952) – Musical #157

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Hal Walker

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Murvyn Vye, Peter Coe, Ralph Moody, Leon Askin, Patricia Dane (uncredited), Michael Jeffers (uncredited), Carolyn Jones (uncredited), Bhogwan Singh (uncredited), Chanan Singh Sohi (uncredited), 
Cameo: Humphrey Bogart (from archival footage), Bob Crosby, Jane Russell, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin

Plot:
Two vaudeville performers, George Cochran (Crosby) and Harold Gridley (Hope), are in Australia. They (yet again) have to duck out of town when the fathers of two women are looking for the performers after they proposed marriage to their daughters. To get out of town, they accept jobs from Ken Arok (Vye) to dive for treasure in Bali, Indonesia. Little do they know that their boss doesn’t plan on staying alive to accept their pay. Ken Arok is related to Princess Lala (Lamour), who knows of his nefarious ways and tries to keep Harold and George alive. Though she succeeds, the trio has to flee to stay out of reach of Ken Arok.

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Musical Monday: Road to Rio (1947)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Road to Rio (1947) – Musical #813

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Gale Sondergaard, Frank Faylen, George Meeker,
Frank Puglia, Robert Barrat, Nestor Paiva, Stanley Andrews, Harry Woods
Themselves: The Andrews Sisters, The Wiere Brothers, Jerry Colonna

Plot:
Vaudeville performers Scat Sweeney (Crosby) and Hot Lips Barton (Hope) travel the United States, and are frequently chased out of states after Scat woos women in each area. In one area, the duo’s act burns down an entire carnival. Fleeing the scene of their crime, Scat and Hot Lips stowaway on a ship to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they meet wealthy Lucia Maria de Andrade (Lamour). Lucia’s finances and future nuptials are being controlled by her nefarious guardian, Catherine Vail (Sondergaard).

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Musical Monday: Road to Morocco (1942)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Road to Morocco – Musical #147

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Anthony Quinn, Dona Drake, Vladimir Sokoloff, Mikhail Rasumny, Yvonne De Carlo (uncredited), Vivian Dandridge (uncredited), Richard Loo (uncredited)

Plot:
Jeff Peters (Crosby) and Orville “Turkey” Jackson (Hope) are adrift on a raft after their boat blows up (thanks to Turkey). When they find land, they find themselves in a desert and ride a camel towards town. They find themselves in an “Arabian Nights”-like setting. In need of money, Jeff sells Turkey. When Turkey sends Jeff a note saying he’s being tortured but to flee, Jeff sets out to save him. The note is a ruse, as Turkey is in the lap of luxury and cuddled up to Princess Shalmar (Lamour), who believes the stars have dictated that they should be married. Problems arise when Princess Shalmar falls in love with Jeff, and also is betrothed to Mullay Kasim (Anthony Quinn).

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Musical Monday: Road to Zanzibar (1941)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Road to Zanzibar (1941) – Musical No. 416

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Victor Schertzinger

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Una Merkel, Eric Blore, Douglass Dumbrille, Iris Adrian, Lionel Royce, Buck Woods, Leigh Whipper, Ernest Whitman, Noble Johnson, Joan Marsh, Luis Alberni, Ruby Dandridge (uncredited)

Plot:
Chuck (Crosby) and Fearless (Hope) are carnival performers traveling through Africa. Chuck always has a gimmick that is at the expense of Fearless’s health and safety, from being shot out of a cannon to wrestling an octopus. One of their antics causes them to go on the lamb when they burn down the carnival and the police are looking for them. They continue to get into more trouble when they meet Charles Kimble (Blore), who sells them a diamond mine. After paying Kimble all of their money, they learn Kimble is eccentric and the mine is a fake. They then run into two women in distress – Donna Latour (Lamour) and Julia Quimby (Merkel) – who may not need as much help as they think. The four then travel through the jungle in search of Donna’s sick father, or so they say.

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