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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
Honestly, only if you have a weird obsession with how people performed music before television existed. If you like 1930s jazz-pop or just want to see how these early shorts were slapped together, you might get a kick out of it. If you need a plot or, you know, anything happening on screen, you’ll probably want to skip this one.
It’s barely ten minutes long. It’s basically just a stage setup with some people standing around singing.
There is absolutely no attempt to be cinematic here. It’s static. It’s rigid. It feels like they just rolled a camera into a room and told everyone to 'act natural' while they belted out tunes like Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella.
Evelyn Hoey has a very specific, clipped way of pronouncing her words that sounds like a parody of the era. It’s charming for about thirty seconds, then it just gets kind of repetitive.
The Eton Boys have these stiff grins that they hold for way too long. It’s a little haunting if you stare at it too much.
Also, the transition between songs is just… nothing. They just sort of stop, look at the floor for a beat, and then start the next one. It makes the whole thing feel like a rehearsal rather than a performance.
It makes me think of Stout Hearts and Willing Hands, which at least had some energy to it. This one is just so incredibly polite. It doesn't have the chaotic charm of Miss Mischief Maker, which at least felt like someone was trying to do something fun with the medium.
Maybe it’s just me, but the whole thing feels like a time capsule that didn’t really need to be opened. Still, Sammy Fain looks like he’s having a good time at the piano. That counts for something, I guess.
It’s not bad. It’s just very old.