Ethel Merman is loud and I kind of loved it in Roaming

You should probably watch Roaming if you have an hour to kill and don't mind a lot of shouting. It is basically for people who miss the old days of traveling shows and weird medicine tonics.

If you like your movies quiet and subtle, you will absolutely hate this. Ethel Merman is the main draw here, obviously.

She plays a singer in a medicine show and she does not hold back. My ears were actually ringing a little bit by the end of it.

The plot is about as thin as the paper they print the tonic labels on. She is traveling, she is singing, and then she finds a guy. That is the whole thing.

The Vibe of the Show

I really liked the sets. They look like they were built in about twenty minutes, which actually makes it feel more real.

You can see the dust on the floorboards when she dances. It reminds me a little bit of The Sawdust Trail but with more singing and less preaching.

The medicine show itself is kind of funny. They are selling stuff that probably tastes like vinegar and dirt, but they make it look like a party.

There is one guy in the background of the crowd who looks like he is genuinely falling asleep. I noticed him in three different shots. 😴

Merman and the Script

Casey Robinson wrote this, and you can tell he was trying to keep it light. He usually writes much heavier stuff, like The Squaw Man, so this feels like he was on vacation.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Roaming (1931) through its definitive frames.

Merman’s energy is just... a lot. She has this way of looking at the camera that is actually scary sometimes.

One reaction shot of her looking surprised lingers so long it becomes funny. I think the editor forgot to cut it or something.

The romance part is fine, I guess. The guy she falls for is a bit wooden, like he is reading his lines off a fence post.

"I'm just a girl with a song and a bottle of fake medicine."

She did not actually say that, but she might as well have. That is the whole mood of the film.

Small Things I Noticed

• The way she holds her hat when she hits the high notes so it doesn't fly off.
• The weirdly long shot of a bottle of tonic that stays on screen for like ten seconds.
• A dog in the background of the town scene that looks very confused by the singing.

It is much shorter than something like Chantage, which is good because I don't think I could handle two hours of this noise.

The movie gets noticeably better once she stops trying to be serious and just leans into the silliness of the medicine show. It is not a masterpiece, but it is fun in a loud way.

If you have seen A Girl's Folly, you know how these old show-biz stories go. This one is just louder.

I did find myself humming one of the songs later. So I guess it worked on me. 🎵

Anyway, watch it if you like Merman. Skip it if you have a headache.