Product: Rhythm On The Range/Rhythm On The River - Double Feature (1936)
Rating: 2.0
Hollywood Sets the Stage for a Masterpiece
The cardinal virtue of this double set is the very reasonable price - fans of the stars certainly can enjoy seeing them in excellent prints, though the audio feature is set far too low. It's too bad others - are you listening MGM - continue to charge top dollar for simple reissues of films over fifty years old.The first feature is baldly derivative and lacks most of the depth a good feature should possess. Crosby, Farmer, and Raye rarely connect with the story, or, much more important, it with them! Only for those who must see every film of their favorites.The second film has considerably more going for it: Crosby and the young Mary Martin make for a reasonable screen couple, and there is a good stab at building something like a romantic plot. In the opening the two stars keep running into each other as they unknowingly are fated to meet and fall in love under the spell of each other's music. Crosby's uncle's sleepy inn in upstate New York proves the plot's counterpart to the city, and Crosby's inimical low key acting fits in nicely. However, complications seem patently labored, and any semblance of good film-making soon falters. The movie enjoys one very good song, plus a good if hardly outstanding set piece of what sounds like a dolled up 'Mississippi Mud' in a pawn shop. There are as well a few unmemorable songs Crosby and Martin put over reasonably well. But there are several others that remain completely forgettable. Mary Martin does her best - but if she can't bring a song alive, no one can!Never-the-less there is enough interest here to recommend this film to Crosby and Martin fans. Just don't expect too much!However, there's a wondeful silver lining to the last film. Out of the ashes of the so-so Rhythm on the River was to emerge a true wonder - a mere two years later in 1942 Paramount would again send Crosby escaping the city to a country inn. Only this time the locale is Connecticut, and instead of patchy songs audiences would be wowed when Irving Berlin dusted off some old numbers, sprinkled pixie dust over them, and presented the film makers with monster classics.To this bevy of melodic miracles was added a remarkably effective plot, revolving around an Inn that is only open on Holidays, and a far better conceived romance. All topped off with glorious sets and stunning musical numbers, including a final sensational studio Christmas snow scene complete with sleigh. The set perfectly matches the famous song "White Christmas' with an exact 'copy' of Crosby's character's country inn, and gives the film an extra frisson as studio art brilliantly comments on its own film creation. And just for good measure the film would luxuriate in an extraordinary indulgence of casting - paired opposite Crosby as chief competitor for his girl was none other than Fred Astaire. The final result was one of the genuine musical classics of Hollywood - "Holiday Inn". As an enormous bonus: The film gave Crosby his signature song.Holiday Inn (Special Edition)