If I Had My Way
Tags: home movie

Plot synopsis:
Buzz Blackwell, Fred Johnson and Axel Swenson are construction workers in San Francisco who are helping to build the Golden Gate Bridge. They are good friends and Buzz and Axel even help Fred in raising his daughter Patricia. When Fred tragically dies in an accident, Patricia is forced to go live with her relatives in New York City whom she has never met. Buzz and Axel decide to travel with her.
They soon arrive at the home of her uncle Jarvis Johnson, a snobby rich man with supercilious wife. Jarvis has received a letter from Buzz but wants no part in raising Patricia. When they show up, Jarvis pretends to be someone else and sends them to the other "J. Johnson", Joe, another uncle. Joe and Marian are poor ex-vaudevillans but welcome the girl with open arms. Buzz wants to give Joe the money Fred left for Patricia, but finds out a drunken Axel used that money to buy a Swedish restaurant.
Buzz is determined to help and turns the restaurant into a nightclub, using a loan from Jarvis, which he obtained through false pretenses. Jarvis returns to claim his money back, but the club is a success and he is repaid.

Review: IF I HAD MY WAY (Universal, 1940), produced and directed by David Butler, stars Bing Crosby, on loan from Paramount, in an agreeable musical-comedy with a title that can often be confused with his most memorable performance as Father Chuck O'Malley in GOING MY WAY (Paramount, 1944).
Crosby doesn't play a priest here, but a good-natured construction worker named "Buzz" Blackwell.
His best friend is Fred Johnson (Donald Woods), a fellow construction worker who is a widow caring for his young daughter, Patricia (Gloria Jean).
After Fred is killed during a hazardous assignment on one of he nation's highest projects, it is up to Buzz to become guardian to the orphaned girl who has a singing voice like an angel.
Assisted by Axel Svenson (El Brendel) and his pet squirrel, Buzz learns that Patricia has relatives living in Manhattan and decides to take her over to her rich uncle living at 940 East 56th Street.
Johnson (Allyn Joslyn) and his attractive wife, Brenda (Claire Dodd) prove to be nothing but snobs, with Jarvis wanting nothing to do with his brother (because he had married an actress), nor his child.
The next best thing is for Buzz to locate Patricia's great uncle, Joe Johnson (Charles Winninger), who lives on the west side of Manhattan.
After Axel uses up all their money in a small neighborhood restaurant, it is up to Buzz to save the day once more, this time by transforming the place into a profitable nightclub, with Joe Johnson, a former vaudevillian, to help out with the entertainment.New songs by Johnny Burke and James V.
Monaco include: "Meet the Sun Half Way," "I Haven't the Time to Be a Millionaire" (sung by Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean); "Little Gray Home of the West" (Gloria Jean); "Pessimistic Character" (Crosby and cast members); "If I Had My Way" (Crosby to Jean); "Ida" (sung by Eddie Leonard in black-face, and Six Hits and a Miss); "Rings on My Fingers" (sung by Blanche Ring); "April Played the Fiddle" and "Meet the Sun Half Way" (reprise/finale, with Crosby and Jean).
Of the songs presented, "I Haven't Time to Be a Millionaire" comes off best.
The supporting players include Moroni Olson (John Blair, the bank president); Kathryn Adams (Miss Corbett); Emory Parnell (Gustave Svenson); Barnett Parker (The Floorwalker); and vaudeville acts (which were usually cut from most TV prints) with guest stars Blanche Ring, Trixie Friganza, Paul Gordon (the cyclist) Grace LaRue and Julian Eltinge.Not as famous as the other Bing Crosby musicals of the day, IF I HAD MY WAY certainly is one of those "feel good" movies helped along by the presence of the young and likable Gloria Jean, who was by then age 11 or 12.
Making her movie debut in THE UNDER PUP (1939), Jean became Universal's answer to becoming a junior Deanna Durbin.
Like Durbin, Jean had a fine singing voice, but unlike Durbin, the duration of her films for Universal consisted mainly of quickly produced "B" musicals.
While Jean appeared in a handful of lightweight films for Universal from 1939 to 1945, almost all of them are ignored and forgotten today, with the exception of the rarely seen "film noir" DESTINY (1944), where she played a blind girl, a role she is best remembered, along with NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (1941), playing the niece to W.C. Fields.
If it weren't for this Fields comedy, which continues to be in circulation today, Gloria Jean would be one of those forgotten names known solely by film historians.IF I HAD MY WAY, which runs at 94 minutes, is predictable yet enjoyable, not unlike Crosby's other musicals he was making over at Paramount.
Alas -- Eltinge, along with prominently billed Broadway stars Trixie Friganza and Grace La Rue are STILL missing from the commercial DVD of this film, although he is mentioned in PR and on the box!
We DO get to see Eddie Leonard (in black face!) and Blanche Ring (Does anyone actually view these films before promoting and selling them?).
If I Had My Way was the second of two films that Carl Laemmle acquired Bing Crosby's services for from Paramount, the first being East Side of Heaven from the previous year.
Over at Universal Bing was surrounded with a cast of different contract supporting players than he usually had at Paramount.
But the results were pretty good.Crosby brought over his usual songwriters at the time from Paramount, Jimmy Monaco and Johnny Burke.
The team wrote four songs for this film, April Played the Fiddle, Meet the Sun Halfway, I Haven't Got the Time to be a Millionaire, and The Pessimistic Character.
There was also the title song which was written by James Kendis and Lou Klein.April Played the Fiddle and If I Had My Way are good ballads sung solo by Bing on film.
The other three while recorded solo by Crosby, in the movie they are duets with his adolescent co-star Gloria Jean.
Bing had a genre of popular music all his own, the upbeat philosophical number which he alone seemed to sing on screen.
That's what the Gloria Jean duets are here and her soprano in no way clashes with his crooning.
There's a line in the Johnny Burke lyric where it goes, "you know when you smile, you throw yourself a big bouquet." You listen to Crosby sing it on record and I swear the smile leaps right off the vinyl.
Bing Crosby, El Brendel, and Donald Woods are construction workers who are just completing the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
Woods is a widower with a young daughter Gloria Jean who hangs out with the guys.
So Crosby and El Brendel have to deliver young Ms. Jean to her family in New York whom she's never met.Problem is there's a family feud going between her uncle Allyn Joslyn who's a real stuffed shirt and great uncle Charles Winninger who's a retired vaudevillian.
His scene where he tells Gloria Jean about her father's death is very moving.
Four years later Bing would win the Best Actor Oscar.If If I Had My Way seems a little familiar maybe it's because there's a lot of similarity between it and the earlier Pennies From Heaven where Crosby plays a similar footloose and fancy free character with a young adolescent girl that's come into his care.
But it's not something you really notice during the film.This is a must for true Crosby aficionados like your's truly..
This Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean film is both predictable and somewhat sappy.
The title song, "If I Had My Way" written by James Kendis (the composer of "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles") was the highlight of the movie.
Crosby's version was beautifully done as he sang to Gloria Jean.
Gloria Jean was a beautiful 12 year old.
Bing Crosby recorded the title song on many albums.
In If I Had My Way, Bing Crosby gets to show off his dramatic acting talents as well as sing a few songs and entertain his usual audience.
Gloria Jean is the pretty, tween, beautiful-voiced daughter who manages to adjust to her new surroundings brilliantly.
She was supposed to be a replacement for Deanna Durbin, but her career didn't take off, so if you want to see her in a movie, you don't have too many to choose from.Parts of this movie are good, like the beginning set up, but one of the main characters is incredibly off-putting.
El Brendel, Bing's oafish Swedish friend, is so annoying, I'm not sure I would have preferred Mischa Auer, who played Bing's Russian sidekick in East Side of Heaven.
Charles Winninger also joins the supporting cast, and while he's such a pro that he does make you forget about El, he doesn't have as big a part, so he doesn't make the entire movie better.The entire setup of the film is that Bing Crosby is a bit of a flighty guy who can't handle taking care of a child.
He tries to pawn Gloria off onto some other relatives, but along the way, there are obstacles, misunderstandings, and a lot of character growth so that Bing learns to love his new responsibility.
A decent diversion but my least favourite of the Bing Crosby: Screen Legend Collection.
Having enjoyed all the other films in the collection and being someone who's always liked Bing Crosby's voice, If I Had My Way was definitely going to be given a viewing.
It is far from a bad film at all, in fact it is a decent one but of the Bing Crosby: Screen Legend Collection it was the one I enjoyed the least.
I have to agree with those who didn't like El Brendel, he mugs constantly here and it gets annoying and way too much.
The story is also the least engaging of the collection, admittedly the story wasn't a strong suit in any of the five films in the set but the story in If I Had My Way came off as contrived and routinely predictable with in some points a serious need of spark and less sentimentality.
The humour could have been much stronger too, it has its moments like with the squirrel who is hilarious and the dialogue between Bing and Gloria Jean was appropriately snappy but the other four films had tighter and smarter scripting and Brendel's mugging does bog it down further.
The songs are bright and breezy, especially the upbeat I Haven't Time to be a Millionaire and the haunting title song that was sung in a way that only Bing could do.
Bing sings as richly and beautifully as always and gives a performance that is charismatic and relaxed, matched very well by the very likable and photogenic Gloria Jean, who sings like a lightly-voiced angel.
The supporting players apart from Brendel are solid, they're by all means not as strong as Crosby and Jean but don't disgrace themselves.
All in all, decent but not among Bing Crosby's best.
And, I am about to say something you may think is a bit crazy--I enjoyed the VERY formulaic "If I Had My Way" far more than some of the big-name musicals from MGM which were made a few years later.
Even though "If I Had My Way" didn't have the hit songs and most of the cast consisted of second-string actors since the film was by a second-string studio at the time--Universal.
That's because despite the lower budget, the film did one thing that many musicals forget--it made me smile.The film begins with Bing Crosby's friend dying and the friend's daughter (Gloria Jean) being placed in his temporary custody.
Bing then takes the child to her family, but her uncle (Allyn Joslyn) is a total butt-head and wants nothing to do with the kid--even if it is family and even though he's rich!
Instead, he looks for the child's great-uncle (Charles Winninger) and the man is willing to help BUT he's poor.
So, Bing, his DOPEY Scandinavian friend (Ed Brendel) and Winninger decide to try to care for the child together.
The only problem in the film is a TINY bit where we see a famous minstrel act (Eddie Leonard)!!
Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean brighten up If I Had My Way. This was the second of two Universal productions Paramount player Bing Crosby made for the studio.
In this one, Bing, along with El Brendel, look after pre-teen Gloria Jean after her father (Donald Woods) meets a tragic end.
They all move from San Francisco to New York so the girl can live with her rich uncle (Allyn Joslyn).
I'll stop there and just say that the plot doesn't always make sense but when Bing and Gloria sing, all is right with the world.
P.S. Since I always like to point out when a player from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, is in another one, here, it's Moroni Olsen-who was the voice of the angel who sent for Clarence at the beginning of that one-as the banker who explains what a bank does to Ms. Jean.
Bing and Gloria Jean shine and have their way in the end..
Bing and 12 y.o. Gloria Jean made a fabulously appealing costarring team at this time.
Gloria still had her 'little girl' charm and looks, but a 'big girl' operatic singing voice, rather similar to those of older Universal singing stars Deanna Durbin and Suzanna Foster.
Two years later, she had blossomed into her full teen beauty, and would be a sometimes romantic singing partner for slightly older Donald O'Connor in several films.
Reportedly, both Gloria Jean's and Suzanna's film careers were much negatively impacted by Deanna's dominance, and they were retained, in part, as bargaining chips by Universal with Miss Durbin.
She should have had a much bigger entertainment career somewhere!Several reviewers have expressed strong dislike for the supporting actor El Brendel, playing Axel, one of Bing's construction buddies.
S.Z. Sakall played a very similar character in many films of the late '30s - '50s.
Some reviewers of his films find him irritating, although I again find him generally a plus.Various reviewers have different favorites among the several featured songs.
To me, the clear winner is the bouncy swing-styled "Meet the Sun Halfway", which functions as the de facto theme song, being sung by Bing and Gloria near the beginning and again at the end of the film.
Apparently, this is also Gloria's favorite, as she begins her brief sampling of her film career, available at You Tube,with this song.
Before getting into this song in the first rendition, Bing goes through an apparent mimicking of a new acting sensation:Danny Kaye.
The message of this song is simple: Work hard for your dreams and luck(the sun) will likely help you fulfill them.Bing sings the title song(as distinct from the theme song), in response to Gloria's depression because he says he has to leave her for a new job.
This is a decent mellow ballad, also with a very broadly applicable message.In response to Gloria's suggestion that Bing could become a millionaire if he put his nose to the grindstone, he sings the ballad "I Haven't Time to be a Millionaire", enumerating all the little pleasantries and doing good things for people he would miss out on as a result of becoming a driven money-maker, like Uncle Jarvis.
Gloria gets the point after a while, and sings her version in response.
Gloria has her solo in "Little Grey Home in the West", perhaps in remembrance of her prior home near the Golden Gate Bridge, which her recently deceased father, along with Bing's character, worked on.
This pre-WWI sentimental favorite is the only song sung by the stars that was not composed for this film.
Bing also sings "April Played the Fiddle".
The final original tune: the upbeat "The Pessimistic Character, with the Crabapple Face", done as a group sing, communicates another message to don't get down too low when things look impossibly bad.The screenplay has tomboyish Californian Gloria suddenly an orphan, after her father's accidental death.
Bing is her temporary guardian, until she is relocated with her NYC uncle Jarvis Johnson, she has never seen.
Jarvis is effectively played by Allyn Joslyn, who specialized in rather similar snobbish characters.
Clair usually played 'the other woman' roles in a variety of films for various studios.
True to her persona in this film, she apparently had an aloof personality, often being referred to as 'the ice bucket'.Ex-vaudevillian Charles Winninger plays the fading vaudevillian uncle of Gloria's father, Joe Johnson.
Unlike Jarvis, he is quite willing to take in Gloria, although he has little money.
Meanwhile, friend Axel uses his and Bing's savings to buy his old friend's ailing Swedish restaurant, so his friend can return to his MN farm.
Jarvis discovers the stock he bought is worthless, and wants to sue and jail Bing for fraud, and shut down the restaurant.
Jarvis and his wife decide to be friendly with the others as a result, and everyone is getting along fine at the end.The inclusion of several actual ancient vaudeville performers near the end is controversial among reviewers,especially Eddie Leonard's blackface rendition of the standard:"Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider", which he long ago composed.
Gloria Jean, a slightly younger newcomer, takes over, and while she is sweet, ever ready to help (like Durbin's "Miss Fix It" of the dozen movies she had made at Universal up to this point), her voice is not up to the quality of Ms. Durbin's.
Bing Crosby, on loan from Paramount, is his usual easy going self, and has the hard task of telling the sweet Ms. Jean that she is now an orphan.
As they take her from the Golden Gate Bridge setting of San Francisco to the 59th Street (Queensborough/Ed Koch) bridge of New York City, they find out that her selfish uncle (Allyn Joslyn) wants no part of her, but a loving great uncle (Charles Winninger) from the same address on the West Side of 59th Street does.Everything would be fine plot line wise (for what plot there is) if El Brendel wasn't so heavily involved in it.
This ninny of a pal gives away all of Crosby's money so they can purchase a failing Swedish restaurant which they intend to turn into a swank nightclub for fading Broadway stars.
Then, they plot to con Jean's uncle into buying some worthless stock so they can keep the restaurant from being closed.
But every time El Brendel appears, the corny vaudeville type comedy just reeks of its old age.
There is one good jazzy song that Gloria Jean fails to deliver as Durbin would have.
Otherwise, Crosby really doesn't have any good material other than the acting scene of telling the poor young girl of her father's fate.
A forgotten Broadway star named Blanche Ring appears briefly to warble her still performed hit, "Rings on My Fingers".Crosby fans may enjoy this, but for those who want to limit their sugar intake, this one is not recommended.