Sing, You Sinners

This movie has three of the most unlikely actors playing brothers--Bing Crosby (Joe), Fred MacMurray (David) and a very young Donald O'Connor (Mike). The three occasionally make money singing together as an odd little trio. Why the studio put MacMurray in the film is odd. He looks nothing like Crosby and his singing is only fair. As for O'Conner he's 20 years younger than the other two...but at least he sings nicely for a kid.

The film is about a family where the oldest brother, Joe, is an irresponsible dreamer. He always has a scheme and does things like drives drunk and makes promises he never can keep. When he announces he's bought a business and he's going to take care of the family, they're all shocked to see that instead he's bought a race horse...and no longer has a dime to his name. So, on occasion, the three brothers need to sing to make ends meet and life if tough for their Ma (Elizabeth Patterson)...as well as David who wants to be able to marry and settle down.

The film is extremely slight--with singing and dancing and a lot of clichés. Also, Crosby plays such an unlikable guy that after a while, I found my attention waning and I was looking forward to it all ending. Not a terrible film but certainly not all that good considering the stars.

I thought I was the luckiest kid alive. I sat in complete attendence of what was the best movie I can remember. It was very exciting to me and I think of it whenever I am depressed, because of It's upbeat outlook on life. I can stoll remember the words to the song "pocket Full Of Dreams" I've heard it played a few times,- once at the race track. I wish I could see it once more, or own a tape copy of it.

This is one of Bing Crosby's best films from the 1930s. It gave him a great opportunity to show off some dramatic ability and a couple of big selling hits one of which served as the title of the current biography by Gary Giddins.

Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray and Donald O'Connor are the three Beebe brothers. And Bing is the source of much concern with mother Elizabeth Patterson. He's a lazy, shiftless, irresponsible and charming man who won't just settle down. The burden of supporting the family is left to brother Fred MacMurray who keeps postponing marriage to his long time sweetheart, Ellen Drew, until the family is all provided for. And finally kid brother Donald O'Connor idolizes Bing and wants to grow up just like him to the despair of Patterson and MacMurray.

Bing up and leaves the family, promising to go to Los Angeles, get into a steady business and settle down. Of course his idea of a steady business is to own a racehorse named Uncle Gus. He sends for Patterson and O'Connor and later MacMurray and Drew come and are all shocked.

The rest of the film is the usual run of movie plots where racehorses are concerned.

The Beebe brothers also have a singing act which MacMurray hates, but which brings in needed cash when the bills start piling up. That's where the musical score written by Jimmy Monaco and Johnny Burke comes in. Done as a trio number in the film, I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams became one of Crosby's biggest hits from the 1930s. Crosby's one solo number is Don't Let That Moon Get Away and in another trio number MacMurray is the lead singer in Laugh and Call It Love. Before he came to Hollywood, Fred MacMurray sang and played saxophone in various bands and also was in the original Broadway cast of Roberta. He had a pleasant, but thin tenor voice, but I don't think he'd have lasted in Hollywood if he had done musicals.

This was Donald O'Connor's first big break and he shows a hint of the dancing talent he had during the Pocketful of Dreams number. He and Crosby later re-united in the second version of Anything Goes in 1956.

One song was added into the score. Composed by Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser, Small Fry was done as a novelty number by the trio. However Bing recorded it with his good friend Johnny Mercer and that novelty song also became a monster hit.

Sing You Sinners should be seen back to back with the James Cagney/Pat O'Brien film The Irish in Us as they have very similar plot development and characters.

This was the first of two Crosby films with a racetrack background, the other being Riding High. Curiously enough they had opposite plot conclusions. No spoilers here though, see both films and see what I mean.

Did you know Donald O'Connor was a child actor? If you didn't, go out and rent Sing You Sinners as soon as possible. He's so adorable! He sings, dances, gives typical pre-teen attitude, and rides a horse, all at the tender age of thirteen and in his third film. I wonder if he hated Mickey Rooney, whom he replaced in this movie; not only could he have played many of the parts Mickey did, but Donald played Huckleberry Finn in 1938 in a forgettable film, and the following year Mickey was recruited and immortalized in the role.

Did you know Fred MacMurray could sing? If you didn't, go out and rent Sing You Sinners. He plays the middle child in the house, the only one responsible enough to support the family even though all he wants to do is marry his girl, Ellen Drew. Fred, Donald, and Bing Crosby are Elizabeth Patterson's sons, but because Bing is a deadbeat and flighty, he doesn't contribute to the family income. In a completely atypical role for Bing, he's a scoundrel who parties, tries to steal his brother's girl, and hops from new idea to new idea. Did you know Bing Crosby could play a bad guy? If you didn't, well, you know what you should do.

Sing You Sinners, while not featuring the title song, is a very cute family flick. There are cute moments that lighten the darker situations, and plenty of exciting scenes that make you devoted to the family. Check it out; you'll want to adopt little Donald!

More musical numbers with the three male leads in this film would have been nice, and raised it a star or two. "Sing, You Sinners" is a nice pairing of three good musical talents. Bing Crosby was well-established as a singling star by this time, and Fred MacMurray was more known as a comedy and dramatic actor. But he too had a considerable musical background, and was able to use it in some of his earliest films. Along with those two established actors comes the young Donald O'Connor. This was just his second credited film, and his first major role. As a child actor, O'Connor showed fine talent for dancing and acting, that would be his forte in his adult career. Together in this film, the three make up the reluctant Beebe brothers trio.

The comedy in this film is on the light side, with a screenplay and story that was more dramatic because of the usually tense situation that the family found itself in. That was mostly because of finances since the dad died a few years before. Elizabeth Patterson does a good job as the mother, Mrs. Daisy Beebe, caring about her sons and trying to steer them in the right direction. Ellen Drew played Martha Randall, MacMurray's long-waiting fiancé.

It's a nice look at the talent of the three, and I think it would have been more entertaining with less of the wanderings and uncertainly of Crosby's Joe, and the guys making a go of it singing, dancing and playing instruments.