Every Night at Eight

Three young women get fired from their jobs, have no money or place to stay, and attempt to get on their feet again by entering a radio competition. They carry a nice tune, but after losing to 'Tops' Cardona (George Raft) and his orchestra, they join up with Tops and follow his somewhat stern direction in the hopes of advancing their careers.

The three women are played by Alice Faye, Frances Langford, and Patsy Kelly, and while I enjoyed Kelly's pluck and Langford's singing, I have to say, the film was a little lacking in star power to put it over the top. Alice Faye is a bit like Jean Harlow lite, and Raft is not as effective here as in films like Scarface, though I did like the little bit of cool dancing he did while conducting at one point. Along those lines, in this film we get some banter, but it's banter-lite, most likely because the Hays Code was enforced as of the previous year.

The plot is somewhat thin, but the film moves along pretty well in its 80 minutes. There are some cute amateur acts including an old woman who sings like a chicken, and it was nice to see African-American singer James Miller belt out "I Feel a Song Coming On". The real highlight, though, was Langford performing "I'm in the Mood for Love", and while the song has been covered countless times over the years, this was its first appearance. As a whole, the film is reasonably entertaining, though not very memorable.