Colleen

Cedric Ames (Hugh Herbert) is an absent-minded wealthy businessman playboy. Most of the business is done by other people including his loyal nephew Donald Ames 3rd (Dick Powell). Cedric recklessly hires sneaky assistant Joe Cork (Jack Oakie). He falls for gold-digging chocolate dipper Minnie Hawkins (Joan Blondell). He even buys her a dress shop where Colleen Reilly (Ruby Keeler) is the bookkeeper. Donald works to save Cedric from himself.

This is a rom-com drama musical. I'm not really taken with the drama. The Donald Colleen romance comes and goes. I like the song and dance musical although nothing really stands out. There is one or two bigger production scenes. This is fine for the musical fans.

A fine cast outperforms the material that was given. Two of the dance numbers are worth the price of admission. The major number with Ruby Keeler and Paul Draper leads me to reevaluate Keeler's ability. I have seen a Dick Powell interview in which he stated that Ruby was only an average dancer. She certainly was not an Eleanor Powell or Ann Miller, but "The Stomper" was better than I had thought.

The Joan Blondell/Jack Oakie ballroom type segment was truly enjoyable. In fact, I'll call it delightful. Watched it four times before proceeding with the remainder of the movie.

Two of the reviewers of this movie have each made an incorrect statement. 1.)Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler were not married at the time this movie was made. They never were married to each other. Keeler was married at the time to Al Jolson. The reviewer might have been thinking thinking of Dick's marriage to co-star Joan Blondell. They were wed from September 19,1936 to July 14,1944. 2.)Cast member Hugh Herbert did not co-write the script for "Colleen". F. Hugh Herbert was the co-writer. These were two different persons.

Despite the fact that Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler are the stars in their seventh and final screen pairing, the key character here is Hugh Herbert. That unfortunately is Colleen's problem.

There are times when Hugh Herbert can be extremely funny, but a whole film really shouldn't be built around him. You can overdose on Hugh Herbert.

In the Road to Zanzibar one of the gags, but far from the whole film involved Crosby and Hope getting involved with eccentric millionaire Eric Blore. He goes around just giving the family fortune away and sells them a diamond mine for a nominal cost. Like Herbert in Colleen, Blore has his keepers. But the whole film isn't built around him.

In this film the family business is run by Dick Powell for Herbert who is his uncle and Herbert's sister Louise Fazenda. They've hired a keeper in Berton Churchill who breaks away from his usual stuffy banker type and here is the essentially decent, but eternally put upon keeper.

Herbert gets involved with a couple of sharpies, Jack Oakie and Joan Blondell who take advantage of this nut job to rake in some big bucks. Ruby Keeler is the bookkeeper at a dress shop that Herbert buys for Blondell and the Powell/Fazenda/Herbert family are now guarantors of all the debts owed and accruing.

Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote some nice songs for the film that did not boast any hits at all. Dick Powell never even bothered to commercially record any of them. The finale had dancer Paul Draper cleverly worked in to partner with Ruby while Powell sang. It was always a problem with them as a team, Ruby's flat singing and the fact you'll notice Powell never danced in any of their films.

Colleen is pleasant enough entertainment, but the Powell/Keeler combination was definitely on the wane here.

Many, if not most, of the commentaries about 'Colleen' here on iMDB are.... pretty withering... and if we compare it to earlier Warner Bro. Musicals, or to the fabulous cycle of Rogers/Astaire films coming out of RKO, then sure it doesn't compare. But it's still a good show, given the talent level of the cast and the film's obvious imitation of those musical giants Ginger and Fred. Possibly the worst of all is the music itself.

At several points, both Powell and Blondell are obviously laughing out of character at the screenplay, and they are immeasurably better than the film and their roles and the cast they are saddled with. Keeler and Oakie ! Hugh Herbert! Pretty ghastly roster. But they were both contract stars, professionals, and they turned in high quality performances of the material they were given. Powell was very glad this was the last with Keeler.

Powell was becoming increasingly vocal about the fact that he didn't even like to sing (!!?), and Blondell was writing letters to the executives begging to be given scripts that varied even slightly from the last dozen movies she had made, but the simple truth was, Warner Bros. Didn't have anybody else that could perform these roles, and they didn't have much in the way of scripts or screenplays either. So both stars abandoned Warner Bros altogether when their contracts ran out, and moved on to the best performances of their careers.

It's a shame they couldn't have made those kinds of films in the early and mid-30s, when they were at their physical peaks, particularly Blondell. Happily though, neither of them considered their film careers to be anything more than a great paycheck.

Of Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell's collaborations together, 'Colleen' is, along with 'Shipmates Forever', their weakest. This is not in any way saying that it's bad, because it isn't.

It's just that the pair did make much stronger films, that had more memorable songs and much better choreographed dance numbers, especially '42nd Street', 'Footlight Parade' and 'Goldiggers of 1933'. 'Dames' is also great fun, and 'Flirtation Walk' has enough charm and likability to make up for the flawed story.

There are numerous pleasures here. Joan Blondell and Jack Oakie come very close to stealing the film. Blondell is a bundle of joy with a natural screen presence and irresistible charm and Oakie is a lot of fun. Their scene together is a sheer delight and for me the highlight of 'Colleen'.

Keeler and Powell themselves don't disappoint either. Powell sings beautifully and is very likable, and while singing is not a strong suit of hers (and that to be honest is putting it mildly) Keeler fares better at dancing than in a few of her previous films and also has the charm and likability factor. While none of the songs are hits, they are still very pleasant and more than listenable, certainly deserving of better dance direction.

Didn't care for Hugh Herbert personally. He does have some amusing moments, but it just felt too much of The Hugh Herbert Show and, while some parts are entertaining, his broad and effete style of comedy did get tiresome. The script has the odd nice moment, but overall it's pretty feeble. The story is both silly and flimsy, yes even for a musical comedy.

One always says that musicals shouldn't be judged for their stories but it does depend though on how well executed the rest of the elements are, and 'Colleen' was an example of one where some things were done well and others left wanting. Paul Draper is like agreed a minor Fred Astaire without the elegance or grace, and he shows severe limitations as an actor, even in his dance with Keeler Keeler outperforms him by a country mile.

Lastly, the choreography and dance direction were seriously uninspired and leaden, am aware that you can't have Busby Berkeley all the time but the dance direction and how things were choreographed had such a lack of imagination that they were crying out for his involvement.

All in all, pleasant if bland. Watchable, but this should have been a better swansong collaboration overall for Keeler and Powell. 6/10 Bethany Cox