Blue of the Night

Holy cats... Blue of the Night has cute society girl Babe Kane on a train bragging to Der Bingle that she's engaged to none other than Der Bingle. Then he goes off and gets a story planted announcing the engagement. Babe is in a tither and in an inspired bit of casting designed to challenge the suspension of disbelief, the lightly loafered Franklin Pangborn appears as the jilted fiancée, who overhears what he thinks is a plot. This Bing is a fraud? When Bing shows up at the party he bets his way-cool 1932 Cadillac roadster against five bucks that Bing is an impostor. Bing left is i.d. back at home so he sings-- and whistles--- his way through the title song long enough to prove he's the real deal and drives off with Babe in Pangborn's car. Several things distinguish this from Bing's other shorts: it wasn't directed by Mack Sennett so it doesn't have a tacked on car/motorcycle chase, it has very high production values and best of all the ravishing 17-year old Toby Wing (with a decidedly southern drawl) in a swimsuit... humma humma! Otherwise, it's got the typical 'Bing ends up engaged or married plot with the happy couple leaving a debris trail of unhappy relatives and fiancées in their wake' plot that never varied much. As Crosby's shorts go, this is one of the better ones. VIII out of X.