El ruiseñor pelea

This little film is classic 30's Hollywood comedy. I admit it's too short (it's one reel shy of being fully realized) and would have benefited from some fleshing out (more story/plot than character) but Walter Catlett's performance alone makes this film highly watchable and quite enjoyable. He reminds me so much of Phil Silvers. John Payne is terrific and Jane Wyman a doll but what truly makes this film fun to watch are all the great character actors in it. At 57 minutes, if Kid Nightingale was strictly made as a short than we sure get a lot of bang for our buck. But I think a better choice would have been to expand on it, especially the fight scenes and the ending, which are rushed, and go the distance, which would have made this film a real contender.

It's no wonder John Payne asked to be released from his Warner Brothers contract. This film, Kid Nightingale from 1939 is atrocious. Directed by George Amy.

Payne plays Steve Nelson, a singing waiter who beats up a rude customer. A fight promoter, Skip Davis (Walter Catlett) is impressed and wants to build him up as a boxer. Steve is interested in being an opera singer, but since he was just fired, he goes along.

He's promoted as a singing slugger to attract women and given weak competitors, breaking into song after he wins. OMG. He's meets and falls for a blonde Jane Wyman, who plays Judy. She has very little to do.

Payne had a beautiful voice and looked great in boxing trunks. Alas neither was enough to carry this ridiculous film.

Payne moved over to 20th Century Fox, where he fulfilled Darryl Zanuck's dream of a singing Tyrone Power. He wasn't that happy at Fox either, eventually changing his image to that of a tough guy. Seeing Kid Nightingale, one can really understand why.

John Payne is a singing waiter who gets into a brawl. Fight promoter Walter Catlett decides to build him up into a challenger by hiring palookas to take dives, and to hire wrestler Harry Burns to impersonate a singing teacher to help string him along. Payne is oblivious, but girlfriend Jane Wyman might have something on the ball.

It's true enough that Payne had earned money as a pro wrestler while studying singing at Julliard, but it's a remarkably silly premise for a movie. I wasn't even sure they were playing it for laughs for a half hour, even with a cast that includes Eddie Brophy and a band that plays "Listen to the Mockingbird" whenever Payne knocks someone down. Director George Amy might later win an Oscar for editing, but Frederick Richards, his editor on this movie cuts out enough to keep the running time under an hour, and to make certain plot points incomprehensible.

Boxing trainer Skip Davis (Walter Catlett) is crowing about his new fighter who ends up falling flat. He's at a restaurant listening to singing waiter Steve Nelson (John Payne) who gets interrupted by two drunken customers. Steve knocks them out and Skip convinces him to be a boxer for his singing career. He falls for Judy Craig (Jane Wyman). Skip needs to sell the kid using every dirty trick in the book.

This is a little funny, but I don't get the premise. I don't get why Steve would actually fight. The fighting and singing connection is beyond me. I would just drop the singing part. I don't see it making sense. It confuses and complicates the story.

With material like this it's no wonder John Payne got out of his Warner Brothers contract and went on to 20th Century Fox where he finally got to do some major musicals. This is probably something that Dick Powell rejected as he was leaving Warner Brothers as well.

Still Kid Nightingale does have a certain amount of goofy charm to it. Payne is a singing waiter who gets fired for getting into a brawl, but he comes to the attention of fight manager Walter Catlett who's a quick buck artist. Payne is no boxer, but he sings beautifully. Charles D. Brown goes into partnership with Catlett and they bill Payne as Kid Nightingale and set him up with a bunch of tank artists. They even send an orchestra around to accompany him as he gives the fight audience which no consists of a lot of women, a song after each knockout.

Of course Payne is such a knucklehead he hasn't a clue. He even accepts an Italian wrestler as an opera coach when he insists on singing lessons.

Only levelheaded Jane Wyman suspects something's not quite kosher in this setup. She's the means to an inevitable happy ending.

Which I won't give away, but that other Warner Brothers boxing film, The James Cagney classic, The Irish In Us provides a clue, if you've seen it.

Kid Nightingale is so silly it has a certain amount of dopey charm to it and I actually enjoyed it. But no wonder Dick Powell and John Payne whose careers took similar paths left Warner Brothers and didn't look back.