All Girl Revue

Girls take over the city for a day and decide to clean up the town.... in the words of the song Mayor-for-a-day June Allyson sings at the beginning of this short, "Gotta make the city pretty" by shining up garbage cans.

This Vitagraph short is a bizarre one, although there is a nice line of identical-looking chorines dancing in Grand Central Station. The plot of this short has the mayor head over to greet visiting opera singer Beverly Kirk.

There are some decent songs by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, but nothing outstanding. Director Lloyd French tries to spice up the standard musical revue that the Warner Brothers' shorts unit had been turning out, but it winds up looking bizarre rather than funny.

THE GIRLS HAVE taken over the town and this is a musical. With those two premises' being established, the one reeler short landed on its feet, hit the ground running and stayed its course to the end. (So Schultz, how's that for using multiple clichés?)

WHEN WE FIRST viewed this on Turner Classic Movies a few days ago, we must confess that we were ignorant of the fact that the perky and beautiful young woman who was cast as "the Mayor" was perky and beautiful June Allison. Hers is the only name that we recognize in the credits and her performance bode well in showcasing what would be her definite "Star Quality."

PERHAPS SOMEONE GOT the idea to do this by crossing the standard "Boys Day at City Hall" plot with the females only policy as displayed in the film version of the Clare Booth Luce play, THE WOMEN (MGM, 1939). (Just a hunch, Schultz.)

OTHER THAN THAT, there is not really a lot to recommend this and it seems to race along at a very merry rate, but not fast enough for Schultz and myself. Perhaps a little 1940's style 'cheesecake' and good old fashioned titillation would have livened things up a bit.

All Girl Revue (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Innocent and charming enough one-reeler has the Mayor (June Allyson) having an all girl day and making every government position help by a lady. What do they do with it? We get several music numbers as the ladies sing and dance for nine-minutes. There's not too much to this film plot wise but it's still pretty entertaining as the short runs by very quickly and has some good music as well. The highlight, and what's going to bring people in, is Allyson who really gets to shine here. Her voice is perfect and the songs suit her quite well. She has a certain charm and innocence that really works well here and she's certainly tthe magic to the film. Fans of hers will want to check this out and if you don't know who she is, this here will leave an impression on you.

The headline states: "Girls Take Over" - "Fair Sex To Rule City For A Day." The story begins, "Oodles of fun," said her honor, the Mayor, in her first official interview at the city hall this morning. The girls will assume all the responsibilities of the city administration for one day."

To open the "show," we hear the mayor (a very cute June Allyson) and three other ladies sing, "We Have To Make The City Pretty." Later, we hear two other songs, one by Edith Brandell and other by the operatic Beverly Kirk, and then see two dance numbers. There is quite a bit to offer in just eight minutes....like watching a mini-musical.

It's very dated looking and sounding, of course, but it's cute in a way. Allyson came off the best, so it was no surprise that she was the only one who was or became a star. She had that quality. This was part of the "The Roaring Twenties" DVD.

About the only reason to see this film is if you are a die-hard June Allyson fan, as she plays the lead in this practically plot less musical. Ostensibly, the plot is about the men giving the women control of the city government for the day and June is the acting mayor. But absolutely nothing is done with this plot...nothing...well, apart from making women look bad when she demands a mirror in the office because ladies, apparently, MUST have this and aren't really serious about work. Instead of developing this, however, there's one song and a crazy song and dance number. In other words, they totally sacrificed plot in order to shove a lot of music into the picture. It's not terrible...but sure is lacking the qualities you need to make it worth seeking. Not terrible...but not very good either.