Rainbow on the River

In his second film boy soprano Bobby Breen got the song that would be his signature number for the rest of his short career before puberty kicked in and the lyric soprano was no more. Rainbow On The River was both the film and the song that gave Breen his stardom for the rest of the 30s.

Bobby is a Civil War orphan being raised in New Orleans by Louise Beavers who was a former house slave along with Stymie Beard her real son. Despite living in poverty Breen's a happy go lucky kid.

Father Henry O'Neill does some investigating and finds that Breen has some Yankee relatives in New York, chiefly grandmother May Robson. She's also got relatives like Benita Hume and Alan Mowbray who could lose all or part of their inheritance if Breen is accepted in the family.

This view of the south and the great lost cause makes Gone With The Wind seem like Roots. Even if young Master Breen had not a prejudiced thought in his head I doubt even the Yankee carpetbaggers would allow him such a living arrangement.

Bobby at this stage was doing a male Shirley Temple act. Her films were better because Fox had a lot more money to spend on them than RKO did for Breen. But the young man could sing though.

The finale where Rainbow On The River is reprised with the backing of the former slaves, now sharecroppers singing happy in those cotton fields is way too much.

The film is entertaining with a rather repudiated historical premise as its base.