If I Had My Way

If I Had My Way was the second of two films that Carl Laemmle acquired Bing Crosby's services for from Paramount, the first being East Side of Heaven from the previous year. Over at Universal Bing was surrounded with a cast of different contract supporting players than he usually had at Paramount. But the results were pretty good.

Crosby brought over his usual songwriters at the time from Paramount, Jimmy Monaco and Johnny Burke. The team wrote four songs for this film, April Played the Fiddle, Meet the Sun Halfway, I Haven't Got the Time to be a Millionaire, and The Pessimistic Character. There was also the title song which was written by James Kendis and Lou Klein.

April Played the Fiddle and If I Had My Way are good ballads sung solo by Bing on film. The other three while recorded solo by Crosby, in the movie they are duets with his adolescent co-star Gloria Jean. She was sort of bullpen Deanna Durbin that Universal had at the time. Later on Universal developed Jane Powell for the same purpose.

Bing had a genre of popular music all his own, the upbeat philosophical number which he alone seemed to sing on screen. That's what the Gloria Jean duets are here and her soprano in no way clashes with his crooning. One of the songs, Meet the Sun Halfway, is a personal favorite of mine. There's a line in the Johnny Burke lyric where it goes, "you know when you smile, you throw yourself a big bouquet." You listen to Crosby sing it on record and I swear the smile leaps right off the vinyl.

The plot is not too complicated. Bing Crosby, El Brendel, and Donald Woods are construction workers who are just completing the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Woods is a widower with a young daughter Gloria Jean who hangs out with the guys. The last night of the construction job, Woods is killed. So Crosby and El Brendel have to deliver young Ms. Jean to her family in New York whom she's never met.

Problem is there's a family feud going between her uncle Allyn Joslyn who's a real stuffed shirt and great uncle Charles Winninger who's a retired vaudevillian. But of course everything gets fixed up in the end.

Crosby was really developing as an actor by now. His scene where he tells Gloria Jean about her father's death is very moving. No one could have done it better than Bing, not even a Sir Laurence Olivier. Director David Butler got one of Crosby's best cinema moments. Four years later Bing would win the Best Actor Oscar.

If If I Had My Way seems a little familiar maybe it's because there's a lot of similarity between it and the earlier Pennies From Heaven where Crosby plays a similar footloose and fancy free character with a young adolescent girl that's come into his care. However here Universal did something somewhat daring, they didn't give Bing any romantic interest at all. Unusual to say the least, both then and now. But it's not something you really notice during the film.

This is a must for true Crosby aficionados like your's truly.

The TV prints of this film cut the "let's put the show on here" finale which included the brilliant star Julian Eltinge. Thus I was thrilled to acquire the new DVD so that at long last I could hear his fabled singing voice. His performance in the available silent Madame Behave had made me a dedicated fan, but finding more of his work has been frustrating. Alas -- Eltinge, along with prominently billed Broadway stars Trixie Friganza and Grace La Rue are STILL missing from the commercial DVD of this film, although he is mentioned in PR and on the box! We DO get to see Eddie Leonard (in black face!) and Blanche Ring (Does anyone actually view these films before promoting and selling them?)

This Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean film is both predictable and somewhat sappy. However the musical numbers more than make up for the contrived plot. The title song, "If I Had My Way" written by James Kendis (the composer of "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles") was the highlight of the movie. This song has been recorded numerous times by Frank Sinatra, The Mills Brothers, Kate Smith and most recently by Willie Nelson. Crosby's version was beautifully done as he sang to Gloria Jean. Gloria Jean was a beautiful 12 year old. She went on to make many B films. Bing Crosby recorded the title song on many albums. His deep, rich voice on the film version is one of his best efforts. The supporting cast added some comedy to the plot. A film well worth viewing from 64 years ago.

During the last few days, I've seen quite a few musicals. And, I am about to say something you may think is a bit crazy--I enjoyed the VERY formulaic "If I Had My Way" far more than some of the big-name musicals from MGM which were made a few years later. Even though "If I Had My Way" didn't have the hit songs and most of the cast consisted of second-string actors since the film was by a second-string studio at the time--Universal. That's because despite the lower budget, the film did one thing that many musicals forget--it made me smile.

The film begins with Bing Crosby's friend dying and the friend's daughter (Gloria Jean) being placed in his temporary custody. Bing then takes the child to her family, but her uncle (Allyn Joslyn) is a total butt-head and wants nothing to do with the kid--even if it is family and even though he's rich! Nice guy, huh?! Instead, he looks for the child's great-uncle (Charles Winninger) and the man is willing to help BUT he's poor. So, Bing, his DOPEY Scandinavian friend (Ed Brendel) and Winninger decide to try to care for the child together. But, this doesn't take care of how to pay for this...as well as the debt-laden restaurant the dopey friend buys. Can they somehow make a go of it...even with almost no resources and just a lot of good 'ol American spunk?! Enjoyable from start to finish, the songs are light and fun and the characters very enjoyable. The only problem in the film is a TINY bit where we see a famous minstrel act (Eddie Leonard)!! Uggh! My advice is to try to speed past this...or take a quick bathroom break during this dreadful and racist act.

Eddie Leonard and his minstrel act....UGGH!!!

Having enjoyed all the other films in the collection and being someone who's always liked Bing Crosby's voice, If I Had My Way was definitely going to be given a viewing. It is far from a bad film at all, in fact it is a decent one but of the Bing Crosby: Screen Legend Collection it was the one I enjoyed the least. I have to agree with those who didn't like El Brendel, he mugs constantly here and it gets annoying and way too much. The story is also the least engaging of the collection, admittedly the story wasn't a strong suit in any of the five films in the set but the story in If I Had My Way came off as contrived and routinely predictable with in some points a serious need of spark and less sentimentality. That Bing didn't have a love interest this time round was the only thing that came across as a surprise. The humour could have been much stronger too, it has its moments like with the squirrel who is hilarious and the dialogue between Bing and Gloria Jean was appropriately snappy but the other four films had tighter and smarter scripting and Brendel's mugging does bog it down further. If I Had My Way does look very good, the costumes and sets are handsomely done and the photography is far from cheap. The film is sensitively scored, with lush melodic writing that avoids the too-syrupy trap and it's far from forgettable. The songs are bright and breezy, especially the upbeat I Haven't Time to be a Millionaire and the haunting title song that was sung in a way that only Bing could do. Bing sings as richly and beautifully as always and gives a performance that is charismatic and relaxed, matched very well by the very likable and photogenic Gloria Jean, who sings like a lightly-voiced angel. The two work very believably together. The supporting players apart from Brendel are solid, they're by all means not as strong as Crosby and Jean but don't disgrace themselves. All in all, decent but not among Bing Crosby's best. Worth seeing but not a must-own in my opinion. 6/10 Bethany Cox