Riding High

Attention Spike Jones fans: this film is essential viewing if you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity! Quite unlike the previous reviewer, I was nearly giddy upon seeing the lowbrow slapstick sequence of Gil Lamb playing clarinet in Milt Britton's band. Milt and Frank Britton, along with other comedy/novelty/"corn" outfits (The Kidoodlers; Freddie Fisher and his Schnickelfritz Band), have been cited as major "musical" influences on the young maestro Jones. According to Spike Jones biographer Jordan R. Young, "By all accounts the Brittons had far and away the zaniest act of its day - they were the only "jazz band" whose members routinely fell into the orchestra pit, squirted water at one another, fired pistols in the air or broke violins over each other's heads." Unfortunately, apart from a Soundie musical short of "The Poet and Peasant Overture" not much Milt Britton footage is readily available. So when I came across a black and white print of this Technicolor flick on eBay, well, I had to have it. I was not disappointed: here we are able to see what helped inspire Jones's "Musical Depreciation Revue". Any Three Stooges fan will love this completely over-the-top, violent routine that climaxes with the entire orchestra reducing the stage, along with a breakaway grand piano, to smithereens. (Remember the protracted destruction of Jonathan Winters leveling a gas station in Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World"?) Sure, most moviegoers will find this film's plot threadbare, but what do you expect from a low budget musical? In fact, fans of "B" movies and "turkeys" shouldn't miss a couple of its outlandish "production" numbers, including one with a painfully politically incorrect American Indian theme. Now if only I can find a Technicolor print!