Sweet Music (SM) is an obscure little seen Warner Brothers musical comedy from 1935. It stars Rudy Vallee and Ann Dvorak, who were ably supported by such seasoned stalwarts as Allen Jenkins, Ned Sparks, Robert Armstrong and Alice White. SM has none of the fame generally associated with the Busby Berkeley WB musicals from the same period, although it was smartly directed by the veteran Alfred E. Green. He kept the proceedings moving at a fairly rapid pace, and the energy level of SM is just about as high as any of the better-known Berkeley films.
Rudy Vallee is often characterized as an acquired taste, but during the peak of his movie celebrity (late 1920s to early 1930s) he had achieved quite a following-----certainly as notable as contemporary crooners Bing Crosby and Dick Powell. Often somewhat stiff and bland in his early film appearances, Vallee showed us a much more nuanced screen persona in SM. He was at times romantic, funny, capable of dancing (somewhat) and personally very engaging in his role as the leader of a band (!) that presaged Spike Jones and His City Slickers (with a generous dose of antics a la The Three Stooges). Today, Vallee is probably best remembered for his several late film career straight character parts (e.g. The doctor in the movie version of I Remember Mama 1948) and The Boss in both the stage and movie versions of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Ann Dvorak was an attractive somewhat offbeat looking actress who could sing, dance and emote at a level at least equal to the best of her peers-----including Joan Crawford and Ruby Keeler. She achieved early success with such hit films as Scarface (1932) and Three on a Match (1932), but the fame that Dvorak properly deserved somehow managed to elude her. Perhaps it was due to a feisty personality or possibly her relentless (often unsuccessful) striving for better roles that could appropriately utilize Dvorak's large talent. In any event, she never reached the fullness of her considerable potential, and spent much of her career mired in the world of "B" movies. During the WWII years, she was in England with her first husband (Leslie Fenton)-----and served there as a volunteer ambulance driver for her contribution to the war effort. This experience somewhat parallels that of Myrna Loy'in the same period, when Loy took a leave of absence from making movies in Hollywood and worked as a full-time volunteer with the American Red Cross.
SM is an unusual film, combining generous doses of wild slapstick comedy with many lovely sentimental musical interludes and an old fashioned romantic story of the "misunderstanding" variety. Vallee and Dvorak had a pretty good screen chemistry together, and Dvorak in particular was delightful as the engaging and energetic song and dance chorine whose on-again off-again romance with Vallee provides the principal support for the paper thin plot. Seeing it is a fun movie experience. Find it if you can!
