The Knight Is Young

June Allyson was a complete unknown at the time she did this short subject with dancer Hal LeRoy. When they meet she's daydreaming in her room and LeRoy is painting a sign across the street.

Allyson does a little dance and LeRoy breaks out in a soft shoe up on his scaffold Before this ends she's his date to the signpainter's union annual bash.

Some nice numbers, songs that are unknown except for a couple. All packaged quite nicely at Warner Brothers.

Knight is Young, The (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Pretty good musical stars Hal LeRoy but the main attraction is seeing a young June Allyson getting her start. She plays a wannabe tap dancer who refuses to leave her apartment because she fears her landlord will lock her out since she doesn't have the rent. She spends her time talking to a large billboard across from her window, which includes Sir Galahad. Yes, she speaks to a billboard, which leads to a few musical numbers that are actually pretty good. This Vitaphone short isn't anything too special but Allyson is very lovely and does a fine job here. LeRoy isn't too bad either. On a technical level there's really nothing too special but this does serve as a good time killer.

I saw this short on TCM the other night and it was a pleasant suprise.First we have a charming June Allyson practicing her tap dancing to help get her a much needed job. She is two weeks behind in her rent and she is afraid to leave for fear of being locked out.She manages to attract the atttention of a sign painter played by Hal LeRoy who manages to perform some pretty fancy tapping on a narrow scaffold.She is distraught over him painting over the poster of Sir Lancelot as she has grown fond of it. But he promises to put something nice in its place.Just then Earlayne Schools,her friend,brings her some food and sings for her.Earlayne has great voice,but sad to say,this is her only film performance.The next day we see June talking to a poster of Scotsman advertising butterscotch.The poster come to life talks to her and soon we see some wee bonny lassies perform a jazzy Scottish number.Shortly thereafter Hal with aid of his Buster Keaton like helper manage to help her leave the apartment to go to the Sign Painter's Ball. We get some more fine singing and dancing and some how a happy ending.It would be nice if this and other wonderful Vitaphone Shorts were available on Video.

Strictly for nostalgia fans who want to see how pert JUNE ALLYSON got her start. They can watch her in one of several Vitaphone Brevities at Warner Bros. This is the second one I've seen pairing her with ungainly HAL Le ROY, a dancer from the Ray Bolger school of Terpsichore.

The plot is a silly trifle about a daydreaming girl who talks to billboards (yep, that's practically the whole plot), especially since there's a huge one right outside her window of Sir Galahad. He's about to be painted over by a young man on a scaffold. The two engage in conversation, he dances around on the thin plank, she sings a little, he invites her to the Signpainter's Ball, and uses a ladder to get her away from her apartment where she tells him she's trapped because she hasn't paid her rent.

Story ends at the ball, where he does his own daffy bit of dancing and she joins in.

June smiles through it all, does a little singing and dancing (very little), and it's all over in twenty minutes.

Summing up: Only good for a glimpse of early Allyson. Strictly corn, the kind that was abundantly on display in all of these Vitaphone Brevities.

June (June Allyson) is trapped in her apartment. She fears leaving would allow the landlord to lock her out for back rent. Her singing attracts the attention of Hal (Hal Le Roy) who is painting an advertising mural of a knight across the way. This turns into a musical short with some singing and some dancing and lots of pretty girls.

This is early June Allyson. Hal Le Roy is doing his lackey dancing. The man is all legs and arms with a wacky face. I've never heard of Earlyne Schools and she sadly died tragically young. I am not sure about the black knight reveal. Maybe somebody will explain that to me, but I'm guessing that it's because he's black. Ignoring that, this short is perfectly harmless innocent musical fun.