Movie-Mania

Just saw this on TCM and was very impressed. Apollon was multi talented. He played the mandolin flawlessly. I am a longtime bluegrass fan and don't think I've every heard anybody play that fast without a single mistake. His tap-dancing was pretty fair, too, though we didn't get to see too much of it in this one-reeler.

How do these guys not get noticed, but others with no obvious talent seem to go much further? Judging from this flick, it must have a lot to do with personality. He seems very arrogant, and I assume he was as he did not seem like much of an actor.

Thanks to Ted Turner for unearthing this and so many other interesting if not classic pictures. I can almost forgive you for the whole colorization thing.

Movie-Mania (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Vitaphone short has Vaudeville performer Dave Apollon playing a know-it-all director who is making a new film that doesn't sit well with one man. Apollon gets to do various things including singing, dancing and playing the mandolin and it's clear he has talent but looking at his credits on IMDb you'll see he had a very short career in Hollywood. I always love catching this type of short on Turner Classic Movies because you get to see a part of history that is all but forgotten. I especially like catching these Vaudeville acts because most of them are very talented yet their level of success in Hollywood is usually very mixed. I'm not sure why this guy never caught on but this short does provide a lot of entertainment in its 20-minutes. The film starts off trying to tell what some would consider a story but then cuts loose and joins the musical category.

Competent musicians, slightly below average vaudeville comedy, dancing is barely mediocre except for the male tap dancer who is fun to watch for the first minute, but then you can't wait for him to be done.

It's good to hear a steel guitar used as prominently as it is in this short.

Appolon's mandolin playing is pretty good and worth watching.

The characters around Appolon could just as well have been cardboard cutouts, especially the band which has no life whatsoever.

Appolon's native Russian accent is so cheesy, you almost think he's doing some kind of schtick rather than actually having an accent.

Bottom line: If it's on and nothing else is, give it 20 minutes of your time.

Dave Apollon is a bandleader trying to film his movie "Dark Eyes". He thinks he has to do everything and that's what he does. I don't know anything about Dave Apollon. He's great with the mandolin. In fact, he is amazing with it. As a general entertainer, he has a schmaltzy vaudevillian sensibility. This has some fun song and dance routines. It's something old and a little interesting.

Mogul-Producer-Writer David Apollon wanders from movie set to movie set, browbeating the same director each time and playing his mandolin. It's partly an excuse to show off various acts in a two-reel variety show -- I was particularly taken with Tommy Rafferty's eccentric tap-dancing to "Nola" -- but mostly to show off Apollon.

He was born in Kiev, and became, according to Wikipedia "one of the most innovative and influential mandolinists of the twentieth century", which sounds odd, but is more than I am likely to have achieved. He toured with Duke Ellington & Django Reinhardt, and his recording of the theme from "The Third Man" was a hit. Also, here, he's funny.