Sitting on the Moon

I purchased this movie in a pack of musical DVDs and I'm tickled to have it because the star, Grace Bradley, is the wife of the cowboy star, Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd, who died in the early 1970s). I've been looking for years for any movie that she was in. She is still alive and a very beautiful lady to be in her 90s. This movie was made around the time she and Bill Boyd married. She was interviewed in a documentary on Hopalong Cassidy and she is such a delight to watch. I've always wanted to see what she looked like when she was young, and she does not disappoint. I can see why Hoppy fell in love with her! Watch this movie just to see what "might have been" if she hadn't quit her career to marry Hoppy!

Nothing remarkable here. Nonetheless the programmer reflects quality Hollywood craftsmanship even at lowly Republic Pictures level. Floundering songwriter Pryor wants to help equally floundering songstress Bradley. Both are talented and together they show promise, she trilling his words and music. Trouble is both are blackballed in the industry through mix-ups. Thus they struggle to win their rightful place, and just as importantly, by remaining together.

Bradley was new to me, but she's quite winning in the role, projecting both sweetness and dedication. Too bad she retired early to become Hopalong's real life wife. The songs and staging are entertaining without being memorable, while Newell and Kelton supply occasional comic relief. Also, it's kind of nostalgic for us geezers to see how radio programs were put together during that era. Anyway, it's the kind of light entertainment that kept old time movie-goers coming back for more Hollywood escapism, even if it was at the bottom of a double-bill. So modern day viewers could do a lot worse.

When I looked at the main credits for this movie, I didn't expect much. Nat Levine producing for Republic? Ralph Staub directing? I certainly didn't expect this movie about mediocre songwriter Roger Pryor and washed-up star Grace Bradley falling in love and inspiring each other to success to be more than a cheap programmer, especially when the main supports are William Newell and the annoying Pert Kelton; it's not until I delved further into the cast list that I spotted Henry Kolker as a radio sponsor and Joyce Compton as the wife Pryor married on a toot in Tijuana that I saw anything to hope for.

Yet this cheaply done, cynical romantic comedy matches its subject so well, and Pryor and Bradley speak what would all too often be gushy lines simply, offers a good deal of charm to this this 53-minute B movie. Their characters' decency overcomes a few plot holes and a couple of decent songs fit the picture very well. While it's by no means a classic, it is an extremely engaging little flick.

This unfortunately is a dull musical set on the Republic Lot and made in 1936, that studio's second year of operation. It was produced by Nat Levine who from 1927-35 owned his own studio called Mascot Pictures. He was a very successful producer of serials and had been merged against his will with Monogram Pictures to form Republic Pictures. Everyone owed despotic Herbert J Yates money and he owned the film processing factory they all used: Consolidated film laboratories...so he foreclosed on the most successful small studios and got their expertise, libraries and crews. In this merger, Yates made Levine head of production at Republic. This film is one of their earliest collaborations. But it is boring. Impressively lavish and I suspect made on a fairly good budget for a B+ movie, it has two good songs, a lot of ugly people. some swing music attempts...but it is all old fashioned and ...well, boring. Levine left Republic when Yates offered him $1,000,000 for his share in the business. Within a year Levine blew it all at the racetrack and was broke. I wish Scorscese could make this story in the same way he covered Hughes in The AVIATOR. Levine was only 38 when he was washed up. He managed a cinema after that and died in the 80s. Incredible. Yates paid himself a million dollars each year for 25 years for running Republic. $20,000 a week in the 30s and 40s! Anyway, SITTING ON THE MOON is interesting only for some background Republic Studio locations and a lot of great art deco furniture. That's it. There's a great joke in that title, but I won't go there. ahem...

This is quite a fun story that depicts just the efforts that folks will go to for stardom. Lyricist "Danny" (Roger Pryor) is determined to make a go of things with actress "Polly" (Grace Bradley) so he can kick-start her career but that can't happen whilst he is yoked to his writing partner "Mike" (William Newell). He's a bit devastated by these shenanigans and seeks some solace with her pal "Mattie" (Pert Kelton). Swiftly rejuvenated, somewhat, "Mike" decides it's time for a little retribution and so he sets about driving a wedge between the new lovers and this involves him playing quite an entertaining little game with "Blossom" (Joyce Compton) who he hopes to use as a tool to instil just an hint of jealousy. As you'd expect, this is all going to be a messy affair - but how much more so when someone tries to do a little bit of extorting too? It's all rather formulaic, sure, but there's just a soupçon of mischief going on here that Pryor, Newell and Compton work well to deliver as well as there being a little humour to be had from a script that's not exactly taxing, but amiable enough. There's probably a little too much of the indifferent title song, but at least Pryor and Bradley did their own singing and the whole thing rather effortlessly passes an hour that raises the odd smile, but that you'll never remember.