CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Salubfoto
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
rik1944-168-418265
George Marshall made many fine comedies during his long career, but this is not one of them. I have seen over 15,000 films and this is one of the worst major studio US films I have ever seen. The music and "comedy" is unendurable and nothing works - truly a disaster on every level (OK, the technicolor is adequate). Dick Powell and Victor Moore seem to be doing it for the paycheck, and Dorothy Lamour seems to be waiting for Hope or Crosby to show up. Cass Dailey is screechingly bad. I got this rare title from UK TV (Channel 5), and it makes bad UK comedies like the Old Mother Riley series seem like Lubitsch comedies. Truly, this is only for masochists.
Maliejandra Kay
A train arrives in the west and deposits a showgirl (Dorothy Lamour), an eligible bachelor (Dick Powell), and a swindler (Victor Moore). The bachelor is in search of investors for his mine but can't seem to get anyone interested enough. The swindler makes his own thousand dollar bills and convinces the bachelor to flash them around; money attracts money. The scheme works, but the swindler's reputation catches up to him and soon the law is after those fake thousands.There is a reason why this title is so hard to find. It isn't that great. Although the story is fun enough and it boasts a decent cast, Riding High is utterly forgettable. It is one of those wartime movies that is packed with music to entertain the troops "over there," but none of the tunes are memorable and the music takes over the story. Lamour handles her songs well enough, after all, she was a radio star, but Powell has too few songs himself.
zingbing
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!
andy-345
Not one of the great musicals.Good lyrics by Johnny Mercer but forgettable melodies. Whether you enjoy it or not depends on your taste.Victor Moore does his Victor Moore act and Cass Daley gives a Cass Daley performance. Some will be amused by her grimaces as she belts out "He loved me till the all clear came"(the film was made during WW2) and "Willie the wolf of the west".Others will think that she is like a female Jim Carrey. The dresses by Edith Head for Dorothy Lamour and the chorus are excellent but the dance routines are weak apart from a solo eccentric dance by Cy Landry.There are two band routines.The first involves Cass Daley and two others as non-playing fiddlers.The second is longer. It features Gil Lamb and the band in expertly timed knock-about comedy. Warning - - The average shot length in these routines is high, there are very few close-ups, there are no audience reaction shots, a static camera is used and a clear view of the perfomers is given at all times. Watch it and decide for yourself - Some like oysters - some don't.
