the audience applauded

Pretty Good

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Like Babes in Arms (1939), this musical comedy starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland was directed by Busby Berkeley. The film won an Academy Award for its Sound, Recording, and its Original Song "Our Love Affair" by George Stoll and Roger Edens was Oscar nominated, as was their Score. George Pal (uncredited) animated a fruit orchestra sequence for the song. John Monks Jr. and Fred Finklehoffe wrote the screenplay; the George and Ira Gershwin title song is used in the musical finale.James 'Jimmy' Connors (Rooney) is a high school drummer that's bored with playing the same old songs, like the national anthem; so he organizes late night jazz jam sessions with his friends. His girlfriend Mary Holden (Garland) is a talented singer that's frustrated because Jimmy treats her like a pal instead of a gal. Jimmy's widow mother (Ann Shoemaker) has always wanted him to go to college to become a doctor like his father, but his real passion is his music. Encouraged by Mary, he decides to ask their school principal, Mr. Judd (Francis Pierlot), if he can organize a dance band. Because Mr. Judd had been thinking of disbanding the school's orchestra because of mounting debts, he agrees and enthusiastically proclaims that he'll buy the first ticket (e.g. to the dance). The school function is a big success and soon Jimmy has an even bigger idea, to enter conductor Paul Whiteman's radio contest for high school bands, which is offering a top prize of $500 to the winner. Unfortunately, romantic entanglements distract Jimmy from this goal.June Preisser plays Barbara Frances Morgan, a worldly new rich girl at school, who decides that Jimmy is just the boy for her. He seems helplessly unable to resist her charms and temporarily lets down his Mary, his best friend Philip Turner (William Tracy) and the other band members. Larry Nunn plays 13 year old Willie Brewster, who has a crush on Mary and tries to comfort her in Jimmy's absence. Margaret Early plays Phil's girlfriend Annie. But Jimmy gets it together and, with Mary's and Phil's help, he and his Riverwood High School pals produce and act in a musical play for the local Elks Club, raising $150 towards the $200 they need to get to Chicago for Whiteman's contest. Barbara then steals Jimmy away from the cast party with his friends by telling him that she can convince her father to hire their band for her eighteenth birthday party. However, when Mr. Morgan (George Lessey) says that he'd already made other arrangements, Jimmy is upset until he learns that Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra has been hired, and he and his friends are all invited.At Barbara's party, Jimmy and his band can't resist taking the stage and playing a number of their own during the hired band's break; they impress the bandleader so much that Whiteman offers Jimmy a job in New York. But Jimmy's mother, who'd earlier released her son from her dream of him becoming a doctor when she'd realized his sincere passion for his music, reminds him that disappointing his friends was no way to start his new career. So Jimmy tells Whiteman his decision, but then secures the remaining $50 as a loan using his drum set for collateral.However, Willie, who'd hurt his arm during the Elks Club show and neglected to take care of it, is now in need of a doctor; the situation is so serious that the doctor (Howard Hickman) states that unless the boy sees a specialist in Chicago right away, his life is in danger. Jimmy doesn't hesitate to give the band's $200 in order to charter a plane for Willie's transportation. When Mr. Morgan reads about it, he asks Jimmy to meet him for breakfast he's made arrangements for a Chicago bound train to transport Jimmy and his band to Chicago to participate in Whiteman's contest, which utilizes a local audience as well as (American Idol-like) telephone voting to select its winner. After the obvious outcome, the titled finale is performed.

The public wanted Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland so that's what MGM gave them. All of their movies together were variations of "let's put on a show." At least this one has Gershwin's music which I love.The downside is Rooney has to be the center of attention. Yes, he was the star but you'd think he was the only boy in town.......leader of the he band, lead in the school play, boyfriend of the most popular girl. And meets Paul Whiteman at a dance. Was this once most popular band in the country reduced to playing one night stands at teenage dances?You know he'll get the money for his band to compete in the national contest (during the depression) because they've got to win....they just GOTTA! So little Willie can have his operation and.......Once Mickey's band wins the national contest (was there ever any doubt?) he gets to conduct all of the bands in an unrehearsed grand finale. In addition to conducting, Mickey solos on the drums, sings and dances with Judy and ends up dressed in a naval officer's uniform.Did pre-war audiences really buy this?

Of all the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musicals, this one does the least to effectively showcase their musical talent. Mickey is allowed to conduct a band as if his life depended on it, even though he's shown to be an extremely talented guy with drums and other musical instruments.And the story is strictly '40s corn about a talented youth who wants to achieve success with his own band and succeeds in attracting the attention of Paul Whiteman who wants him for a big radio show contest.The songs are given short shrift in favor of a creaky melodramatic skit that is allowed to run far too long in the middle of the picture. Only a couple of songs are given fair treatment by Judy and Mickey.A good script was badly needed to show these two performers at their best. This was not the case here. Too much time expended on letting Mickey's extravagant enthusiasm overshadow his more effective quieter moments.Summing up: A disappointing and manipulative show, especially when it comes to those tear-jerker sentimental moments.

After the success of Babes In Arms for MGM, Arthur Freed became the hottest producer on the lot and was granted his own famous Freed Unit to produce the best of the MGM musicals for the next 20 years almost. According to Hugh Fordin's book on Arthur Freed the next scheduled property was Good News, but that got shelved for several years when Louis B. Mayer decided that a patriotic type theme was in order and after all MGM had bought the screen rights to the Gershwin musical Strike Up The Band. Freed agreed, but in the Hollywood tradition only the title and the title song were retained for the screen.That was enough because the Mickey and Judy formula was by now established with Babes In Arms. Here the two are a pair of talented musical kids and Mickey is the drummer in his high school band. But he's got other things on his mind besides doing John Philip Sousa. Even Sousa did more than Sousa when he was leading a band. Mickey is filled with the new jive rhythms of the day and he'd like to use the other kids in the school orchestra to form a real band. He's got Garland in mind for the vocals and the object is to get an audition from Paul Whiteman.Whiteman in his day may have appropriated for himself the title of King Of Jazz, but certainly no one did more to popularize the new American art form among white audiences. His orchestra was the training ground for many of later big band leaders. Leaders like Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Glenn Miller all who were sidemen with Whiteman and who kids like Mickey and Judy and the rest of the cast were listening to.If Strike Up The Band isn't exactly let's put on a show, it still is let's put on a concert and Mickey and Judy do have some shtick to perform, their Gay Nineties spoof is quite good. Also the fantasy sequence of the 'fruit orchestra' doing Our Love Affair is also nicely done, it looks very much like Ray Harryhausen's claymation figures, but he wasn't involved with Strike Up The Band.Strike Up The Band won one Academy Award for sound and was nominated for two others. Roger Edens and Arthur Freed wrote Our Love Affair which was nominated for Best Song, but lost to When You Wish Upon A Star. And Edens and Georgie Stoll were nominated for Best Musical Scoring.Busby Berkeley directed the film and in the finale shows his fine hand for spectacle. Here's where the patriotism that Louis B. Mayer was seeking came out. Remember this was 1940 and a lot of people were very afraid the USA was going into another World War. The finale with the title song was the kind of rousing patriotic spectacle that Hollywood would be doing in every studio after December 7, 1941.With Strike Up The Band Arthur Freed proved he was no flash in the pan as a producer. After 70 years the film holds up well and the talents of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland reign eternal.