Songwriter Harry Warren performs several of his own compositions, including "I Found a Million Dollar Baby" and "Shadow Waltz."
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Reviews
Lack of good storyline.
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
. . . but I assume that Warner Bros. is making every effort to insure that such a thing is as unpleasant as it sounds. The "pepper pot" in question is formally titled HARRY WARREN: AMERICA'S FOREMOST COMPOSER. Hopefully, this is meant to be as tongue-in-cheek as it sounds, as the slicked-back greaser geezer presented here as Warren can scarcely be taken seriously. Ditto for the mixed company warbling his ditties. I can picture this dinner party as occupying the Fifth or Sixth Circle of Warren's Personal Hell, as a sad-sack crew of mealy-mouthed losers mangle, mumble, and otherwise masticate the lyrics to Warren's tunes. The infantile-voiced blonde is particularly grating, guaranteed to jangle a composer's last nerve. But this just HAS to be some sort of Warner's Roast (perhaps taken ten steps too far), as the camera pans in on a Mixologist loudly shaking a drink in the middle of a soft and now unintelligible love ode. As another soloist delivers one of Harry's hallmark hymns slumped over in her easy chair, cigarette smoke and booze fumes wafting everywhere, it's pretty clear that Mr. Warren's goose is pretty thoroughly cooked.
This pleasant short subject has Harry Warren playing some of his musical hits. As hits were coming to him for over 30 years and he started getting big time royalties in the middle 20s, a short subject here only covers a small portion of his career. The setting is a swank party where the guests ask Warren to perform some of his hits. After that we get medley of songs, sung and danced to by the various guests. The Shadow Waltz from Goldiggers of 1933 was nicely staged with couples dancing in silhouette.The finale starts with Warren playing the title song from 42nd Street and then it dissolves to the famous Busby Berkeley dance number from the film. As both 42nd Street and Goldiggers of 1933 were still playing this film was quite a plug for both.Warren won three Oscars for Best Song in his career and not one of them had been composed yet. He's overlooked many times because he eschewed Broadway for Hollywood. But I daresay his melodies will live on and on longer than some of his contemporaries precisely because we can see the performances over and over.Salvatore Anthony Guaragna from Brooklyn, aka Harry Warren you were one of the greatest.
Harry Warren: America's Foremost Composer (1933) *** (out of 4) Warner promotional short for their 42ND STREET has composer Harry Warren being asked to say a speech but he informs everyone that he's too shy so instead he does a few songs. You and Healthy, I Found a Million Dollar Baby, Would You Like to Take a Walk?, Have a Little Faith in Me and Forty-Second Street are just a few of the songs performed here. Yes, this is just a promotional piece but it's actually a very entertaining one and it thankfully doesn't just show clips from the motion picture. I really enjoyed how much life these songs were given not only by Warren but those dancing everything out. The film runs a brief 8-minutes but it's packed with great music, some nice visuals and enough action for two movies. I think most music experts would say Warren wasn't the "foremost composer" but it seems time has remembered him a lot better and he's been given a lot more credit than he was when this was originally released.
A short subject featuring Harry Warren at the piano and other performers singing and dancing to a medley of his songs. A word of warning - the short I saw was obviously cut and Hal LeRoy (even though he was listed in the credits as "LeRoy") was not featured in the "Young and Healthy" number. There was also some dancing featured in "Shadow Waltz" but again he was not among the dancers.Okay, Harry Warren may not have been "America's Foremost Composer" but he was certainly among them and oh those songs. "The Shadow Waltz", "Young and Healthy", "Ooh That Kiss", "42nd Street", "Have a Little Faith in Me", "Crying for the Carolines", "Would You Like To Take a Walk" and "Cheerful Little Earful" are his songs featured in the short.