April Showers

April Showers_720p(480P)

source: April Showers

Trailer—April Showers

April Showers

.....and seen this story before, with very little variation. Regardless of how this picture was promoted or exhibited, it is a "B" musical in all respects - and consequently offers a cast that does not include memorable singers, or skilled dancers, a cast populated by "stars" who were normally supporting players in musicals that had more original stories and far better production values. The characters? Ann Sothern's smiles sweetly and carries on bravely through circumstances that hardly seem to affect her; Jack Carson's chronic drunkenness is prompted by a law that necessitates the removal of his underage son from the family act. Such problems! Everything ends happily, of course, as it always did in the dozens of other pictures of this type. Jack Carson as a song-and-dance man? And a leading man besides? Where was Gene Nelson when you needed him? Dan Dailey?

Ann Sothern is an irreplaceable talent, and Jack Carson is always excellent. Young Bobby Ellis provides life to the fictional act and livens up the movie. The script needed a lot of polish it never got -- and would have been better if they hadn't followed Buster Keaton's storyline and simply went with a fictionalized account, leaving out the alcoholism that Carson so readily, and so inexplicably, runs to. Things go bad for a while, so the first thing you do is -- become an alcoholic, quit working, and give up your wife and kid? Not too realistic, then or now, but a typical Hollywood ploy. Carson wasn't an alcoholic and this doesn't play well or help the film in any way.

This is a heavily sanitized version of Buster Keaton's childhood. The truth is so much worse--he started out as a small child, and Joe Keaton threw Buster around the stage, beat him publicly, and in later life, when Joe was in full-blown alcoholism, came at his son with the express purpose of beating him up. This musical leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That it's trite and boring only compounds the problem.

Simply a wonderful filming with Jack Carson in top form as a song and dance man with his family. The real joy to watch here is Robert Ellis, who portrays his 12 year old son and sings and dances up a storm. Ann Sothern plays Carson's faithful wife. The story centers around the trials and tribulations of the dancing trio. How fast Sothern comes around to the fact when Ellis leaves school to join the duo. It does become annoying at times when he refers to his father as Big Tymes, as they're the Tymes family. That being said, the tale becomes endearing when a series of problems leads Carson down the road to alcoholism and the trio fades. Robert Alda plays the heavy here as Sothern's new dance partner. Does he show his true character when he begins to physically abuse Ellis in a memorable scene. A story of faithfulness to his dad, and final redemption. As a sympathetic hotel owner, S.Z. Sakall doesn't do his usual fracturing of the English language, but the film is a solid gem.

Came across movie by chance on Turner Classics. Joe Tyme takes to drink. Man loses wife, man, etc. etc. etc. Could have been a better story if more focus on Joe Tyme and his inability to cope with his problems. However, entertaining, light musical is really the genre of this picture despite the dark side.

Family picture from Warner Bros. hasn't enough comedic or dramatic elements to make an impression. A vaudevillian song-and-dance couple, barely surviving on one mediocre bill after another, finally hit pay dirt after bringing their precocious son into the act--but when the husband gets discouraged and hits the bottle, it may mean the end of his marriage. Jack Carson adds a little kick to the proceedings, but it's a half-empty star-vehicle. Production is surprisingly low-rent, while the athletic boy-star hardly seems the type to lay theater audiences in the aisles. Carson and Ann Sothern appear to have a rock-solid marriage (with lots of backstage smooching), so the addition of a potential romantic replacement for the husband is ludicrous. This scenario was ripe for satire and bite, however the handling is as mawkish and musty as the music. *1/2 from ****