Author Archive: Retro

Young stowaway sings for his travel fare while going after stolen secret government papers. Songs include: “Down Where the Trade Winds Blow”, “Hawaii Calls”, “That’s the Hawaiian In Me”. Dir. Edward F. Cline

In this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman(Deanna Durbin) attends a Viennese fair and buys a card from a gypsy fortune teller. It says that she will meet someone important and is destined for a happy marriage. Afterward she gets a job as a baker’s assistant. She then meets a handsome army drummer (Robert Cummings) who secretly dreams of becoming a famous composer and conductor. Unfortunately the military forbids the young corporal to create his own music. But then Ilonka (Durbin) secretly sends one of the drummer’s waltzes to the Austrian Emperor with his weekly order of pastries. Her act paves the way toward the tuneful and joyous fulfillment of the gypsy’s prediction.

In Horne’s film debut, she plays a woman who gets her big break but must choose between love and fame. A great look at the black entertainment industry in 1938. A young Lena Horne shines in her performance as Ethel, a singer who makes her way to the ‘big time’.

College students create a fictional, “perfect” student, which interests the psychology professor, who wants to meet her. Songs include “I’ve Heard that Song Before”, “You’re So Good to Me”, “If It’s Love” “Man”, “You Got to Study, Buddy”. Dir. Albert S. Rogell

Two circus aerialists have a disagreement, with one fighting to keep her lover out of the hands of a scheming woman. Songs include, “Do You Think That I Could Grow on You?”, “It Must Be Love”, “Shoo the Hoodoo Away”, “There’s Happiness Over the Hill”, “With My Guitar and You”. Dir. Joseph Santley

Paderewski’s talents are showcased as stranded plane crash victims are affected by his art.

Portrays Foster as a shy bookkeeper who writes songs in his spare time, and is in love with a pretentious singer whose sister eventually becomes his muse and inspiration. Includes the Foster staples: “My Old Kentucky Home”, “Swanee River”, “Camptown Races”, “Oh! Susannah”, “The Old Folks at Home”, “A Ribbon in Your Hair”, & “I Still See Her in My Dreams” Dir. Allan Dwan

A singer (Frances Langford) from Kansas City lives in a theatrical boardinghouse near Broadway.

Poor gardener poses as the wealthy financial backer of a new music revue at the Moulin Rouge. Songs include “Can This Be Love?”, “I Love a Circus”, “I’m All Aglow Again” & more. Dir. Leslie Goodwins