Absolutely Fantastic

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

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 ****

Jack Carson and Ann Sothern are such capable professionals that even when they are cast in something like APRIL SHOWERS they are worth watching. Carson rarely got leading roles, except in the "B" film or programmer such as this one and Ann Sotheran was just winding up all of her "Maisie" roles at MGM to do this unpretentious little musical at Warner Bros.Together they're fun to watch as a married couple, a pair of show biz hoofers who give out with a song and dance patter when they're not having domestic troubles over the legitimacy of using an underage boy (their son) in their vaudeville act.It's all done in a formula way with no big surprises, no characters that are more than conventional and without the kind of production numbers that studios like Fox and MGM gave their musicals. And yet, with a nice balance between some serious drama and mostly lightweight singing and dancing, it's the kind of musical that's easy to take.The usual supporting players under contract at Warner Bros. are used to fill out the supporting roles, including Robert Alda and S.Z. Sakall.Carson and Sothern are both capable enough to make us believe this sort of thing could easily have happened and both of them have a nice way with a song and dance. Little Robert Ellis is very adept as their talented youngster.Summing up: A nice, unpretentious little film to watch on a rainy day.

.....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?

I am an inveterate movie fan and am astonished that this little gem of a flick managed to escape my attention. I only saw it today (10/26/03) for the first time. Although Warner's Forties period musicals ("Shine On, Harvest Moon," "Daughter of Rosie O'Grady," et alia) couldn't quite match those of 20th Century-Fox's, especially those of Grable and Faye, this was a a valiant effort and totally watchable. The 15-year-old Billy Ellis' portrayal of the 12-year-old Small Tyme was a stretch, but he was such winning presence and so talented that one can forgive the producers for not making the character closer to the actor's true age. Sothern was wonderful. Even Jack Carson, an actor whose screen personality can often be grating, performed winningly in a starring role. Robert Alda rounded out the cast in a not very sympathetic part. This film gets my thumbs up.