Lack of good storyline.
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
View MoreGreat example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
View MoreA terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
View MoreOnce again I take up the cudgels (metaphorically speaking) to defend a genuinely charming and amusing Monogram film from the slighting barbs of other commentators. Only nominally a sequel to "Here Comes Kelly" of two years earlier the leads are different and Sidney Miller as Kelly's Jewish sidekick is the only actor who's in both "There Goes Kelly" is actually funnier, thanks largely to Phil Karlson's direction (under his original last name, Karlstein). Though Jackie Moran and Wanda McKay are nowhere near as interesting actors as the leads in the earlier film, Eddie Quillan and the marvelous Joan Woodbury, Karlson's direction makes this appealing combination of semi-musical and whodunit come alive; this film is only four minutes shorter than "Here Comes Kelly" but seems to move much faster because of the greater energy from the director. One demerit is Wanda McKay's clear discomfort with trying to match her lip movements to a pre-recorded voice (almost certainly a double in fact, it seemed to me as if always cost-conscious Monogram used the SAME voice double for McKay and Jan Wiley) she never makes it believable that she's a great singer the way the script tells us she is but that's a minor glitch in a minor "B" gem.
View MoreI'll admit that this isn't a great film. It practically screams "low-budget" yet oddly I still found myself liking the film because although it lacked quality it abounded with energy. It was like the Little Engine That Could and a movie merged into one! The film takes place at a radio network and concerns some of their low-level employees--two page boys (one very pushy and brash and the other one a wuss) as well as a new receptionist. All three have visions of radio stardom but must for now content themselves with their lowly jobs.Into this story appears a murder that seems somewhat out of the blue. I didn't know that this was a murder mystery film and was taken a bit by surprise. However, like most B-mysteries, the cops are lamebrains and it's up to our pushy hero (Moran) to try to save the day. Throughout all this, I had a hard time deciding if Moran was obnoxious or endearing. I'm still not sure!! There is a moment in the film that is high on the 'cringe factor' and that is when the two pages try out for the roles of radio comedians. They show up in black-face and do a 3rd or 4th rate imitation of Amos n' Andy. Apart from being very insensitive, it also wasn't funny. Fortunately the producer of the show they were trying out for seemed to feel the same way.Overall. it's easy to skip this film and I wouldn't blame you if you do. However, the weird and frenetic pace of the film actually seemed to make up for the artistic deficiencies of the film and I am glad I saw it. A good film? No. But one that is still worth a peek for fans of old Bs.By the way, perhaps I just don't have very good taste, but I thought BOTH female singing divas really had poor voices despite how everyone in the film is captivated by their warblings. Listen for yourself and let me know what you think. I just couldn't believe either was allowed to sing on film--even if it was just for lowly Monogram Studios.
View MoreThis is a bottom of the barrel type of B-film from one of the poverty row studios, Monogram, in the mid-'40s, the kind that filled out a double bill.Only reason I watched was to see what JACKIE MORAN was like in a leading role as a page boy at a radio station who attempts to solve a murder. He played Phil Meade in GONE WITH THE WIND only two years earlier and this was one of his last teen-aged roles. He's no Mickey Rooney.The script is as hapless as the production values and is full of cliché ridden situations with a cast of uniformly untalented individuals. WANDA McKAY is the switchboard girl who is "discovered" by a radio producer and SIDNEY MILLER is the nerdy friend of the hero who's afraid of his own shadow.Mercifully, it's over in an hour when the murder is solved after a round-up of all the suspects. Terribly overacted, the only quiet performance of any interest is given by JON GILBREATH as Tex, the cowboy, but he bites the dust after too brief an appearance.There are several songs, but all of them are forgettable, as are the lame jokes and dialog.
View MoreA solid comedy-mystery from Monogram, the second directorial effort of long-time B director Phil Karlson (best known today for the 1970s version of WALKING TALL) is about a radio performer who is shot dead in a dark, locked radio studio during a performance. Jackie Moran is Jimmy Kelly, a page at the studio who wants to break into show business by whatever means possible, and Sidney Miller is fellow page and stooge Sammy, who gets roped into all of Kelly's schemes, especially when the corpses begin to pile up.Dewey Robinson, a beefy heavy at Paramount in hundreds of roles, has a fairly substantial role as the investigating policeman, who spends most of his time chewing.... gum or tobacco, it's never specified which.
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