Crooner

Ah, for the good old days of simple story lines. "Crooner" follows the rise and fall of Ted Taylor, a small time band leader whose musicians are underpaid and getting restless until a drunk Guy Kibbee (in a surprisingly tiny role) tosses him a megaphone. Now when he sings, women swoon. But all the attention goes to his head and even his paramour, Ann Dvorak, is turned off. Unfortunately, David Manners in the title role isn't much of an actor and even worse as a crooner. Dvorak's a lot better and J. Carroll Naish as the nightclub owner stuck with paying Manners' escalating tab, is fine. Throw in Ken Murray (yeah, that Ken Murray) as a hustling publicist and if only Manners wasn't so stiff -- and his band so listless -- this would have been a lot more entertaining. Whether this was inspired by Rudy Vallee or Bing Crosby is anybody's guess. Not bad -- but shoulda' been better.