ancient-andean

As with many musicals of the era, the little girl of the film sparks a sort of magic, something Carolyn Lee was quite good at. She first appears as six-year-old "Aunt Phoebe" sliding down a spiral banister and landing on Bing Crosby's lap, after which she smashes his lucky hat. Bing, nice guy that he is, takes her on his lap and smiles tremendously. So Phoebe becomes a sort of mascot/hanger-on of the early New Orleans blues band that struggles to survive against strong prejudices against "darkie" music. Every time she opens her little mouth to say a few lines I found myself giggling at her. Some of her pranks are quite memorable. I especially liked the scene where she paints herself in white-face and puts a girdle on for a dress. Her little broom dance with Rochester is also adorable. Carolyn was a very funny little girl. Towards the end of the movie Bing picks her up and lullabies her to sleep with the #1 hit song of 1941, "Melancholy Baby". I never imagined this song was written to sing to six-year-old Carolyn Lee. The Melancholy Baby scene alone is worth the price of admission.

The movie is well filmed, the jazz is great, the acting good and the story interesting. Bing is at his best, Mary Martin is gorgeous and Brian Donlevy with his rakish mustache is quite the rogue. One thing I liked about the film was the close, friendly relationships between the African-American and White jazz musicians. Seems like the jazz folks were ahead of their time and we can only wish that the rest of the country will eventually catch up.

... will not want to miss her short, but perfectly done role as Carmencita as a child, especially a treat as it is in technicolor and very beautifully filmed. The balcony scene in which 17-year-old Juanillo, played by Rex Downing, declares his eternal love for her, and 10-year-old Carmencita accepts his proposal to wait for marriage, is as touching a scene as ever filmed! Carmencita's eyes practically melt the screen. Her blowing kisses from the balcony captures the essence of a childhood sweetheart's innocent love. Then, as is typical of movies with "as child" tacked onto the credits, Ann E. Todd disappears, never to be seen in the movie again. Drat! I couldn't get through the rest of the movie: bullfighting has never been one of my favorite sports, and Juanillo turns into, at least in the part before I hit the power-off switch, a rather unsympathetic character, a real jerk actually.

This is no comedy. From the depth of the depression, its a revolutionary movie about the relationship between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. Virginia Weidler, as Edie, is the little girl of the Ozarks, a poor hill child whose mother is on her deathbed, whose grandmother supports the family shooting rabbits and quail. Mrs. Wilder, the school teacher treats her with the grossest abuse of power as she is made to stand in the corner on one foot the entire day, while the rest of the class laughs at her. The council, led by the rich merchant in the village, decides Edie is going to the county home, and no matter what Edie does, she is always blamed, always threatened and abused by a set of truly evil adults. In one scene, I don't blame 8-year-old Edie for pointing a loaded shotgun in their face. One can't come away from this movie without a deep feeling for the injustice done to poor, trampled upon children in America.... African-Americans, Hispanics and the rural poor will relate to this one.

Virginia is a very special child actress, a master in this movie. Unlike many of her era, she was am 8-year-old who could squeeze the last bit of emotion from the audience, eyes gleaming in one scene, dripping tears in the next... mischievous, adorable. Along with her big brown eyes, she could act. Viewers will also want to catch her singing "Old Dan Tucker". She sings it like a poor child really would and what happens during the song will break your heart.