Good concept, poorly executed.

Absolutely amazing

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

...thus I'll give this one a six out of ten. If the plot had been more original it could merit an eight.Three girls (Alice Faye, Frances Langford, Patsy Kelly) work together in an office and get fired for using the boss' Dictaphone to make a record. They can't find any other jobs - this is still the Depression you know - and quickly run out of food and then out of rent money. Locked out of their own apartment, sitting on the rooming house steps, they see a sign advertising one hundred dollars for the winner of a radio contest. That will get them back into their room and buy food so off they go.The contest is hilarious, there is a very bad but dramatic trio, a bad singer in the operatic style, and even a woman singing while clucking like a chicken. Walter Catlett as the master of ceremonies is tailor made for the part. He's quite polite to all of the contestants right up to the time when he "gongs them" and cuts short their acts. Then in comes George Raft, as Tops Cordona with his orchestra consisting of pipe fitters, bricklayers, and carpenters. Tops is the conductor. They turn out to be quite good. Next, the girls are up, but Susan (Frances Langford) passes out from lack of food. They probably would have won, but with the act unfinished, the prize goes to Cordona and his band.Later the girls and Tops decide to team up - he names them "The Swanee Sisters" and has them fake southern accents. He promises that they will make lots of money and have lots of fun. He is half right. It turns out that Tops is a PR guy and salesman extraordinaire, as well as a good band leader. The problem is, he has the girls and the band going from show to show to the point that they have no time for fun. So, with an invitation to a swanky Park Avenue party, the girls run out on Tops, who has to do that night's show all alone. How does this all work out? Watch and find out. I'll just say that the girls find out that the upper crust is crustier than they imagined, and Tops finds out he is not tops without the girls doing vocals. The real conflict here is that Langford's character, Susan, is crazy for Tops, but all he seems to see in her is a singer for his band. That is the drama behind the film - there really is no other real conflict.With Alice Faye loaned out from Fox for her great musical presence and voice, and Patsy Kelly loaned from Hal Roach for her wisecracking abilities, this film has plenty of talent, plus it is rich in the atmosphere of old time radio. But if you see Raft as the headliner and expect some kind of crime drama or mystery, look elsewhere. What particularly surprised me was that the director of this film was Raoul Walsh, of whom Jack Warner once joked "Raoul's idea of a tender love scene is to burn down a whorehouse." Walsh adamantly believed the three greatest virtues of film were "action, action, and then action." So to look at those action films he made at WB from 1939 through 1949 and then look at this film, you would hardly recognize them as the product of the same director.Recommended for the music and the nostalgia of it all.

You've heard of the Andrews Sisters. Old movie fans certainly remember the Boswell Sisters, and maybe even the Duncan Sisters. Now meet the Swanee Sisters, three old friends who pretend to be siblings in order to get a radio contract with the help of egocentric band leader George Raft. It takes starving and suffering for them to rise to the top, but when they do, fame is the name of the game, and they are winners almost instantly. But with the workaholic Raft dominating all of their free time, they don't have an opportunity to enjoy their new found success, although it is obvious that it is love at first sight between Raft and one of the trio, the sweet, quiet Frances Langford who really is in the mood for love and more anxious to settle down in marital bliss than to find fame like her partners Alice Faye and Patsy Kelly.Some of my fondest memories of the wonderful musical revue "Sugar Babies" were the two songs that stand out in this Paramount movie musical. Ann Miller made her entrance gloriously while singing "I Feel a Song Coming On", and later had a moving solo of "I'm in the Mood For Love". These two songs with music by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields and George Oppenheimer have become standards, although it took a while for "I'm in the Mood For Love" to get the attention that it deserved. It is here sung by Frances Langford while dialog by co-stars George Raft, Alice Faye and Patsy Kelly rudely interrupted it for the audience to enjoy the song thoroughly. Faye got the chance to sing another song utilized in "Sugar Babies" with "I'm Shooting High" in the following year's "King of Burlesque".But "I Feel a Song Coming On" gets a glorious treatment, a big rousing musical production number where black singer James Miller takes over halfway through and literally makes it his own. His booming voice helps the audience get over the fact that he's surrounded by chorus girls in bandannas and an obvious Southern setting with a painting of a field seemingly of watermelon in the background and Mississippi Steamboats adding to the atmosphere. What makes this all the more stunning is the fact that he is singing this while white band leader George Raft plays, a rare occurrence on film in 1935, making me believe that this segment might have been trimmed out in Southern showings, or possibly the film not showing there at all in smaller communities.The film has a very amusing amateur radio show contest, with the Radio Rogues providing some spot-on imitations, one of them doing Dick Powell amazingly well. The fact that this imitator sang "Don't Say Goodnight" (from Warner Brothers' "Wonder Bar") and that this is a Paramount film is all the more interesting. The radio amateur show also features a very amusing performance of Florence Gill singing "Luigi Arditi" as a chicken clucking. Ms. Gill would do voice overs in many animated cartoons as a chicken, but to see her here is a real treat. For those who adored Charlotte Arren doing the same song a la Fanny Brice and Beatrice Lillie in "Broadway Melody of 1940", this is even more thrilling.As far as the three ladies are concerned, they all do very well, but it is interestingly the only major leading role in an "A" film where the focus is on Ms. Langford, with Alice Faye and Patsy Kelly providing adept support without the benefit of a romantic storyline. Most of her other appearances in films were supporting roles, guest appearances, or leads in "B" films. Alice gets to show what she would look like as a brunette, and in spite of her beauty as a blonde, it ain't pretty. There's a very funny bit with Kelly wearing a man's hat and an obnoxious piano mover making an obvious lesbian reference concerning her. As far as movie musicals go, this ain't earth shattering, but you'll have an awfully good time and might even find yourself singing along.

It didn't matter that most of Frances Langford's films were pretty forgettable, she made them memorable with her heavenly, sultry voice. Even though she had only appeared as herself in a couple of early musical shorts before "Every Night at Eight", she fitted in perfectly with veterans George Raft, Alice Faye and Patsy Kelly. Alice Faye was the female star although Langford was given the role of Susan, the quiet one, who only wants to settle down, marry and live in a house with a white picket fence - a sure sign that she is going to "get the guy" in the closing scene. And what a guy!!! George Raft actually looked as though he was having a lot of fun in this movie. He had all the right moves and seemed just itching to go into a dance routine - he actually did a few steps and turns when he was performing in the amateur hour segment. He had been one of the top dancers in New York in the 20s (that's what Fred Astaire said).For this movie he had to settle for being a band leader. He plays "Tops" Cardona - a dance band leader who is great and knows it!!! He and his band perform on an amateur hour and win by default when Susan, one of a trio of harmonizing singers, faints through lack of food. The girls manage to get through "Speaking Confidentially" and were certain to win. Also featured on the amateur program were Walter Catlett as the Master of Ceremonies and The Three Radio Rogues (called here Romeos) a novelty group who did impersonations of just about everything - radio serials, news reels and famous singers of the day (here they impersonate Dick Powell singing "Don't Say Goodnight" from "Wonder Bar") - in this movie they were ousted from the contest as professionals!!! Susan (after being revived with coffee) sings the soulful "Then You've Never Been Blue" - a song that Langford wrote herself.Alice Faye was going through her brassy Mae West period, (before 20th Century Fox softened her look) so she didn't have a lot to do but add her unique singing styling to the story. Patsy Kelly was fantastic, as usual, her witty wisecracks saved many a film - "he's just like a brother - especially to me"!!! As "The Swanee Sisters" they team up with Tops and his band and hit the big time. "I Feel a Song Coming On" is the film's highlight - there is harmonizing, torch singing (ala Miss Faye) and even a soulful rendition by a fabulous singer James Miller. Of course Susan, being the quiet one, has fallen for Tops - it seems he rubs everyone up the wrong way - everyone except Susan!! Fortunately she gets to sing "I'm In the Mood for Love" - a few times because Tops believes she isn't putting enough feeling into it. Her sultry, mellow, "out of this world" voice helped make this song a standard.Someone to watch for - Harry Barris, who in the 20s was part of a group called "3 Boys and a Piano" which evolved into the Rhythm Boys - one of the boys was Bing Crosby!! Harry plays Tops' livewire pianist, Harry!!Highly, Highly Recommended.

Three adorable but out of work and homeless women try to win $100 in amateur contest on the radio, but when Susan (Frances Langford) passes out from lack of food, the prize goes to supremely confident and good-looking band leader Tops (George Raft). Once he really hears them sing, however, he brings them on board with his band. And by working them day and night brings them success with their own radio program. But his hyper-strict rules have Dixie (Alice Faye) and Daphne (Patsy Kelly) chafing for some freedom. Though Susan has quietly fallen for Tops, she goes along with the girls' scheme to buck his authority and possibly ruin his show.Sure it's not much of a plot, but this is a good-natured showcase for a host of talents and great wisecracks from Patsy Kelly. The girls are fun, Faye and particularly Langford get great solos. Langford makes "I'm in the Mood for Love" a standard. Raft, besides looking cool, gets to do a little dancing. Harry Barris has some rousing if brief little vocal ditties. And truly marvelous is uncredited singer James Miller, who takes over in the middle of the extended "I Feel a Song Coming On" number.If you're a fan of old-time radio you'll recognize all the corny exchanges and weird acts on the "gong show" radio program and maybe try to sing like a chicken yourself.