Song of the City (1937)

Director:

Errol Taggart

Writers:

Michael Fessier (screenplay)
Michael Fessier (story)

Release Date:

2 April 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Drama

Plot:

Idle San Franciscan (Dean Jagger, billed as Jeffrey Dean) falls overboard and is rescued by Italian fishermen...

Plot Keywords:

Bomb | Singer | Crab | Fire | Fishing

Cast

Margaret Lindsay	...	Angelina Romandi
Dean Jagger	...	Paul Herrick (as Jeffrey Dean)
J. Carrol Naish	...	Mario
Nat Pendleton	...	Benvenuto Romandi
Dennis Morgan	...	Tommy (as Stanley Morner)
Marla Shelton	...	Jane Lansing
Inez Palange	...	Mrs. 'Mama' Romandi
Charles Judels	...	Mr. Pietro 'Papa' Romandi
Edward Norris	...	Guido Romandi
Fay Helm	...	Marge
Frank Puglia	...	Tony

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #3183) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Soundtrack:

Tonight Will Never Come Again

HOKUM IN MARIN COUNTY

You've got to hand it to MGM. By the late 1930's even their most middling B-pictures' production values would make most of the other studios green with envy. The question is why MGM would lavish their efforts on a predictable soap opera like SONG OF THE CITY-- whose implausible-yet-predictable story line should have never made it past a reader's desk. Implausible? Dean Jagger (as Jeffrey Dean) plays an introspective idler--- he's broke, but still manages to keep a servant on in his plush pad on Knob Hill (could Depression-era audiences really relate to this?) who's just blown through a $150K wad of his girlfriend's dough on a miscalculated stock deal. Don't fret, she's still got $19,850,000.00 to go and she inexplicably loves him. Deano goes on a bender across the bay and falls in the drink. He's rescued (remember this was riding on the crest of MGM's CAPTAIN'S COURAGEOUS) by a bunch of stereotypical Italian fishermen (Nat Pendleton, an Italian?) who happen to have a fetchin' singin' daughter. Complications ensure when the rich girlfriend wants him back. Yawn! Not really a musical, not much of a comedy... absolutely no relation to reality. Blah... 4/10