I saw this film last weekend at the Cinemateque in Hollywood. It is a deeply terrible film, yet a wonderful glimpse into some forgotten Hollywood History. Earl Carroll was a guy who ran a chain of Burlesque houses in the thirties rather in the vein of Zigfeld. These clubs (according to the movie) were staffed by great looking dames before you got a great musical review (which in real life apparently featured some mild nudity.
The movie is a musical tribute to the club in Hollywood. Some gangsters have a plot to make Earl Carroll look bad in the eyes of a Mayor's convention who have come to the club to see the show. They kidnap all the headliners and the staff of the club have to go out there and put on a show. Carroll, nobody's actor, appears as himself. They escape in the end and the plot is thwarted. There is a duo of silly, man crazy sisters who are also at the show, perhaps to back Carroll in future projects. Very, very dumb but I can't think of anything else quite like it. It was shown on a double bill with the watershed Rock Film "The Big TNT Show", filmed at the same theater 25 years later.
The movie is a musical tribute to the club in Hollywood. Some gangsters have a plot to make Earl Carroll look bad in the eyes of a Mayor's convention who have come to the club to see the show. They kidnap all the headliners and the staff of the club have to go out there and put on a show. Carroll, nobody's actor, appears as himself. They escape in the end and the plot is thwarted. There is a duo of silly, man crazy sisters who are also at the show, perhaps to back Carroll in future projects. Very, very dumb but I can't think of anything else quite like it. It was shown on a double bill with the watershed Rock Film "The Big TNT Show", filmed at the same theater 25 years later.
