If Annie Oakley on helium is funny to you, then by all means, you'll enjoy this movie. I don't think Helen Kane is not entertaining. She has a perky personality, but like most things, a little bit goes a long way. I compare this early sound musical to several other "freak shows" of the times, all very strange musicals that seemed to have been created by some frequent visitors to the then popular "Snow Balls" (cocaine parties) going on in Hollywood. Those other musicals, "The Great Gabbo", "Just Imagine" and "The Lottery Bride", like this, are all filled with bizarre musical numbers, set in exotic places (or in the case of "Just Imagine", on Mars in 1980!), and seemed to have their scripts taken out of old vaudeville routines. The storyline of this one involves a Christmas show for Alaskan locales put on by the local society matron, and Nan is the top entertainer who can both shoot a gun and sing. There's also a notorious gangster present, and whose identity it is provides the only conflict. Kane gives enough "Poo Poo Pee Doo's" in her songs (which pretty much all sound alike) to please Betty Boop fans, and familiar stars like Stuart Erwin, Frank Morgan and Victor Moore provide some dated humor. With movie musicals like this, it's no wonder there was a moratorium on them by the end of the year.
Review of Dangerous Nan McGrew
