‘RHYTHM ON THE RIVER’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Bing and Mary as the song-writing team with Basil

After a pretty average effort in ‘Rhythm on the Range’, ‘Rhythm on the River’ was a big improvement for me. In fact, this could count as my second favourite Bing Crosby movie following ‘Holiday Inn’. 😀

I recall seeing this movie at my Nana’s house in early 2010, I believe, before she died in 2011. There are elements of ‘Holiday Inn’ to be found in this film, though the inn is actually called…Nobody’s Inn.

This film was released in 1940 and was directed by Victor Schertzinger. It has Bing Crosby and Mary Martin who play ghost-writers to songs that are credited to a composer played by Basil Rathbone. 🙂

Basil Rathbone is well-known for playing Sherlock Holmes in his movies from 1939 to 1946. It was so surreal to see Basil Rathbone appear in a Bing Crosby movie as he plays a charming antagonist here.

In the film, Basil Rathborne plays Oliver Courtney. He’s a well-known composer for hit songs in America and is very much in demand by the people who produce musical shows featuring his songs.

However, Oliver Courtney happens to be a fraud as he relies upon ghost-writers such as Bing Crosby as Bob Sommers and Mary Martin as Cherry Lane. Nobody knows about these two and their talents.

It was fascinating to see this movie featuring two ghost-writers in Bing Crosby and Mary Martin who try to win their way to success without the need to work for Basil Rathborne. It’s really compelling. 🙂

I know ‘Doctor Who’ books by Tom Baker and Sophie Aldred happen to have ghost-writers such as James Goss, Steve Cole and Mike Tucker. But at least the books acknowledge them as ghost-writers.

Bing Crosby is very good in this film. I like the charm Bing brings to his performances in these musical films and it’s always fun to see when there’s a misunderstanding between him and his lover in them.

In fact, Mary Martin as Cherry Lane starts off not liking Bing Crosby’s character very much. Whereas Bing Crosby actually shows an interest in her as he whistles a musical tune to her that annoys her. 😀

It’s also funny when Bing and Mary’s characters make for the Nobody’s Inn place at the same time and she’s annoyed when she thinks he keeps following her. She even has him arrested at one point.

When they finally meet at the Nobody’s Inn, she gets into a scream and she nearly injures Bing’s character, as he tries to get to her window by climbing a ladder. Thankfully, all gets sorted in the end.

I like the relationship between Bing and Mary’s characters in the film. They take an interest in each other’s music. Bing writes the tunes whilst Mary writes the lyrics when they work for Basil Rathbone.

Once they realise that they’ve been working for the same guy in the film, they start to go out into the world together to become their own song-writing team. They even have a band to assist them. 🙂

But when they try to sell their music to agents, they get rejected because the agents think that they’re intimidating Basil Rathbone’s work. This does get tricky for Bing and Mary’s characters here.

Thankfully, Bing and Mary’s characters manage to win their way to be recognised by the end of the film. This is when a song that Bing gives to Basil’s character gets stolen and it’s soon out in the open.

The song in question happens to be ‘Only Forever’, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It’s good that Bing Crosby and Mary Martin do some singing together in this film.

The film also has Oscar Levant (who later did ‘The Barkleys of Broadway’) as Billy Starbuck, working for Basil Rathbone. There’s also Lillian Cornell as Millie Starling and Oscar Shaw as Charlie Goodrich.

There’s Charley Grapewin (who was Uncle Henry in ‘The Wizard of Oz’) as Unce Caleb; Jean Cagney as a country cousin and William Frawley as Mr. Westlake. All deliver good performances for this film.

The film also has orchestra leader John Scott Trotter starring in it! John Scott Trotter would later provide music for the Charlie Brown cartoon specials, including the movie ‘A Boy Named Charlie Brown’.

Overall, ‘Rhythm on the River’ is a pretty good Bing Crosby movie to watch. I liked the character drama between Bing Crosby and Mary Martin’s characters and it was a thrill to see Basil Rathbone. 🙂

‘Rhythm on the River’ rating – 9/10

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