A Jukebox Musical Pours It On

Robt. Lowery Gets a Telling From Future Granny Irene Ryan in Monogram Laff-and-Tune Fest Hot Rhythm

Funny Folk and Music Enliven Hot Rhythm (1944)

A Monogram masterpiece! Lowly jingle writer Robert Lowery tries boosting crush Dona Drake to singer status, is stymied in part by dizzy Irene Ryan, who unexpectedly gets the canary spot on records/radio. All this and slapstick too ... Tim Ryan the blustery boss falling over trash cans and wife Irene (they were a performing team), then in walks Harry Langdon to tie up link with comedy's Greatest Era. Future Granny Clampett Irene was a 40's extreme on Gracie Allen; she brays, tumbles, is punishingly dense. Wish there were a hundred Irene Ryan pics I could watch. Dona Drake had been Rita Rio of an all-girl band and appearance in Soundies, those little films you'd look at as a hosting juke box played. Bob Lowery had flaked out of 20th Fox's youth program ... how many Richard Greenes did they need? ... but would secure legacy playing Batman for Columbia in a 1949 serial. Monogram built a single lush set for Hot Rhythm and confined most action to it, the affect serving OK so long as bands rotate nimbly and pace doesn't flag. Doubt if anyone at Metro lost sleep over Mono songbooks, but for second feature placement, they stood good and pleased customers with modest expectation. Langdon alone is basis for watching, of course, but band boxes budget-wrapped like Hot Rhythm are joyous for plenty beyond Harry in twilight, and Netflix has a brace of them in good quality.