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Visitors Review

JohnnyOldSoul 2012-05-25 04:03:40

A mess with one bright spot-but you already knew that.

As a whole, "Stand Up and Cheer" is quite a mess. The story that framesthe musical numbers is silly and poorly executed, the musical numbersare rather drab and rife with racial stereotyping. But, most peoplewho've sought out this film are watching it for one reason-ShirleyTemple.Temple and James Dunn are really the only bright spots in thisproduction. Their on screen rapport is magic, and contrary to whatothers have stated, they BOTH hold their own during their crowdpleasing number "Baby, Take a Bow," in my opinion.Truly a product of it's day. It's widely reported that this filmbrought smiles to the faces of many, and try as I may to ignore it'sracial stereotypes, and bland dialogue, somehow the whole thing doesn'twork.But, as I have already mentioned, Jimmy and Shirley are pure magic.

bkoganbing 2012-05-22 16:27:52

A Weird Fantasy from the mind of Will Rogers

There's a famous story about President Herbert C. Hoover meeting RudyVallee during the midst of his term which as we know coincided with theGreat Depression. Hoover supposedly said to Vallee it would be great ifhe could sing some hit song that would make people forget theirtroubles, economic and otherwise. Well maybe that story got back to the ears of Will Rogers because hewas the one who came up with the idea of a Cabinet position forSecretary of Amusement. Maybe Rogers had himself in mind for the job,he was sure doing it unofficially.Fox was Rogers's home studio, but he makes no appearance here. Insteadthe president of the United States hires Warner Baxter for that job.Baxter essentially reprises his role of Julian Marsh the drivendirector from 42nd Street. I guess the money from that hit show didn'tlast long for Baxter so he's got this job.But can you imagine; instead of trying to get financial backers for ashow, Baxter goes before a Congressional committee for anappropriation? I'm not sure which is a worse ordeal.So the movie is Baxter trying to find a talent enough for a bigextravaganza that will do what Herbert Hoover wanted from only onesong. Stand Up and Cheer survives today because of the appearance of ShirleyTemple, on her way to becoming the movies' biggest box officeattraction of the decade. She only does one number here, with hooferJames Dunn as her father. But it's one of her biggest, Baby Take a Bow. If it weren't for Shirley, the film would have been a curious forgottenrelic of some very tough times. Still it's worth watching for more thanjust Shirley Temple.

Neil Doyle 2012-05-22 04:58:51

Depression movie is depressing...big time!

Only the scene featuring SHIRLEY TEMPLE singing the title tune is worthwatching. Othersise, this has got to be one of the worst musicals everto come out of the '30s.The script is a mess, the editing is downright atrocious, theperformances are flat, and nothing to keep your eyes open happens untilShirley bursts upon the screen with James Dunn and chorines in one ofher most charming song-and-dance routines.Believe me, the rest is worthless as entertainment and not evensatisfying as a curiosity piece of the Depression era.Let's face it. Shirley Temple became a star despite this mess of amovie and all because of one great number.

lugonian 2012-05-21 09:57:59

Depression Musical Fantasy

STAND UP AND CHEER (Fox, 1934), directed by Hamilton MacFadden,features Warner Baxter as Lawrence Cromwell, a Broadway producer who isappointed by the U.S. president as secretary of amusement to rid thecountry of the Depression blues. Madge Evans co-stars as Cromwell'ssecretary, Mary Adams, and Arthur Byron as John Hartly, a corruptpolitician who wants to keep the Depression going so he can stay inpolitical power, but fails in trying to bribe Cromwell to give up hisposition. An enjoyable Depression musical which reflects upon the people and thetimes, is noted virtually as a Shirley Temple movie. With Baxter andEvans enjoying more screen time, Temple, with her limitations to theplot, became an overnight sensation playing little Shirley Dugan,daughter to song and dance man, Jimmy Dugan (James Dunn). The musicalnumbers in STAND UP AND CHEER do not play for the audiences in themovie (there are none), but mainly to its viewers. The song and danceappears during the course of the story, beginning with Dick (billedNick) Foran coming out of a front page newspaper as Baxter and Evansread the headlines, and singing "I'm Laughing," later sung by across-country of citizens, and concluding with Aunt Jemima (TessGardella) and chorus. Next comes "Baby, Take a Bow" performed by Dunn,a chorine, and Temple; "Broadway's Gone Hillbilly" (sung by SylviaFroos and chorus); "She's Way Up Thar" (sung by John "Skins" Miller);"This Is Our Last Night Together" (an audition number, sung by JohnBoles and Sylvia Froos); and the big parade march of happy Americanssinging "We're Out of the Red" (introduced by Foran as the Paul Reverebearer of good news on a horse riding across the sky). As many classic movies in recent years have been nearly restored to itsoriginal length, such as the 1933 classic, KING KONG, for example,STAND UP AND CHEER seems to have never played in its entirety ontelevision since the 1960s, and currently is the victim of furtherbutchery. While the Stepin Fetchit segment, in which he encounters apenguin dressed, acting and talking like Jimmy Durante, has beenrestored, other scenes have been deleted, making the print incirculation since 1984 choppy and confusing. There's one scene in thestory in which Baxter says "No" to Fetchit before hearing what he hasto say. The violent gags of comedy team of Mitchell and Durant as U.S.senators are either trimmed or completely cut out. I was fortunate tohave watched the complete version of STAND UP AND CHEER at a revivaltheater in New York City in the 1980s. Scenes missing from currentprints are Aunt Jemima's introduction to "I'm Laughing," and NickForan's introduction to the finale, "We're Out of the Red." 'Skins'Miller, billed as the hillbilly, seen looking for a gal named Sally,bursting into song, "She's Way Up Thar," while Fetchit is out in themountains with a butterfly net hired to get a hillbilly by Dinwiddie(Nigel Bruce), is completely gone. The closing cast credits is shown onscreen in freeze frame and ends abruptly. Originally presented intheaters at 80 minutes, it can now be seen on video cassette (sometimescolorized) and on TV at the 69 minute length. A pity, because thoseseeing this for the first time today will think this is how it waspresented to 1934 audiences, and it wasn't. STAND UP AND CHEER, which formerly played on American Movie Classicsfrom 1996 to 2001, can be seen once in a while on the Fox MovieChannel. While no great masterpiece, this is one movie that deservesrestoration to its original 80 minute length to be fully appreciated.(**1/2)

rosewater4america 2012-05-20 22:13:21

stay seated but cheer

The portrayals of African American characters in this movie are, as hasbeen pointed out, stereotypical, but I would like to suggest that wherethe actors themselves are allowed to show their talents, they transcendthe stereotypes in ways even the filmmakers themselves recognized.Take, for example, the show-stopping finale to "I'm Laughing,"performed by Tess Gardella. There are a series of tableaux in thisnumber, of various individuals all representing different marginalizedgroups: Immigrants, sweatshop workers, laborers of all kinds, allleading up to Tess Gardella herself busting out with the biggest,cheeriest performance of all, surrounded by a rousing, dancing chorus.It was clearly meant to recap the song's theme--if I can laugh, asdowntrodden as I am, so can you--and to embody those who persevere andtriumph over circumstance. With a swish of her ample hips and a gleamin her eye, Ms. Gardella triumphs.The standard Stepin Fetchit routine has been analyzed everywhere, butlet me just add that in this picture, the actor personifies AfricanAmerican resistance. In 1934 Black men were still not free from thevicious system of racial etiquette known as Jim Crow, and weretherefore limited in the number of personae they were allowed todisplay. The genius of Stepin Fetchit is that he acts out theprescribed social role while frustrating those who prescribe it bywithholding his intelligence and personality from the socialinteraction altogether. He slyly gives white people exactly what theydemand,nothing more, forcing them to realize that perhaps that's notwhat they want after all. The resistance is his and the joke is onthem.

ccthemovieman-1 2012-05-19 03:56:26

Okay, But Not Really A 'Temple' Movie

This is a billed as a "Shirley Temple film," but it really isn'tbecause she hardly appears in it. In fact, she doesn't appear untilafter 20 minutes have gone by, and then after the scene and asubsequent dance routine with James Dunn, disappears again until thevery end. When she's here, she's as cute as ever, especially being soyoung.Warner Baxter had the main role as "Lawrence Cromwell." He was assistedby his secretary played by a very pretty Madge Evans, whom I didn'tknow until trying to find out on this website because the video boxdoesn't even have her listed in the billing.The rest of the cast included a couple of people I was familiar withfrom other roles, such as Nigel Bruce, who played Dr. Watson to BasilRathbone's Sherlock Holmes. We also have a lady who played Aunt Jemimaand Stepin Fetchit, both a couple of embarrassing stereotypes of theperiod. I was never a fan of Fetchin, not for PC reasons but simplybecause of his whiny voice and stupid characters he played. He was thesame here except when he dove into a fish tank, which made gave me abig laugh.This film had a good share of strange characters but, despite that,overall isn't anything that memorable....perhaps because Shirley hadsuch a small role.

meryl-4 2012-05-18 16:46:08

An incomplete film.

The 80 minute version is the complete film not the cut 69 minuteversion. I've seen the extended film on TV more than 30 years ago andloved it. If it's still available ( the 80 min. version ) can it bereleased on DVD? I'm sure there are other admirers of complete ShirleyTemple films. The missing scenes has a Hillbilly talking to theincomparable " Steppin Fechit ", whose job it is to locate and sign-upadditional novelty acts for his boss Warner Baxster. The Hillbillycommences to sing " Well shes down thar, and I'm up yar...". We see hiswife swinging an ax against a tree and taking out huge chunks at atime. Her description is that shes large with a corn cob pipe in hermouth. She calls to him " you who " and he responds the same way back.

Ron Oliver 2012-05-17 22:55:26

Shirley Temple - A Star Is Born

With the country in the throes of the Great Depression,thePresident calls upon a celebrated Broadway impresario tobecome the first Secretary of Amusement, in the hopes thatAmericans can beat hard times by learning to smile, laugh,and,eventually, STAND UP AND CHEER!It is always vital when examining old films to try to besensitive to their context within their own time frames.Important movies of 70 years ago may look terribly tritenowthrough absolutely no fault of their own. Judging by today'sstandards can often lead to pitfalls.That having been stated, however, it is difficult to appreciatethis film without seeing it for what it is: undeniably silly.Andracist. And even a bit bizarre at times. But it contains onegreatjewel...Earnest Warner Baxter & lovely Madge Evans certainly givetheplot a try, but the script is dead set against them all theway,making him encourage hillbilly singers as the remedy forthenation's economic woes and having her mope about lovelorn&lonely.As Aunt Jemima, blackfaced singer Tess Gardella (very popularat the time on Broadway's Show Boat) and especially StepinFetchit are embarrassingly stereotyped. It should be noted,however, that this sort of racial belittlement was not unusualinthe Hollywood of the 1930's.The physical, knockdown humor of Frank Mitchell & JackDurant, playing a couple of zany U. S. Senators, is very odd&no longer funny. Odder still is the penguin that thinkshe'sJimmy Durante.Familiar faces show up from time to time - Nigel Bruce,RalphMorgan, little Our Gang kid Scotty Beckett, warbling JohnBoles- but they are quickly submerged by the plot.In the midst of all this clutter of mismatched parts, whenallmight be given up for lost, comes five-year-old ShirleyTempleand she is an utter joy.Shirley had already appeared in a series of features &shorts.But it was here, singing & dancing - and completely obliteratingpoor James Dunn who played her father - that the situationwas ripe for her to march straight into the nation's heart.In1935 Shirley would begin to star in her string of classicfamilyfilms, and, with the death of Marie Dressler in July of 1934,themighty moppet was to begin her reign as Hollywood's numberone box office attraction.So, with the arrival of Shirley Temple, we do indeed havemuchfor which to STAND UP AND CHEER!

maurylovesoldhollyw 2012-05-17 17:54:12

Shirley Temple is one reason to watch this; Stepin Fetchit is another reason.

I just watched this movie again, and I think it is wonderful. ShirleyTemple is adorable, as always. Madge Evans is terrific. She was wayunderrated as an actress. She was so good in so many films; Dinner atEight , Beauty For Sale, and Mayor of Hell are a few that come to mind.Warner Baxter is good, but his role does not offer him the actingopportunity that 42nd Street did , one year earlier.As for Stepin Fetchit, he is marvelous!!! The man was a comic genius. Irate him as good as Stan Laurel. People nowadays keep stressing thestereotypes of minorities in old films. That's true, but even so,actors like Fetchit displayed great talent. And didn't most comedians,of any color, play stereotypical roles? Silliness has always been asource of comedy, whether it was performed by Stepin Fetchit, StanLaurel, Cary Grant, or Willie Fung. I love the musical numbers! They are upbeat, and happy. my favorite oneis not Baby, Take A Bow, but Broadway's Gone Hillbilly. I think thatThe Picken Sisters sing in this number, although they are not listed inthe cast.