DING DONG WILLIAMS (1946)

A surprising little delight of a B-movie that gets by on fun music and quirky charm. Glen Vernon (who played the martyred Russian boy in DAYS OF GLORY, reviewed yesterday) is the title character, a "hot jazz" clarinet player. When Felix Bressart (James Stewart's friend in SHOP AROUND THE CORNER) a studio music chief, can't come up with the right "modern" (Gershwinesque) music for the climax of a movie in production, his secretary (Marcy McGuire) suggests they hire Vernon for the job. They see him and his band perform and hire him, but it turns out that Vernon can't read or write music; he can improvise some great stuff, but only when he's in just the right mood. Bressart and McGuire use various tricks to try to get him in a "hot music" mood, and have arrangers Zing and Zang (Cliff Nazarro & Tommy Noonan) sitting ready to transcribe his music, but nothing seems to work. Anne Jeffreys is a studio belle, James Warren is a western star whom Vernon admires, and 11-year-old prodigy Richard Korbel plays some Chopin and Grieg. Real-life RKO music director Constantin Bakaleinikoff conducts an orchestra on camera, and Bob Nolan & the Sons of the Pioneers, who appeard in a number of B-westerns, play their hit "Cool Water." The songs are fun and the pace is zippy, although the action stops dead whenever the kid plays piano. I like Bressart being annoyed at a dance club by what he calls all the "noise and acrobats." Amusing and different, sort of a B-movie version of a 30's Rooney/Garland movie. Noonan (better known later as Marilyn Monroe's nerdy boyfriend in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES) and Nazarro are especially fun. [TCM]