FOUR JACKS AND A JILL (1942)

Nifty Sullivan (Ray Bolger) is a songwriter and leader of the swing band Four Jacks and a Queen, the latter being lead singer Opal (June Havoc). Nifty steals some of his tunes from the classical world; as one of the band members says, "You gotta hand it to a guy who can whip the Barber of Seville into 'Once Over Lightly with You, Baby!'" At a symphony concert, he winds up sitting with Nina (Anne Shirley), a poor homeless girl singer from the Balkan country Aregal, and when she gets him out of trouble with Noodle, a gangster who is dating Opal, he invites her to stay in the apartment he shares with the band. Noodle makes Opal quit singing to be his full-time moll, and Nina moves into high gear, getting the boys a gig at the Little Aregal Café and joining the group, claiming to be a personal favorite singer of King Stephan of Aregal. The king is rumored to be visiting New York City in secret, and taxi driver Steve Sarno (Desi Arnaz), who bears a resemblance to him, poses as the king. So, what develops is: Steve begins an affair with Opal even as Nifty gets jealous of Nina's attentions to Steve (as the king) and Noodle decides he wants to use the royal fuss to break Opal into high society—he calls her a "vulture for culture." With all these shenanigans in motion, who should show up but the real King Stephan.

As I watched this B-musical unfold, I had this nagging thought that I’d seen it before. It turns out it's an uncredited remake of the early sound musical STREET GIRL. The story is packed with incident but it's easy to follow. Though the 1929 film is primitive in style, I think that version has the edge; this one, though decently acted, is sloppily directed. I like Bolger but he's not the most charismatic lead man around; Shirley and Havoc are fine; the young Arnaz actually steals the show with his slightly shady character. One of Bolger's show-off, long-take dance numbers to a song called "I'm in Good Shape for the Shape I'm In" is hurt by some shaky camerawork. "Boogie Woogie Conga" is the only memorable tune. There is fine support from Eddie For Jr., Jack Briggs and William Blees as the other three Jacks. Pictured are Shirley, Arnaz and Bolger. [TCM]