Strike Me Pink

EDDIE CANTOR was one of the most talented comedian/singers in Hollywood who never really got his due in films--except for a wonderful turn as lookalikes in THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS ('43). And ETHEL MERMAN is a great brassy singer from Broadway who never got her big chance in films either, except for CALL ME MADAM.

They don't really get their big chance here, either. It's an antiquated musical even though there is some great talent behind the scenes, as can be noted in the screen credits.

Cantor is the typical nerd, a tailor being bullied by college guys and rescued occasionally by his pal "Butch" (GORDON JONES). Cantor is being ribbed all the time for his crush on night-club singer ETHEL MERMAN, whose photos are posted all over his shop. He plays the sort of character that would inevitably fall to the Harold Lloyds and Danny Kayes of the show biz world--or, for that matter, Bob Hope who specialized in being a cowardly foil for the villainous thugs.

A young BRIAN DONLEVY has an early role as one of the thugs who wants to put one over on Cantor by placing slot machines in "Dreamland" park, with Cantor as current owner who has to get his courage from a book and phonograph record on "Man or Mouse?" A funny scene has him working his spell on tough guy ED BROPHY to the strains of "Dance of the Hours".

SALLY EILERS is the pretty secretary trying to give Cantor some backbone. It's the sort of role Virginia Mayo would later play in Danny Kaye films.

Some of the humor is rather forced and it's all kind of corny, but fun to watch as Cantor gets himself into one situation after another as he confronts the bad guys. Ethel Merman shows up for a couple of so-so song numbers but most of the time she's absent from the scene--and her few songs are not exactly memorable.

On the credit side, the musical sequences include some well choreographed song and dance numbers featuring The Goldwyn Girls, particularly one called "The Lady Dances". But the highlight of the film is the spectacular "Dreamland" chase that has all of the slapstick quality of the great silent chases, inspired by the Buster Keaton-Charlie Chaplin crowd of comics.

Summing up: Will appeal mostly to the admirers of Eddie Cantor's style as the comic foil for villains--and for anyone curious at an early glimpse of Merman.

I usually like Eddie Cantor. And this has an agreeable supporting cast. But I found this a chore. Yes, the Dreamland amusement park is appealing. And it has some wonderful Harold Arlen songs. I love the one he and Ethel Merman sing about retiring to a farm. What a funny image that conjures up!

Merman is believable as a nightclub singer. But she isn't believable as a heartthrob. The dancing is fine but I found it hard not to compare it to the Warner's Berekely movies. And in comparison, it does not fare well.

Cantor's movies often have a strange charm. They're goofy but lovable. This one works way too hard. The final sequence seemed inept. I kept thinking how fabulous it would have been with Buster Keaton. Or with Harold Lloyd. With Cantor, it was as light as a cement cream puff.

I've seen quite a few Eddie Cantor films and some of them are wonderful films. However, Cantor also made a few clunkers--and STRIKE ME PINK is one of them.

The film starts out well. Cantor plays a milquetoast owner of a dry cleaning business. Because he's so afraid, he takes a correspondence course to make him an assertive man. This aspect of the film is pretty funny and I really was hooked.

When Cantor's friend graduates college, Cantor is offered a job running the amusement park owned by his friend's mother. They hire him because he acts tough and assertive--and they need that because hoods (led by Brian Donlevy and William Frawley) are trying to force the park to place crooked slot machines on the property. The last three managers all met with "unfortunate accidents" or just disappeared, so it looks as if Cantor is in over his head.

Again, so far so good--the set up is just fine and the film is a mildly amusing comedy. However, one problem is noticeable half-way through the film. While Cantor himself often sings cute little songs in his films, this time there are some Busby Berkely-like production numbers and the addition of a lady singer that frankly didn't work. The humor, at times, took a back seat to irrelevant musical numbers. The dumb plot involving the dark-haired lounge singer just didn't work at all.

By the middle of the film, the quality and humor started to fade. However, towards the end the film got really, really bad--like the writers had no idea what to do with the film. Going from a gentle comedy to a "wacky" and outrageous comedy just failed miserably. All too often, Cantor wasn't even in a scenes--just his stunt double. Additionally, with the awful roller coaster scene, too much of a reliance on rear-projection and dippy stunts sank the film. At this point, I just couldn't wait for it to end. It's a shame really, as I wanted to love this film--too bad it all turned to crap at the end.

Several numbers in the film are worth a look just because of the clear influence of Busby Berkeley. The numbers show sophistication and modernist sensibility very different from the tone and style of the rest of the material, and very Berkelesque. In the "High and Low" number,for example, filmed mostly in closeups, Merman's white skin is strongly silhouetted against her very black costume, which itself blends into the black background. Its a chiaroscuro effect highly reminiscent of Winnie Shaw's "Lullaby of Broadway" number in Gold Diggers of 1933.

Later, in "Shake Me Off With Rhythm", the shiny dance floor reflects the dancers so completely that a reflection begins to dance on its own, itself a reminder of Bojangles by Fred Astaire in Swingtime, which was released in the same year. At another point, dancers intertwine so that their one's arm become the other's legs and it becomes difficult to distinguish them, their intertwined bodies still reflected by the shiny floor in a very modernist composition. It all feels like Busby, off center, inventive, playful. Worth a look.

If you have not seen "Whoopee!" or "Palmy Days" or "Kid Millions" or "Roman Scandals" or "The Kid from Spain", you may think that "Strike Me Pink" is a pretty funny comedy. However, compared to the films mentioned above, it just doesn't make it. Instead of writing for his usual "frightened and nervous little man" persona, Cantor is given a script which would be better suited to Harold Lloyd. The musical numbers, though serviceable, are not even close to the great songs introduced in the previous pictures. Casting Ethel Merman, so perfect in "Kid Millions", as the romantic lead was a total mistake. Parkyakarkus and Bill Frawley are descent comic foils for Cantor, but somehow it all seems a little contrived. If you have seen the other films Cantor made for Goldwyn, this one may be a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong! There are some funny bits in the film. It's certainly not a total disaster, but compared to the films which came before it, it leaves much to be desired.