If I were to describe this annoyingly unfunny comedy in its own style of humor, I'd say that this film isn't dated, it's pruned. The sadly unfunny story deals with singer Shirley Ross whose agent (Edward Arnold) tries to pass her off as a temperamental country singer while the other one is held by a phony doctor having all sorts of ridiculous medical procedures. I can't imagine this having much appeal to most audiences in 1937, let alone 80 years later. Historically, it has the long forgotten comedy team of Weber and Fields, but even their schtick gets tired quickly. The songs by future legend Frank Loesser are instantly forgettable.
A poignant moment has Arnold going through pictures of veteran performers whom Weber and Fields once worked with, focusing for several seconds longer on a photo of Marie Dressler, sad music reminding audiences of how her loss was felt. But then it's back to the same corny comedy, even making veteran character actor William Frawley look uncomfortable. I've seen a lot of dated, bad comedy in my time, and often it makes me groan, if not smirk uncomfortably, but with an absolutely idiotic plot set-up, this film with a fantastic and promising title ends up too boring to be a bomb, and perhaps my new answer to insomnia.
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