Night Spot (1938)
A young singer, Marge Dexter, becomes involved in trouble when she works in a nightclub in which two of the band-members are in reality undercover-police officers who believe that the club is the headquarters of a dangerous gang of crooks.
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A Major Disappointment
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
This shortie from RKO opens with Marge Dexter (Joan Woodbury) looking for work in a nightclub. Of course, there is a mixup, and she gets "mixed up" in the shenanigans going on with the employees that work there. Jack Carson is in here in a minor role. And Harry Parke aka Parkyakarkus is in here with his comedic word-fumbles and switcheroos. "Boss, everything is under patrol!" Parke is Marge's bodyguard, trying to protect her until she can testify. The whole thing is one big vaudeville bit, with long pauses, one liners, and sight gags. Allan Lane and Gordon Jones are musicians in the nightclub, observing and trying to cozy up to Marge. Pretty good entertainment, if a little cheesy, jam-packed into one hour. Directed by Christy Cabanne, who sure fit a lot of showbiz into his short life. As actor, writer, director, and other miscellaneous crew, he started in the biz in 1911 -- he must have been there almost right from the beginning.
This is a zippy little comedy-mystery as Joan Woodbury honestly alibis nightclub owner Bradley Page and the police, in the person of Alan Lane, try to break her story. The cast includes Jack Carson in an early sizable role and Cecil Kellaway. It is headlined by Parkyakarkus, a popular dialect comedian of the era. The movie moves along at a good clip. Only Joan Woodbury is less than excellent, and she's pretty bad.Longtime director Christy Cabanne, usually held to be the least of D.W. Griffith's disciples was near the end of his string of good B movies for major studios at this point. Shortly he would retreat into westerns and cheap independent productions like the 'Scattergood Baines' series, but here, given a bit of a budget, he shows us a good short feature with lots of classical camera movement.