The Strip (1951)

Very disappointed :(

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Hollywood's finest are called to investigate two gunshot victims, which leads the police to haul jazz drummer Mickey Rooney (as Stanley "Stan" Maxton) in for questioning… In flashback, Mr. Rooney explains how he became acquainted with wounded Sally Forrest (as Jane Tafford) and dead James Craig (as Delwyn "Sonny" Johnson). After Korean War service, Rooney goes to work for the latter, a successful salesman. When one of Mr. Craig's joints is raided, Rooney escapes in an auto driven by Ms. Forrest. His pretty blonde driver tells Rooney she works as a dancer at the Dixieland nightclub "fluff's" on "The Strip" (Sunset Strip).Rooney goes to see Forrest dance. Wearing those stockings with the eye-catching lines going up the back, Forrest dances up a storm. Then, Rooney shows off his prowess with the sticks (he impersonates a drummer very well), which prompts a job offer from club owner William Demarest (as Fluff). To get close to Forrest, Rooney takes the job. Unfortunately, Rooney winds up being third wheel to the future shooting victims...Louis Armstrong and the musicians are terrific. Mr. Armstrong's rendition of "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was a big R&B and Pop hit during the film's release. Rooney is fun to watch behind the drum set, or breakfast table and piano with Mr. Demarest. And, he and Tommy Rettig (as Artie) have some funny scenes. "The Strip" doesn't know whether to be a musical or a crime drama, but one makes up for what the other lacks.****** The Strip (8/31/51) Leslie Kardos ~ Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest, James Craig

In an effort to make something of him the folks involved in getting this film made could only have been hoping his name would be enough to make it appear they had something to offer the film-going public.To support this, sorely needed, are a litany of music and dance routines sprinkled throughout the picture. Which gave me the impression that the studio saw this as an opportunity to get some of their less useful (thus less profitable) performers a chance to earn their keep and maybe a little practice for future work.Rooney, his usual heavy-handed delivery telegraphing every line that comes out of his mouth, is surrounded by people who're usually sitting down. Even he's seated often enough to keep us from paying too much attention to his diminutive height. By this means, at one point, we get to see Mickey talk down to his former employer, a small-time crime boss who comes replete with slick black hair and mustache villainy.Oh yeah… and tough-talking Mickey has to be double-teamed by a couple of thugs who're each twice his size.To support the illusion they also provide us Sally Forrest, a lady short enough to make it possible to believe she'd could regard Rooney an attractive catch.Beyond the big-name music acts this film has little to offer and drags from start to finish.

These types off film were being hammered out weekly in the 1950's. Superficially, there is little to distinguish this from the rest. However as it progresses, there is much to admire and enjoy. I love the format of an a hour and a quarter running time. Long enough to tell a simple tale, but without any time for padding, every frame counts.Mickey Rooney is a fine character actor. One of the minor amusements here is watching a diminutive Rooney playing the lead, being dwarfed by everyone apart from his leading lady, Sally Forrest, who is probably the only actor on screen smaller than him! The premise of the loser/little guy who stands up for himself works well with several acutely observed scenes. The tragic denouement is a genuine surprise and is well told with clever editing keeping the tale skimming along at a brisk pace.The musical,and song and dance interludes provide pleasing pauses in the action resulting in a film that ultimately delivers because it works so conspicuously within it's boundaries, rather than trying to push them.

One of the dumber scripts around. The dramatic conclusion to the story takes place off screen and is merely described in a police report. (Girl shoots gangster dead for threatening her boyfriend [Rooney] gets killed herself in the fracas.Some good musical numbers--mainly Satchmo singing "A Kiss to Build a Dream On." Rooney and Demarest are actually both good being Rooney and Demarest.But as an L.A. period piece (released in '51) it's fun to see the Sunset strip and other locations. Particularly if you grew up around here. There are a lot of movies from that period, made on a low budget with crummy scripts. But fun to watch for their money-saving use of locations and for their natural noir ambience.