Colleen, the last film that Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler made together (of seven), is a strange disaster — and a great example of what happens when a studio throws a lot of previously proven elements together without any inspiration and ends up with nothing. The plot is complicated enough, replete with suckers, con-artists and gold-diggers, crooning, tap dancing, a fashion shop, etc. etc. It’s a mechanical jumble, with all the actors playing their well-established formulaic roles. Dick Powell = young, well dressed hero-crooner; Ruby Keeler = wide-eyed innocent animatronic tap dancer; Hugh Herbert = mugging buffoon-rich man; Joan Blondell = eyelash-batting gold digger; Jack Oakie = go-getter con-man. Directed by Alfred Green (I’ve never seen anything well-directed by him), it has all the technical qualities of a smooth Warner comedy of the time, but the actors seem to be reverting to mannerisms from the silent days. I don’t think the film was made particularly quickly. It just feels that way.
Keeler is as usual a terrible dancer. She’s the mistress of white robot tap. She’s paired with the dancer Paul Draper, who would have made a great clown imitating himself — he’s dressed in tails, but he dances like he’s in a junior high-school talent contest (which makes him the ideal partner for Keeler). I don’t care for Hugh Herbert in anything. Powell doesn’t have much to work with, and you can feel he’s biding his time until he’s done with these comedy contracts.
There are a few quality scenes, though, predictably between Blondell and Oakie, who play the con-artist couple. The “Boulevardier from the Bronx” routine (it’s a Warren-Dubin song) deserved a better movie. A cartoon maybe. It’s also the best dance in the film.
There’s actually one memorable sequence, too, when Dick Powell turns “You Gotta Know How to Dance” into “I Don’t Have to Know How to Dance,” saving his reputation from having to participate in the amateurish group dance at the end. I remembered this sequence for years without being able to recall where I saw it. It also features the wonderful Vitaphone orchestra, one of the best bands in the world at the time.
