New Music Movies on Free Services - Page 111

An Optical Poem

1938

An Optical Poem

1938
6.6
A dance of shapes. A title card tells us this is an experiment in conveying the mental images of music in a visual form. Liszt's "Second Hungarian Rhapsody" is the music. The shapes, all two-dimensional, are circles primarily, with some squares and rectangles, and a few triangles. The shapes move rhythmically to the music: receding from view or moving across the screen. Red circles on a blue background; light blue squares; white rectangles. Then, a red background of many circles with a few in the foreground. Red gives way to blue then to white. Shapes reappear as Liszt's themes re-occur. Then, with a few staccato notes and images, it's over.
The Goldwyn Follies

1938

The Goldwyn Follies

1938
4.8
Movie producer chooses a simple girl to be "Miss Humanity" and to critically evalute his movies from the point of view of the ordinary person.
Big Fella

1938

Big Fella

1938
7
Singing Marseilles docker Joe is hired by wealthy English couple, the Oliphants, to find their missing son Gerald. When Joe finds him, he learns Gerald escaped of his own will and takes him to stay with a local singer, who offers a refuge from his repressed white parents.
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round

1937

Manhattan Merry-Go-Round

1937
6
In this musical comedy, a crooked record producer uses his mob connections to force performers to do their stuff. The trouble really begins when the gangster's strong-arm tactics nearly cause a singer to lose his fiancée. A wide variety of entertainers appear including cowboy crooner Gene Autry, baseball hero Joe DiMaggio, and big band stars Cab Calloway, Ted Lewis, and the Kay Thompson Singers. Songs include "Mamma I Wanna Make Rhythm," "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round," "Heaven?," "I Owe You," and "It's Round-up Time in Reno."
The Dybbuk

1937

The Dybbuk

1937
6.3
In a Polish shtetl, two young men who have grown up together betrothe their unborn children, ignoring the advice of a mysterious traveler not to pledge the lives of future generations. Soon after, one of them dies, and the wife of the other dies in childbirth. The children grow up in different towns, without ever knowing of the betrothal, but the power of the vow leads them to meet each other when they are marriageable. The young woman, Leah, is promised to another man, but Channon, the son of the father who died, is a practitioner of mysticism, and seeks to win his bride through sorcery.
Rhythm in the Clouds

1937

Rhythm in the Clouds

1937
5
Judy Walker is a poor songwriter who, through mistaken identity, gets her songs played on the radio.
Moonlight on the Range

1937

Moonlight on the Range

1937
Tom "Killer" Dane kills Jeff's friend, who then pursues him. Jeff and Dane are look-alike half brothers, which allows Dane to make a raid dressed like Jeff. Jeff is arrested, but before Dane's henchman can organize a lynch mob, Fuzzy breaks him out and Jeff heads after Dane again.
Sweetheart of the Navy

1937

Sweetheart of the Navy

1937
10
Singer Joan Whitney, called the "Sweetheart of the Navy" by sailors, is struggling to re-open the Snug Harbor Cafe. After her partner, Richard, skips town with the money owed to their creditors, the club opens unceremoniously. Two of Joan's sailor friends, Andy and Pete, offer to help her raise money for the club by staging a fight with Bumper Martin, boxing champion of the fleet. At Andy's request, straight-laced yeoman Eddie Harris replaces him in the upcoming fight. Andy and Pete then intimidate or coerce the sailors into betting on the fight, promising to give Joan the profits. Navy Commander Lodge, who is grooming Eddie for the Naval Academy at Annapolis, is against the fight, however, and Joan decides to "vamp" Eddie to make him fight.
Hittin' the Trail

1937

Hittin' the Trail

1937
5
When he swaps horses with the Tombstone Kid — a wrongly accused man on the run from the law — singing cowboy Tex Randall gets arrested by the local sheriff in a case of mistaken identity.
Hats Off

1936

Hats Off

1936
3.7
The first musical comedy from the Grand National assembly line, Hats Off stars John Payne and Mae Clarke as rival press agents Jimmy Maxwell and Jo Allen. Both have been assigned to stir up publicity for separate expositions at the 1936 Texas Centennial (newsreel footage of which predominates throughout the film's short running time). To throw Jimmy off the track, Jo pretends to be a schoolteacher, but by the time the ruse has been revealed, the two leading characters have fallen in love.
Christmas Comes But Once a Year

1936

Christmas Comes But Once a Year

1936
7.1
At an orphanage, the children are sad because they received used defective toys as gifts. Professor Grampy sees the children while passing by in his sled and has an idea on how to give them a merry Christmas.
The Big Show

1936

The Big Show

1936
4.2
At the Texas Centennial in Dallas Autry confuses two girls by being himself and his own stunt double. When cowboy star Tom Ford disappears, Wilson gets his double Gene Autry to impersonate him. But Ford owes gangster Rico $10,000 and Rico arrives to collect. He fails to get the money but learns that Autry is an impersonator and now blackmails Wilson and his movie studio. Original version runs 71 minutes, edited version runs 59 minutes.
The Three Mesquiteers

1936

The Three Mesquiteers

1936
5
When a group of World War 1 buddies head west to farmstead, they run into trouble.
Song of Freedom

1936

Song of Freedom

1936
5.6
John Zinga, a descendent of slaves, has an ancient medallion around his neck and a fragment of song passed down generations. He is an English dockworker with a magnificent voice and a yearning to learn his roots.
Follow Your Heart

1936

Follow Your Heart

1936
An eccentric musical family is kept in order by a talented daughter with modest ambitions.
Circus

1936

Circus

1936
6.2
An American circus performer finds herself the victim of racism after it is revealed that she's the mother of a mixed-race child. In the midst of the public scandal, she finds happiness, love, and refuge in the USSR.
Dancing Pirate

1936

Dancing Pirate

1936
5.5
Jonathan Pride is a mild-mannered dance instructor in 1820 Boston. En route to visit relatives, Jonathan is shanghaied by a band of zany pirates and forced to work as a galley boy. When the pirate vessel arrives at the port of Las Palomas, Jonathan, clad in buccaneer's garb, makes his escape. Everyone in Las Palomas, including Governor Alcalde (Frank Morgan) and fetching senorita Serafina (Steffi Duna), assumes that Jonathan is the pirate chieftain, leading to a series of typical comic-opera complications.
Let's Sing Again

1936

Let's Sing Again

1936
3.2
An orphan (Eight-year-old boy soprano Bobby Breen) gets a chance to sing opera in New York.
Red River Valley

1936

Red River Valley

1936
5
Gene and Frog set out to find out who has been causing the accidents at a dam construction site.
Bar 20 Rides Again

1935

Bar 20 Rides Again

1935
5
Cattle rustler Nevada dreams of living like an emperor in the West. Hoppy and the Bar 20 boys aim to put an end to his dream.