Release date: January 8, 1938
Running time: 77 minutes
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Louise Fazenda, Nat Pendleton, Penny Singleton
Directed by: Ray Enright
About the only thing positive to say about Swing Your Lady is that it introduced to the world the comedy vaudeville troupe The Weaver Brothers and Elviry. The troupe had been around in infancy since the 1910’s, becoming comedic headliners shortly after WWI with the vaudeville circuit. This would be their first foray into motion pictures. They would go on to appear in a dozen films throughout the 30’s and 40’s. The Weaver Brothers and Elviry specialized in their own brand of Hillbilly music including their use of unique and novelty instruments. Swing Your Lady features this heavily with full musical numbers that stop the film entirely in its tracks yet offer the only moments really worth watching.
Wrestling promoter Ed Hatch (Humphrey Bogart) comes to Missouri with his dim-witted wrestler Joe Skopapoulos (Nat Pendleton) in tow in search of fighters to pit Joe against. When Ed’s vehicle gets stuck in a ditch, blacksmith Sadie Horn (Louise Fazenda) pulls it out with her bare hands. Sensing a star in the making, and a path to some quick money, Ed offers Sadie $100 to wrestle Joe. What he doesn’t count on is the two falling in love and refusing to fight.
There is really very little to recommend in this film. The players are all generic stereotypes, a relic of the silent era. Louise Fazenda comes off particularly one note. She was primarily a silent film star who married producer Hal Wallis and even though she worked consistently until 1939 her main talents lay in the over exaggerations needed to play without dialogue. Her portrayal of of a hick female blacksmith is borderline offensive. Likewise Nat Pendleton plays Joe so stupid as to be unbelievable. These broad performances were played up for comedic effect but just don’t work.
Bogart is game trying to hold it all together but it is apparent he is unhappy with this role. At this point in his career he was getting frustrated with the types of parts being offered to him. In later years he would refuse to even talk about this film. Even at this point in his career this film was beneath him. He would follow it up with The Return of Doctor X, an even lower point in his early career.
It’s not all sour milk though. It’s a real delight seeing Cookie (Penny Singleton), NYC girl and romantic interest to Ed, really getting into the hillbilly scene. She provides some truly fun moments and great dance numbers that are way better than the film they are in. She is easily the best thing this film has to offer bringing an energy that the rest of the film is sadly lacking.
Swing Your Lady is an anomaly among Bogart’s oeuvre. The man wasn’t known for musical theater and, after the disastrous results of this one he never went back to the genre. He made few comedies and even the worst of those doesn’t come close to the depths this one plummets to. There is little to recommend here aside from the music and even that is sparse for such a short film. This film was listed amongst the fifty worse films of all time. It’s not that awful but it’s definitely no winner. On a side note, Ronald Reagan makes one of his first screen appearances here.
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