The Singing Marine is great example of the kind of film Dick Powell was trying hard to get out of doing. It's entertaining and charming in its way, but also has its moments of downright silliness.
Powell knew very well that his career in film would never last if he continued doing parts like these. He wanted to do serious dramatic stuff and finally got his chance seven years later from RKO in Murder My Sweet.
On furlough from the Marines on a lark Powell enters an amateur hour talent contest and wins. One of the losers is Doris Weston and she and Powell are taken with each other. Hugh Herbert signs Powell up to sing on the radio and his career as The Singing Marine is off and running.
Now here's where it gets a bit sticky for me. Hugh Herbert is his usual wackadoodle self in The Singing Marine and why anyone in his right mind would hire him as a business manager is beyond my power of understanding.
Also why Powell would forget about that little contract he signed with the Marine Corps is absolutely off the radar of my grey cells. That idiot Herbert actually thinks he's going to buy Powell out of his enlistment.
Yet these were more innocent times and I think if Dick Powell were alive today he'd appreciate The Singing Marine for the entertainment it is.
He got some good songs to sing from two teams of songwriters, Harry Warren and Al Dubin and Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. Cause My Baby Says It's So was the hit from this film and the Song of the Marines enjoyed some popularity. It was never going to take the place of From the Halls of Montezuma in Marine Corps Annals.
Supporting Powell besides Hugh Herbert were Guinn Williams, Allen Jenkins, Lee Dixon, and as Ma Marine, Jane Darwell. That's right we have a character named Ma Marine. Jane is actually good in the role, she's a kind of den mother to the Marines stationed in Shanghai. Her financial problems are the crux of the story for the last 45 minutes.
Despite some of the nonsense, The Singing Marine is good entertainment with Dick Powell in real good voice.
