Step Lively (1944)

A Broadway producer (George Murphy) has a potential hit in the works, especially since he latched onto a playwright (Frank Sinatra) whose real talent is singing. Now, all he has to do is put his musical revue on the stage before the rubber check underwriting it bounces. Based on the play ROOM SERVICE (previously filmed in 1938) by Allen Boretz and John Murray and directed by Tim Whelan (THE THIEF OF BAGDAD). In order to work, a sense of madness needs to be rampant in a farce like this. The 1938 film version had the Marx Brothers so that madness was guaranteed. The stolid George Muprhy and the fledgling Sinatra (in his first leading role) don't have it so what we get is a lot of hysterical actors flapping their arms and shouting in an attempt to convince the audience that they're funny. It's a musical version of ROOM SERVICE with songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, wonderful songwriters but not here. With Gloria DeHaven, Adolphe Menjou, Walter Slezak, Anne Jeffreys, Eugene Pallette, Wally Brown and Dorothy Malone.