Lord Byron of Broadway

Roy Erskine (Charles Kaley) is aiming for songwriting stardom. And if he has to use and abuse a lineup of Broadway babies to do it, that's fine with Roy. This smoky-hearted tale of a heel on the rise shows the dark side of the moon-June-spoon plots at the center of most early musicals. The cast includes Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards (later the voice of Jiminy Cricket), whose wide-eyed mug serves as counterpoint to the film's worldly attitude. The songs include the Arthur Freed-Nacio Herb Brown evergreen Should I? More highlights: two production numbers filmed in color and some nifty overhead dance shots created a year before Busby Berkeley wowed moviegoers with the same technique in Whoopee.

• musical
• romance