Sitting Pretty

Sitting Pretty (1933)

Genres - Musical  |   Sub-Genres - Musical Comedy, Showbiz Comedy  |   Release Date - Nov 23, 1933 (USA - Unknown)  |   Run Time - 85 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Bruce Eder

No relation to the identically-titled Clifton Webb film of 1948, Harry Joe Brown's Sitting Pretty is a breezy comedy about the early/middle 1930s musical boom in Hollywood, and a pair of songwriters, composer Chick Parker Jack Oakie and lyricist Pete Pendleton Jack Haley, who head west in search of success. Chick is a smooth operator and an eternal optimist, always ready with a joke and willing to bet his (or Pete's) bankroll on a hard eight; Pete is a wide-eyed innocent, always coming up short from Chick's antics but willing to stick with him, mostly because he genuinely likes him (and besides, Chick's goofy but memorable tunes all seem to fit Pete's equally loopy lyrics, and the results are memorable novelty tunes). All isn't smooth on their trek, hitchhiking across the country -- a run-in with an asylum resident on furlough who thinks he's in the movie business convinces them that they have a studio job; and then a bad check from the same man causes them to cross paths with aspiring dancer Dorothy (Ginger Rogers), who is as charming as her younger brother Buzz (Jerry Tucker) is nasty and cynical. The pair parlays a run-in with their landlord (Gregory Ratoff), who also happens to be a talent agent, into a studio invitation and a job. And that puts Chick into the arms of star/vamp Gloria Duvall (Thelma Todd), who's too much woman for any man to handle. She quickly convinces Chick that he should leave Pete and Dorothy behind for a chance at real success. Soon Chick is back almost where he started, but Pete and Dorothy stick by him till he wises up. And with Gloria out of the way, all of their problems are soon sorted out, though not exactly the way Chick expects.

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Keywords

duo, songwriter, chorus-girl, girl, agent [representative], producer [showbiz], stars [celebrities]