mark.waltz Review of Earl Carroll Sketchbook

Earl Carroll Sketchbook (1946)

Sketchy script, not to mention the Vanities.

[4/10 · 6 February 2018]

Constance Moore is back at the Vanities, and this time, she's not European royalty pretending to be a commoner who happens to sing; She's the secretary to a songwriter (William Marshall) who pretends to have amnesia out of jealousy. all because of an innocent little kiss he shared with Hillary Brooke. Not much else really happens other than her schemes to prevent psychiatrist Edward Everett Horton from finding out she's faking and her old pal Vera Vague's man-handling of Horton in an effort to distract him. The musical numbers are mediocre for the most part, although one song, "I've Got the Right to Sing the Blues" has a rather creepy, dark film noir setting with Moore in a dark alley surrounded by shifty looking men. Fortunately, I did find the full length version, not the truncated TV edited version which apparently was missing two reels and some of the less satisfying musical numbers. Vague tries just a little too hard to get laughs, more suitable for the two reelers she did at Columbia than the Eve Arden type roles she played in features, ironic considering that Arden was Moore's pal in the previous "Earl Carroll" entry.