I recently went to the UCLA Film Archives and viewed this film as part of a project and found it to be an interesting curio and a rather fun film to watch. Arthur Lake is the young male lead, who after a failed fraternity initiation and a fall out with his girl, becomes a radio sensation after he fills in for the star after he is knocked out in a robbery.
I like musicals and comedies as much as anybody, but you have to give me something to root for. "Cheer Up And Smile" is a flop on several levels; it's not funny, the songs are forgettable, the screenplay is lousy, and Arthur Lake is completely over-the-top hammy.
...For example, if you've always wanted to see a young John Wayne in a modern dress role being handed some flowers from Franklin Pangborn and the Duke not then punch him in the nose, this is your film!
Cheer Up and Smile begins with Arthur Lake being harassed by his potential fraternity brothers, among them a young John Wayne. Eddie (Lake) has to kiss the next woman who talks to him, so he speeds by all the girls he sees so he can kiss his girl Margie (Dixie Lee) at the music shop.
The 23 year old John Wayne handles leadership well in this film. There are moments where he proves that he can express deep feeling to lift him above the status of a personality.
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