O. Henry's short story "The Cop and the Anthem" is redone as a musical short with plenty of MGM gloss that disappoints for no clear reason. Perhaps the problem is the one common to just about every movie version of an O. Henry story I have ever seen except for "The Ransom of Red Chief" -- his short, 'snapper ending' stories don't pace well with the details needed to pad them out to a full reel; and this being MGM, the visual gags are executed too lavishly to be funny -- when the Chief of Police's wife decides to put curtains on the jailhouse windows, they lack the gaudy poor taste to make the gag funny; instead, they make her look mad.
The two musical numbers are decently executed in that big swing style that is better known from Busby Berkley's MGM movies. It's worth a look, but you won't be looking at it again.
The two musical numbers are decently executed in that big swing style that is better known from Busby Berkley's MGM movies. It's worth a look, but you won't be looking at it again.
