Main Cast: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Charles Butterworth, Jean Dixon, Dorothy Lamour
Release Year: 1937
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
Plot
Swing High Swing Low is a new coat of paint on the old stage play Burlesque, first filmed in 1929 as The Dance of Life. Ex-serviceman Skid Johnson (Fred MacMurray) rises to the uppermost rungs of show business as a bandleader. As his fame swells, so does his head, and he becomes impossibly arrogant, forgetting the friends who helped him get to the top -- not to mention his ever-faithful sweetheart, band vocalist Maggie King (Carole Lombard). Consuming great quantities of booze, Skid hits the skids, ending up a skid-row derelict (there seems to be a pattern here). The ultimate humiliation comes when he isn't even allowed to return to the Army because his insides are shot. In the film's calculatedly teary finale, Skid is rescued emotionally and professionally by Maggie, now a big star in her own right. As indicated by the synopsis, the film is banal and old-hat, but the stars are terrific, especially Carole Lombard, who sings in several scenes (and not all that badly!) Swing High, Swing Low was remade in 1948 as When My Baby Smiles at Me. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Even in 1937, Swing High, Swing Low's story was in need of a new coat of paint. The filmmakers made an effort, resetting the first part of the story in Panama, and that actually gets things off to a promising start. Stars Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray "meet cute" as Lombard's ship passes through a lock of the canal that soon-to-be-discharged soldier MacMurray is guarding. The sequence is charming and well staged, and it promises the film will have a certain degree of invention. That promise holds true for the first 20 minutes or so; even though the plot follows traditional lines, the Panamanian setting and a few tricks here and there keep it lively. Soon, however, the screenplay starts to sink down to the predictable, and as the plot machinations kick in, it becomes creaky and unconvincing. By the time the finale arrives, they audience feels they have all been there before and know exactly what is going to happen. Fortunately, Lombard and MacMurray are on hand to keep our interest, which they do to an amazing degree. They can't make the film any better than average, but they do a great job of holding our attention. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Hans Dreier - Art Director, Ernst Fegte - Art Director, Travis Banton - Costume Designer, Mitchell Leisen - Director, Edna Warren - Editor, Victor Young - Composer (Music Score), Boris Morros - Musical Direction/Supervision, Sam Coslow - Songwriter, Ralph Freed - Songwriter, Ralph Rainger - Songwriter, Leo Robin - Songwriter, Al Siegel - Songwriter, Charles Kisco - Songwriter, Ted Tetzlaff - Cinematographer, Arthur Hornblow, Jr. - Producer, Sam Comer - Set Designer, A.E. Freudeman - Set Designer, Farciot Edouart - Special Effects, Earl S. Hayman - Sound/Sound Designer, Don Johnson - Sound/Sound Designer, Oscar Hammerstein II - Screenwriter, Virginia van Upp - Screenwriter, Arthur Hopkins - Play Author, George Manker Watters - Play Author
