Remake of Roman Holiday w/Johnny Otis, Earl Grant & The Treniers

This music-rich 1959 film comes from the incredibly prolific producer Sam Katzman, and though billed as a “jukebox musical,” its wide palette of artists and entertainment is more of a variety show. The plot is basically an American rewrite of Roman Holiday, but it’s the music and entertainment sequences that are the film’s draw. Earl Grant plays organ, sings and backs up Jack Jones on a fun throwaway called “The Freeze.” George Jessel, Toastmaster General of the United States, sings and tells jokes, the Treniers perform “Get Out of the Car,” Johnny Otis does “Willie and the Hand Jive,” and Les Nitwits provide comedy relief with vaudeville-styled Dixieland. There’s hot jive dancing, and the film culminates in a Jukebox Jamboree. Worth catching for the music and comedy set pieces. [©2016 Hyperbolium]