Varsity Show

Another one of those light Hollywood musical farces with Dick Powell! Damn, he was in a lot of those! All jolly and nauseatingly happy, filled with nonsense for a laugh and a reason to sing. Hardly anything one haven't seen a bunch of times before, but not terrible either and bring a lot of fresh faces to the scene. The main hype would be the ending Busby Berkeley number, which was good, but not among his greatest efforts. So all-in-all a very average crowd pleaser.

Once the abysmal opening sequence ends, the film's indelible charm and pageantry take over, and it only goes up from there. (And normally I don't care for the stories in Berkeley movies, but this one actually holds up, thanks to the likes of Buck & Bubbles and Priscilla Lane.) I couldn't help but think this was the 1937-era equivalent to Glee and You Got Served, which upped its kitsch factor. The Berkeley numbers are also severely underrated.