''Swing Your Lady'' is a 1938 American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

film directed by

Ray Enright Ray Enright (March 25, 1896 – April 3, 1965) was an American film director. He directed 73 films between 1927–53, many of them for Warner Bros. He oversaw comedy films like Joe E. Brown vehicles, five of the six informal pairings of Joa ...

, starring

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

, Frank McHugh, and Louise Fazenda.

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

is also in the cast in one of his early roles. Brunette singer Penny Singleton who was also cast was about to turn blonde and embark on a long, hugely successful career playing the iconic comic strip character Blondie in a series of 28 films and a popular radio show. ''Swing Your Lady'' features the first film performance by the Weaver Brothers and Elviry, a comedy troupe better known as The Arkansas Travelers during their many years in vaudeville and on the ''

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

'' radio show. Following this performance, the trio was picked up by

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

for '' Down in Arkansas,'' the first in what was to be a series of 11 comedy films for the studio.

Plot

Promoter Ed Hatch comes to the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...

with his slow-witted wrestler Joe Skopapoulos whom he pits against a hillbilly Amazon

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, Sadie Horn. Joe falls in love with her and won't fight, at least not until Sadie's beau, Noah, shows up. Love triumphs, despite Ed's machinations, and after defeating Noah, Joe passes on a bout at Madison Square Garden to marry Sadie and take over the blacksmith's shop, while Noah rides away with Ed and his crew.

Cast

Production

The film featured Daniel Boone Savage, a professional wrestler, making his film debut and Nat Pendleton, a former Olympic and professional wrestler.

Reception

Bogart was apparently becoming very disenchanted with the film roles that Warner Bros. was offering him at this stage of his career; the following year he appeared in his only horror/sci-fi film, '' The Return of Doctor X'', and these were two roles he never liked talking about when he became a major film star several years later; he considered his performance in ''Swing Your Lady'' the worst of his career.Audio commentary by Eric Lax for Disc One of the 2006 three-disc DVD special edition of The Maltese Falcon. ''Swing Your Lady'' is listed in the 1978 book '' The Fifty Worst Films of All Time''.

References

External links

* * * 1938 films 1938 romantic comedy films 1930s romantic musical films 1938 musical comedy films American black-and-white films American films based on plays American musical comedy films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Ray Enright Films produced by Samuel Bischoff Films scored by Adolph Deutsch Warner Bros. films 1930s American films Films set in the Ozarks Films about hillbillies English-language musical comedy films English-language romantic comedy films English-language romantic musical films {{romantic-musical-film-stub