User Reviews

The Morrissey & Miller Night Club Revue (1928)

*** (out of 4)

Will Morrissey and Midgie Miller get top-billing here but we also have Sammy Cantor, Charlotte DeLovelace, Harry Downing and Vina and Arthur on the bill. This here is pretty much a condensed version of what one would see at the Morrissey and Miller club and for the most part I thought it was entertaining, although it's certainly nothing ground-breaking. If you're looking for a lost masterpiece this here isn't that but I think fans of the Vitaphone films should at least be entertained. Morrissey pretty much plays the host who introduces all the acts and sometimes he joins in on the musical numbers. He plays piano on one of Miller's tunes and it's not too bad. As for Miller, I really didn't think her voice was all that great but the tunes were catchy enough and I thought she was at least cute enough to hold one's attention. Her dancing wasn't any more impressive but I must admit that she was pulling her skirt up pretty high during her final number, something that certainly wouldn't have been allowed a few years later.

This short was directed by Bryan Foy--a guy who grew up performing with his family on vaudeville with Eddie Foy and the Seven Little Foys. It consists of a group of apparently untalented acts putting on a little show for the Vitaphone folks. So who is the Morrissey in the title? That's Will Morrissey--a performer and producer who got these no-talent acts together and I assume that's him starring as the emcee--but I am not certain of this. All I am certain is that the acts seemed pretty poor-- even by the standards of the day. What they lacked in talent, they tried to make up for with energy but it was a losing battle. Like so many of the old Vitaphone talking shorts, it's great that so many have been restored--but unfortunately, of the 100-200 I have seen, this is among the most difficult to appreciate.