Carolina Blues

Ann Miller (Kiss Me Kate, You Can’t Take It with You) plays the ingénue who steps into the role of vocalist when Kay Kyser’s band comes to town. Kyser, who’s ready for a holiday, is roped into putting on a show for defense plant workers by his publicist (Jeff Donnell, In a Lonely Place). But Georgia Carroll, Kyser’s vocalist, is already set to leave the band to get married. The conflicts are the typical plot points of the “show-must-go-on” Hollywood musical, but the performances are the central feature of the film. Ann Miller’s dancing, the on-stage antics of Kyser’s orchestra (including stalwarts Harry Babbitt, Sully Mason, and Ish Kabibble), Harold Nicholas, and a variety of other specialty numbers fill out the bill, not to forget Victor Moore (Swing Time, Make Way for Tomorrow), who has several turns as various members of the Carver clan. Newly remastered.