Robert Baumann I would not go so far as to call this a musical, although some might because Dick Powell does do some singing in it. To my way of thinking a musical is simply where the music dominates the telling of a story. That is not so in this case. It is a romantic comedy with a song or two in it. It has the old fashioned boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy marries girl theme in it. The concept of s-e-x is 1934 style, with the two parties barely able to kiss one another until deep in the relationship. If you don't need special effects to tell a story, then you will like this one. The actors all speak like stage trained personnel with emphatic speech typical of the period. Many fine character actors in the cast including Frank McHugh and Allan Jenkins. It is just a classical and entertaining film comedy the way America used to do it. I loved it.

Dunham16 This singing romance assigns the main songs to Dick Powell who clocks in and assigns the men at a window washing franchise assisted by Dorothy Dare as a secretary and a less well known 1930's personality Frank McHugh As a window washer. Other familiar names from popular 1930's films currently available on DVD include Jane Darwell as the inquisitive landlady and Allan Jenkins as the chauffeur in love with the ladies maid. Roy Del Ruth splices plot twists from several familiar movie sources including the society girl trying to convince a working class gent she is poor and out of work, a well heeled wet rag using the traditions of society to wed the society girl in an arranged marriage, an understanding father trying to fend off a gorgon mother, hi jinks at a 1930's skating rink, a party in an apartment complex causing physical damage to the rented apartment, faithful house staff covering up the escapades of a family member and songs popping out of nowhere on a restaurant table and on a window ledge. Roy Del Ruth provides snappy dialogue, fascinating photography and editing including camera hi jinks along the exterior of a tall office building and well over an hour and a half of pure cinematic delight. Other than you've seen most of this before in different 1930's movies a perfect film.

blanche-2 Dick Powell and Josephine Hutchinson star in "Happiness Ahead," a 1934 film featuring John Halliday, Allan Jenkins, Frank McHugh, and directed by Mervyn LeRoy.This is a typical class system comedy, common in the 1930s, in which a rich girl, Joan Bradford (Hutchinson) poses as a poor one and meets a window washer, Bob Lane (Powell). The usual complications arise.This film is a cut above, thanks to the beautiful singing of Dick Powell, as well as his boyish charm. Powell became success as a serious actor and producer, so my generation was not familiar with his early persona. He's marvelous, and overall, he was so multi-talented, he's probably underrated today.Frank McHugh gives a lively performance as Bob's best friend.What I loved about this movie were some of the prices given -- a New Year's Eve Chinese dinner for four, plus floor show, was $12.00 and was considered "the damage." It took three years for Bob to raise $700; and to start his own business would be $2000. There was also a shot of a suitcase -- everyone had this particular suitcase, beige with brown and white stripes down the middle.Very enjoyable.

calvinnme This is one of those films so popular in the 1930's in which a rich person, either intentionally or through coincidence, is mistaken for a person of modest means. As a result of this, the rich person ends up falling in love with a person of actual modest means.In this case Joan Bradford (Josephine Hutchinson) is a wealthy heiress who is expected to marry a wealthy heir in a manner that resembles a corporate merger more than a romance. On the night that the engagement is to be announced she escapes her parents' mansion and begins walking along the streets of New York City. She goes into a night spot where she meets a group of young people, one of whom is window washing dispatcher Bob Lane (Dick Powell). Bob offers Joan a ride home at the evening's end, and she accepts. She doesn't want Bob to know she is wealthy, so she picks a random boarding house and tells him to drop her off.Now the problems of the deception begin. Joan has given Bob a fake name - Joan Smith - and Bob is expecting to pick her up for a date in a few days at an address where she does not live. So Joan rents a place there and furnishes it, only showing up on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays right before her dates with Bob, and going back to her real home after he drops her off. She manages to fend off her mother's questions with the help of her sympathetic father (Jack Halliday). However, Joan soon finds she is in love with Bob, and with him talking about the two of them having a future together, she must face how to let him know who she really is without him feel betrayed.This film is a bit of a departure for Dick Powell's musical films. He is not playing someone with musical abilities who is itching to be discovered. There are no big musical numbers in the film, just Powell singing a few catchy songs. This is a very fun film if you like the Warner Brothers musical comedies from the 1930's.