FILM REVIEWS

Warner (First National) 

As a feature that’s part of Warner’s cycle of early Depression musicals, which began with “Forty-Second Street,” “Flirtation Walk,” directed by Frank Borzage, is not as good a musical movie. 
Again pairing Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, the slender tale, scripted by Delmer Daves and Lou Edelman, revolves around a West Point cadet who falls in love with the daughter of his general, who sends her away before their affair can blossom. 

Overseeing the choreography, Bobby Connolly is not Busby Berkeley, and thus the musical numbers are not as exciting.  But the leads exude naiveté and charm, making the film more enjoyable to watch. 

You can spot the very young Tyrone Power as an extra. 

Frank Borzage had previously won the Best Director Oscars for “Seventh Heaven” (1927), a Janet Gaynor star vehicle, and “Bad Girls.” Co-writer Delmer Daves became a director, best known for his Westerns (“Broken Arrows,” “3:10 to Yuma”) and melodramas (“A Summer Place,” “Parrish”). 

Oscar Nominations: 2

Picture, produced by Jack L. Warner, Hal Wallis, and Robert Lord  

Sound Recording: Nathan Levinson 

Oscar Context 

“Flirtation Walk” competed for the Best Picture with nine other films: “The Barrets of Wimpole Street,” “Cleopatra,” “The Gay Divorcee,” “Here Comes the Navy,” “The House of Rothschild,” “Imitation of Life,” “It Happened One Night,” “One Night of Love,” “The Thin Man,” “Viva Villa!” and “The White Parade.” 

“It Happened One Night” swept most of the Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Claudette Colbert.  The sound award went to the operetta “One Night of Love.”