New review up at ClassicFlix

I've been taking a breather from the blog, and I neglected to link to this when it was new, but the beauty of the Internet is it's there forever. You know, just like CompuServe.

So out my latest review

Happiness Ahead: Hey... It's Dick Powell! 
12/05/2013 | by Rick Brooks
What better harbinger of happiness ahead is there than a beaming Dick Powell singing the title song directly to you, the viewer, while superimposed over a lovely backdrop? There can be none better, I say, and Happiness Ahead (1934) indeed lives up to its title and to that striking beginning. Powell sings for several minutes over the credits, and it certainly is a dynamic way to open a film.

It's also a quick reminder to the modern viewer that this isn't the hard-boiled Dick Powell of Cry Danger (1951) and Murder My Sweet (1944), but rather the apple-cheeked earnest crooner of the prewar era. Oh, Powell's character, Bob Lane (even his name sounds earnest) gets a little bitter as this romantic comedy goes on, but only in that innocent kind of "Aw, shucks, I thought you were a true blue gal," kind of way. You know he's gonna sing another day and that he'll be smiling before long...as opposed to that jaded fellow who suffers permanent disillusion after the war.

(Head on over there to read the rest...)