Heartaches (1947) User Reviews

Pretty Good

[boblipton · 6/10 · 15 February 2022]

Rising movie crooner Kenneth Farrell gets threatening letters. Then two of his associates are killed. Can reporter Edward Norris and girlfriend Sheila Ryan figure out who the murderer is?

Here's proof that it was possible to make a good movie on a PRC budget. The script is a little old-fashioned for the post-war era, but it offers a nicely cynical view of Hollywood, with Norris unable to sing a note. He's just a pretty face, with Chill Wills the actual singer! Wills has some lovely scenes, speaking in a quiet voice instead of his usual bellows. Keep an eye out for some tiny roles by Lash Larue, Minerva Urecal, Terry Moore, and Keefe Brasselle. It's not a classic, but it is definitely more than watchable.

whodunnit... in hollywood

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 26 March 2018]

Some fun scenes of early los angeles. Ken Farrell is Vic Morton, hollywood bigshot, now getting death threats. Sound and picture quality are a little shaggy. Stars Sheila Ryan and Ed Norris, who were actually married 1947 to 1949. Toni is dating newsman Jimmy McDonald, and they are caught up in the excitement over Morton. Morton has his own secrets that he doesn't want getting out, and that poses a problem for Jimmy... he has promised Toni that he won't print the secrets that could hurt Morton's career. It's pretty good. some intrigue. keeps you guessing, for a while. Directed by Basil Wrangell... was nominated for "Good Earth". Wrangell only directed a couple more after this one... but then edited for television into the 1960s, 1970s.

Doctor, I'm crooning - is that normal ?

[myriamlenys · 6/10 · 15 April 2023]

A promising crooner is ready to participate in his second picture. Since he is a nasty, petty man, people aren't too surprised when he starts receiving death threats. Actual murder ensues...

"Heartaches" is an entertaining thriller marred by the fact that many, possibly most, of its characters are unlikeable. The plot is reasonably clever and the culprit has an interesting motive. Much of the movie's charm derives from a fly-on-the-wall look at the art of filmmaking. Many aspects are touched upon : the recording of songs, the preparation of props, the filming on studio sets, the organization of publicity campaigns and so on. The musical numbers, by the way, are part of the thriller intrigue.

According to "Heartaches", Hollywood isn't the place to go to if you're looking for plain-speaking, plain-dealing honesty. Now I can well believe that.

Have you noticed how, in popular culture, there's a sinful, decadent aura surrounding saxophonists ? It is difficult to find many tales about an immoral/evil flautist or about an immoral/evil maracas shaker, but if you play the saxophone - hoo boy, have they got YOUR number. Poor Adolphe Sax would be tearing his hair out.

This ain't no gag

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 13 September 2019]

Reporter Edward Norris and studio publicist Sheila Ryan are dating, her current client is crooner Kenneth Farrell who sounds an awful lot like Dick Haymes. Somebody has been sending him some threatening notes and at first they look like some cheap publicity gag. But the bodies start dropping and Farrell himself is nearly killed when a prop gun has real bullets in it.

The song Heartaches is here of course and some other forgettable ditties as well for Farrell. He's carrying a deep dark secret.

Nice to see Chill Wills in something other than a rustic or a western role. Sadly this is a typical cheap PRC film.

And it's obvious from the gitgo who wants to do Morton in.

Long before Marni Nixon came....Chill Wills!

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 24 June 2015]

One of the oddest moments of dubbing comes in one of the greatest movie musicals ever made. "Singin' in the Rain" had Debbie Reynolds supposed to dub for Jean Hagen who has a speaking voice that is like nails going down a chalkboard. When Reynolds does sing "Would You?" while Jean Hagen is lip syncing (thinking her own voice will be used), it is the real Jean Hagen singing, not veteran singer Reynolds. When Hagen does go to sing "Singin' in the Rain", Reynolds' real voice appears, making you wonder if the continuity director was on vacation when this was screened. Later on, audiences noticed similarities in Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn's singing voices. The voice behind these famous movie stars was Marni Nixon. Dubbing goes back a long way, so it comes as no surprise to find out such earlier stars as Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner were dubbed too.

Kenneth Farrell is Vic Morton, a Hollywood matinée idol who much like Dick Powell wants to go into more dramatic parts. What the world does not know about this fictional movie star is that not only is he one of the nastiest S.O.B.'s on a movie set, his voice is actually not his. Wait until they see that it is the future voice of Francis the Talking Mule (Chill Wills) who really sings for him, and basically being the male version of Marjorie Main, it's as big a shock as if the future Ma Kettle had been the one dubbing someone like Kathryn Grayson or Jane Powell. Farrell has a strict rule on his sets that they are all closed and that his dressing room is never to be entered without his permission. When his press agent's (Sheila Ryan) boyfriend (Edward Norris) enters Farrell's dressing room without permission, Farrell's whole career is on the verge of being destroyed. Then the murders begin, and a whole slew of suspects are questioned.

It's pretty obvious from the get-go who the killer is (as well as the motive) but what makes this even worse is the fact that the real voice used does not match Farrell's looks and that Farrell does not have a matinée idol appearance. Even when Wills sings, its apparent as well that he too is being dubbed which makes this film seem even more fake than everything going on at Majestic Pictures. Of course, Majestic Pictures in real Hollywood history was a defunct B movie studio, and after showing all the "A" studios in the opening scene, going to the fake Majestic studios just makes this all the more artificial. During its short existence, PRC had one definite classic ("Detour"), some forgotten gems ("The Enchanted Forrest"), mostly schlock horror or mystery films and many, many Z-grade westerns. So when they tried to go beyond their usual product, they seemed way below even Republic and Monogram who at least got the big stars in the last depths of their careers. The acting here is acceptable, but the script is poor and the direction slow. Art direction is above average for PRC standards but nobody goes out humming the sets in a musical.

It's a B-movie from PRC starring mostly 'no-namers'...is this a recipe for a dud?

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 12 February 2022]

Before I began watching "Heartaches", I had very low expectations for the film. After all, it was from PRC...and nearly all their films that I've seen have been pretty bad. Additionally, like many PRC productions, most of the film's 'stars' are folks I've never heard of before...aside from Chill Wills.

Vic Morton has become a very successful movie star because of his beautiful singing voice. What most folks don't know is that his friend (Wills) actually does all the singing for him and most of the folks who know Vic seem to dislike him. So, it's not a huge surprise when he starts receiving death threats. But it's more than just threats...soon all sorts of 'accidents' occur which almost kill Vic. Who is behind all this and why?

For me, the obvious perpetrator seemed to be the one who was the killer. Add to that some very indifferent acting and direction and you've got a movie that is watchable and not much more. I liked the story itself...but a few red herrings and better acting would have helped this a lot.

And headaches too !!

[searchanddestroy-1 · 19 February 2012]

I comment it before it erases from my memory. A typically little mystery yarn as American film industry made by dozens between 30's and 40's. Short, yes, but also talkative and with boring moments; such singing sequences - three or four times - to fill up the film length. As for B westerns, when you saw the horse galoping all over the plains with Roy Rogers or Gene Autry riding it, six minutes long - not straight, of course, so that the feature may reach the 55 minutes. Or the sequences where you saw guys opening and shutting doors - not in a row, as you may guess - at least twenty times in the movie. If you add, it made three or four minutes. I tried the count once !!

So, this little crime flick takes place in a cinema studio, where the lead, a singer, has his life threaten by a mysterious killer.

That's all I can say about it. Nothing else. A manufactured product useless to comment any further.