Tonight's Movie: Rhythm on the River (1940) - A Universal Blu-ray Review

An engaging musical from Paramount Pictures, RHYTHM ON THE RIVER (1940), was just released on Blu-ray by Universal.The movie has a sparkling cast, including Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, Basil Rathbone, and Oscar Levant, plus a slew of familiar supporting faces.Rathbone plays Broadway composer Oliver Courtney, who actually isn't a composer at all; Bob Sommers (Crosby) writes the music for Oliver's songs, and Cherry Lane (Martin) writes the lyrics.The catch is, both Bob and Cherry think they're collaborating with Oliver, only to eventually learn they've actually been composing songs with each other! Oliver has merely been the go-between, letting each of them think he's been writing the other half of the songs.The clever premise came from a story by Billy Wilder and Jacques Thiery, turned into a screenplay by Dwight Taylor. The strong script is part of the reason RHYTHM ON THE RIVER is a better film than Crosby and Martin's BIRTH OF THE BLUES (1941), reviewed here earlier this year.(As a…