If I Had My Way is a 1940

1940 in film

The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....

 musical

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 starring Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

 and Gloria Jean

Gloria Jean

Gloria Jean is an American singer and actress who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films between 1939 and 1959. She also made radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances.-Career:...

. The film was directed by David Butler.

Plot

Buzz Blackwell, Fred Johnson and Axel Swenson are construction workers who are building a bridge. They are good friends and Buzz and Axel even help Fred raising his daughter Patricia. When Fred tragically dies in a fatal accident, Patricia is forced to live with her relatives in New York City whom she has never met. Buzz and Axel decide to depart with her. They soon arrive at her uncle and aunt Jarvis and Brenda, who are horrible persons. Jarvis is a snobby rich man, while Brenda is supercilious. Jarvis has received a letter from Buzz, warning him for their arrival and wants no part in raising Patricia. As they show up, Jarvis pretends to be someone else and sends them to the other "J. Johnson". This is Joe, Patricia's great uncle and husband of Marian. They are poor ex-vaudevillans but welcome them with open arms. Buzz wants to give Joe Fred's money he left him for Patricia, but finds out a drunken Axel used that money to buy a Swedish restaurant. This restaurant, which is doomed to fail, is now the only money bringer for the Johnsons. Buzz is determined to help them out and turns the restaurant in a night club, but is bothered with Jarvis, he has returned to claim "his" money back.

Cast

• Bing Crosby
  Bing Crosby
  Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
  
   as Buzz Blackwell
• Gloria Jean
  Gloria Jean
  Gloria Jean is an American singer and actress who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films between 1939 and 1959. She also made radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances.-Career:...
  
   as Patricia Johnson
• Charles Winninger
  Charles Winninger
  Charles Winninger was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals, but equally at home in drama.-Biography:He began as a vaudeville actor...
  
   as Joe Johnson
• El Brendel
  El Brendel
  El Brendel was a vaudeville comedian turned movie star, best remembered for his dialect schtick as a Swedish immigrant. His biggest role was as "Single-0" in the sci-fi musical Just Imagine , produced by Fox Film Corporation...
  
   as Axel Swenson
• Allyn Joslyn
  Allyn Joslyn
  Allyn Joslyn was an American stage, film and television actor.-Biography:Allyn Joslyn was born in Milford, Pennsylvania, the son of a mining engineer...
  
   as Jarvis Johnson
• Claire Dodd
  Claire Dodd
  Claire Dodd was an American film actress.Born as Dorothy Anne Dodd in Baxter, Iowa, Dodd was born to Walter W. Dodd, a farmer and veterinarian, and Ethel V. Cool Dodd, the daughter of Baxter Postmaster Peter J. Cool. As Dorothy Dodd, she attended school in Baxter...
  
   as Brenda Johnson
• Moroni Olsen
  Moroni Olsen
  Moroni Olsen was an American actor.-Biography:Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Mormon parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Marsha Hoverholst who named him after the Moroni found in the Book of Mormon. Some sources have claimed that Olsen's birth name was John Willard Clawson, or even John Willard...
  
   as Mr. Blair
• Nana Bryant
  Nana Bryant
  Nana Bryant was an American film actress. She appeared in over 100 films between 1935 and 1955.She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died in Hollywood, California. Her grave is located at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery....
  
   as Marian Johnson
• Donald Woods
  Donald Woods (actor)
  Donald Woods was a Canadian-born American film and television actor whose career spanned six decades....
  
   as Fred Johnson
• Kathryn Adams as Miss Corbett

Special guest appearances by old-time vaudeville stars Blanche Ring

Blanche Ring

Blanche Ring , was an American singer and actress in Broadway theatre productions, musicals, and Hollywood motion pictures....

, Eddie Leonard

Eddie Leonard

Eddie Leonard , born Lemuel Golden Toney, was a vaudevillian and a man considered the greatest American minstrel of his day, at a time when minstrel shows were still acceptable as entertainment. He performed in vaudeville for 45 years before that medium faded in the 1920s, and was known for such...

 and Trixie Friganza

Trixie Friganza

Trixie Friganza , born Delia O’Callaghan, began her career as an operetta soubrette, working her way from the chorus to starring in musical comedies to having her own feature act on the vaudeville circuit....

Critical reception

Reviewers in 1940 had kind words for Bing and Gloria, but complained about the timeworn storyline. "Although it can hardly be termed an original model," said Boxoffice, [the Crosby film] is nicely tailored to his distinctive brand of comedy and crooning. Bing is ably aided and abetted by Gloria Jean, captivating miss of the silvery voice. In fact the teaming of these two song birds is a ten-strike in smart casting and the resultant feature has much to offer customers of all ages and tastes, with a bonus for the oldsters who will enjoy a nostalgic thrill through the appearances of Blanche Ring, Eddie Leonard, and several other oldtimers whose stars shone brightly during the golden era of the theatah."

Upon the film's recent DVD release, DVD Talk

DVD Talk

DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...

 praised Crosby and thought Jean was cute, but criticized the plot and called the film "strictly second-run material".

Home media

On November 14, 2006, Universal Studios released If I Had My Way as part of the Bing Crosby:Screen Legend Collection on Region 1 DVD. The 3-disc set also includes Double or Nothing

Double or Nothing (1937 film)

Double or Nothing is a 1937 musical comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Martha Raye, Andy Devine, Mary Carlisle, William Frawley, Samuel S. Hinds, and Frances Faye. The most famous song from the film is "The Moon Got In My Eyes".-Plot synopsis:...

(1937), Waikiki Wedding

Waikiki Wedding

Waikiki Wedding is a 1937 musical film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby. Bing plays the part of Tony Marvin, a PR man charged with extolling the virtues of Hawaii. The female lead is Shirley Ross....

(1937), East Side of Heaven (1939) and Here Come the Waves (1944).