You'll Find Out (1940)


It should probably come as no surprise that I am somewhat familiar with Kay Kyser.  It is true that this is my grandparents' music, but one can thank that swing revival from the late 1990s for introducing me to something other than Guy Lombardo or Sammy Kaye when it came to the big band era.  There were so many talented musicians at the time, many of them great showmen as well.

Throughout a good part of the 20th century, if there was even the slightest possibility of a musician being an actor, or vice-versa, it was encouraged.  It was part of the entire entertainment machine and is why so many comedies in the 1930s and 1940s featured musical performances.  Unless the band was on tour or a person lived in a major city where they had a club residence, this was the only way for many people to see them.

Kyser had a radio show called The College of Musical Knowledge which integrated comedy, music and a quiz show.  It was popular for over a decade, so it was no great stretch to have Kyser and his cornet player Ish Kabibble, who happened to be Kyser's manager as well as a comedian himself, appear in a popular film.  What RKO also happened to do is convince the three biggest horror film stars of the time - Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre - to join the cast as well.

Chuck Deems (Dennis O'Keefe) is Kyser's manager, and is in love with young heiress Janis Bellacrest (Helen Parrish) who has hired Kyser and his band to play for her 21st birthday party.  The problem is she doesn't know if she is going to make it as there have been a number of strange near-misses and accidents over the last few weeks since she finished her college classes. 

It turns out her family home is an imposing mansion accessible only by a single bridge.  The current occupants are her Aunt Margo (Alma Kruger), family lawyer Judge Spencer Mainwaring (Karloff) and shady spiritualist Prince Saliano (Lugosi), who appears to have Margo wrapped around his finger as he claims to be able to contact the spirit of Janis's father Elmer.  After what appears to be another attempt on Janis's life Kyser suggests to Deems that they pack up and get out of there along with Janis.  However, the bridge is stuck by lightning, trapping everyone in the house, including another of Janice's guests, Dr. Karl Fenninger (Lorre), who is there to debunk Saliano.  With Janis in danger and the possibility of a few angry specters hanging about everyone involved attempts to solve the mystery as well as survive the evening.

What did surprise me is that Kay Kyser does a great job in the acting department.  I had no doubt the music was going to be great, with Ginny Simms (a frequent Kyser vocalist, playing herself as a friend of Janis), Harry Babbitt and Sully Mason each getting supporting roles and solos during the performances.  Ish Kabibble, the stage name for M.A. Bogue, gets to do most of the slapstick while Dennis O'Keefe plays the straight man to Kyser.

As for the three names most horror fans might see the movie for, they play their roles straight, which helps accentuate the comedy around them.  Boris Karloff doesn't get a whole lot to do outside of looking creepy, but Bela Lugosi has some fun with his fakir role and Peter Lorre, looking quite cadaverous, gives one of his more memorable performances.  As for the movie itself it is more comedy than horror, playing in some ways off the fake spiritualist movements from the early 20th century as well as The Old Dark House and other well-known mystery and haunted house tropes.  

Director Dave Butler keeps things moving at a nice pace, even if the intro comedy bit may be a bit on the long side, but it is important to keep in mind how popular Kyser's show was at the time.  Once it gets going it's just as enjoyable as any of the Bob Hope comedies in the same vein from around the time, with fewer "it was a different time" moments.  It's also nice to see all three of these horror greats together, although it would have been nice to include them a bit more. 

You'll Find Out (1940)
Time: 97 minutes
Starring: Kay Kyser, Dennis O'Keefe, Helen Parrish, Ish Kabibble, Ginny Simms, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre
Director: Dave Butler

 

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