The print recently shown on TCM was really bad. Of all the films that were lost due to deterioration of the film stock, this film should have been one of them.
With composers Gershwin, Porter and Rodgers & Hart providing Broadway with fresh, original material in the 1920s, the original 1929 stage production must have been hopelessly corny even if successful, and its transition to film doesn't improve the corn factor.
The one surviving song (and rightfully so), "Why Was I Born", is given to Dunne's character, and though she sings sweetly, it's a torch song more suited to later singers like Sarah Vaughn. It seems out of place in this story, since it's not used to advance the plot. The rest of the songs are just too dated and hokey for today's audience.
Warner Brothers rounds up veteran character actorsNed Sparks, Hugh Herbert, and Joseph Cawthornand even they can't help this film. Better if Warners had assigned Busby Berkeley to choreograph and/or direct, because the dance numbers are a very weak imitation of Berkeley's style without the interesting camera angles.
Even hard-core Irene Dunne fans might find it hard to sit through this film.