Road to Happiness (1941) John Boles, Mona Barrie, Billy Lee, Roscoe Karns Movie Review

Road to Happiness (1941)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Billy Lee and John Boles in Road to Happiness (1941)

Oh Danny Boy

Returning from singing for the troops overseas, opera singer, Jeff Carter (John Boles), discovers that his wife Millie (Mona Barrie) has not only divorced him but has already remarried. The second part of which doesn't surprise Jeff as Millie was always looking to move up the social ladder, some thing she does whilst ignoring her son Danny (Billy Lee) in the process. Determined to not let Millie ruin their son's life Jeff insists Danny comes and stay with him. Trouble is that Jeff is completely broke and will do what ever he can to make sure his son is happy, even if that means turning to radio acting to make a living and giving up on being a singer.

I suppose that technically all movies are mood movies but some more than others and unless you are in the right mood for them they can end up not the enjoyable experiences that others have had with them. I think this was my problem when I sat down to watch "Road to Happiness" as I really struggled to get into this soapy drama from back in 1941 and found it a bit too sweet in places even when taking in to account its age.

The thing is that "Road to Happiness" isn't a difficult movie as it follows Jeff trying to provide for his son but struggling whilst the mother lets the kid down preferring to live a party lifestyle with her friends than be a mother. As such it is all about the bond that Jeff has with Danny especially when it comes to Jeff acting on his son's radio show. And yes we can see how much Danny means to Jeff but unsurprisingly it is all a bit false and overly gee whizz.

What this all boils down to is that "Road to Happiness" might have been entertaining for audiences back in 1941 but it didn't do a great deal for me now. About the best it gets is when we get to hear John Boles sign.


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