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"The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920 (1993)

initiated by john on September 06, 2008 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395000/)

Steven Spielberg said during production of Temple of Doom that he always wanted to make a big old fashioned musical and he relished opening the film with an old fashioned song and dance number. It turns out Indiana Jones had a job on Broadway himself in his younger days (described by old Indy during the opening sequence as 'the most exciting job of his life', no less). Having served in the trenche more

Steven Spielberg said during production of Temple of Doom that he always wanted to make a big old fashioned musical and he relished opening the film with an old fashioned song and dance number. It turns out Indiana Jones had a job on Broadway himself in his younger days (described by old Indy during the opening sequence as 'the most exciting job of his life', no less). Having served in the trenches and as a spy during WWI, Indy had to take all sorts of jobs to support himself during his college education and according to The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, most of these jobs involved show business. All three of his adventures set in 1920 were broadcast in much the same way as they were released on VHS and now on DVD, with the exception of the aforementioned bookends starring George Hall being deleted from 'The Scandal of 1920'. The reason why this particular story is a more satisfying viewing experience than the other two (and indeed all of the Chronicles' two parters) is because 'Scandal' features just one plot line stretched over two hours, instead of two completely unrelated ones stuck together.20 year old Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) arrives in NYC to stay with the Jacksons family, but crashes a party held by Kate the poet (Anne Heche) when it turns out the Jacksons are out of town. The two of them hit it off immediately, and Indy forgets all about his date the next morning with miss Peggy Peabody (Jennifer Stevens), an aspiring singer he met on the train. Jeffrey Wright from 'Mystery of the Blues' makes a cameo appearance (though he gets a prominent credit in the DVD version) and his part really only serves to introduce Indy to the insanely grinning George Gershwin (Tom Becket). George gets Indy a job as a gopher at George White's Scandal of 1920 and takes him along to a social event on Park Aveneu. Here Indy meets yet another love interest, high society girl Gloria (Alexandra Powers) and romances her while dancing to George's music. Even by Young Indy standards (a new love interest in every other episode) this is pushing it a bit. As usual Indy also gets introduced to a whole bunch of famous people from that time and place in rapid succession. First the writers on Tin Pan Alley have a little impromptu singalong (that is not on the soundtrack, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Volume 3), then Kate takes him to meet Dorothy Parker and the Vicous Circle. It's a shame they hardly ever had Indy meeting any original characters during this series, they would have had some to use in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (instead of coming up with new ones like Colin Williams and Harold Oxley).After being reunited with Peggy during the auditions, Indy has to juggle his time with three dates while working full time at the troubled theater company. There is lots of 'A Chorus Line' auditions and rehearsals, always a good way for filmmakers to incorporate the rehearsal period into the story. When White's biggest rival Ziegfeld manages to turn the show's financiers against him, Indy saves the day by convincing Gloria to ask her daddy to help out. To tell the truth, the three way romance is not hardly as interesting as the backstage perils of the Broadway show. To me, the bits of shtick between Mr. White (Christopher John Fields) and his accountant Schwartz (Robert Trebor) is much more amusing than seeing Indiana struggle to keep three dates on the same night (Peggy at six, Kate at eight and Gloria at ten). Luckilly the show moves at a brisk enough paced and here are enough funny touches to put it a notch above other Young Indy adventures such as the wildly uneven 'Treasure of the Peacock's Eye' or the really quite dull 'Mystery of the Blues'.Even when I first saw this show on two subsequent Saturday evenings, I had the feeling they should have spend far less time on different romances and more on the production of the show. Instead, they crammed the entire show and a whole bunch of new problems into a mere 15 minutes, which is a shame. Still, these are some of the most entertaining scenes in the entire Young Indy series, even if it strays wildly from the character we know and love as Indiana Jones. Sure, the fact that he and the dancers could make up their sexy fan dance on the spot is a bit hard to swallow (again, more time could have been spent on this sequence). But the best thing about the show is the way writer Jonathan Hales managed to weave 'the best song George Gershwin ever wrote' throughout the entire two parter. By using only bits of it's often discarded intro as the basis for a running gag, the final performance by Peggy really pays off in a big way. Unfortunately that performance is also absent from the original soundtrack mentioned above. Jay Underwood makes another appearance as Indy's pal Ernie Hemmingway, though he is never identified as such and what with this episode being broadcast in most of Europe before his other two appearances (Northern Italy, June 1918 and The Mystery of the Blues) his cameo was a bit of a puzzler to me the first time I saw it. Finally, after the big finale, there is the little mess with the three girls to resolve on Indy's 21st birthday (July 1st). While the original episode segued into a final silly gag featured grumpy old George Hall as Professor Jones, the DVD version closes with a very cheap special effect that should only be used by amateur editors making home movies: a closing curtain.8 out of 10

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