The titular colleen is Ruby Keeler, hired to manage a dress shop by wealthy Dick Powell. Keeler is the replacement for slatternly Joan Blondell, who'd been assigned the job by Powell's philandering father (Hugh Herbert). With Powell and Keeler at the helm, it's no time at all before the musical numbers proliferate, though none of the songs have the staying power of those in such earlier Warners musicals as
42nd Street
and
Golddiggers of 1933
. The best number, "Boulevardier from the Bronx," is familiar to modern viewers thanks to its constant use in Warner Bros. cartoons. A lesser Powell/Keeler outing,
Colleen
contains what many film buffs regard as the definitive performance of character comedian Hugh "Woo Woo" Herbert.