MORE MOVIE MUSICALS
100 Best Films plus 20 “B” Pix
John Howard Reid
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Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid
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OTHER FILM BOOKS BY JOHN HOWARD REID
CinemaScope
One: Stupendous in ‘Scope
CinemaScope Two: 20th Century
Fox
CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge
Books in the “Hollywood Classics” series:
1. New Light on Movie Bests
2. “B” Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies
3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s
4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West
5. Memorable Films of the Forties
6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s
7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Support Program
8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Entertainment
9. Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties
10. Hollywood “B” Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills
11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
12. These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards
13. Movie Mystery & Suspense
14. America’s Best, Britain’s Finest
15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic
16. Hollywood Movie Musicals
17. “Hollywood Classics” Index Books 1-16
18. More Movie Musicals
19. Success in the Cinema
20. Best Western Movies
21. Great Cinema Detectives
22. Great Hollywood Westerns
23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema
24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies
25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24
Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills
Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan’s Guide
WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD
British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD: A Classic Movie Fan’s Guide
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Table of Contents
A
B
Birds and the Bees (see Three Daring Daughters)
Bogus Bandits (see Fra Diavolo)
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
C
Case of the Missing Hare (1941)
Christmas Toyland (see Midnight in a Toyshop)
Concerto (see I’ve Always Loved You)
D
Devil’s Brother (see Fra Diavolo)
E
Elena et les Hommes (see Paris Does Strange Things)
Escape of Princess Charming (see Princess Charming)
F
For You Alone (see When You’re In Love)
G
H
Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)
I
I’ll See You In My Dreams (1951)
Indian Love Call (see Rose Marie)
It Happened One Summer (see State Fair 1945)
K
King Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942)
L
M
N
Night and Day (see Jack’s the Boy)
Now That Summer Is Gone (1938)
O
One-Piece Bathing Suit (see Million Dollar Mermaid)
P
Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951)
Paris Does Strange Things (1956)
Public Cowboy Number One (1937)
Q
R
Rufus Jones for President (1933)
S
Sez O’Reilly to MacNab (sic) (see Said O’Reilly to McNab)
Star! (see Those Were the Happy Times)
Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
Swing, Teacher, Swing (see College Swing)
T
That’s Right, You’re Wrong (1939)
Three Daring Daughters Grow Up (1939)
Tops Is the Limit (see Anything Goes)
V
Virtuous Tramps (see Fra Diavolo)
W
Wedding of Lilli Marlene (1953)
Y
You Can’t Have Everything (1937)
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Gene Kelly (Gerry Mulligan), Leslie Caron (Lise Bourvier), Oscar Levant (Adam Cook), Georges Guetary (Henri Borel), Nina Foch (Milo Roberts), Eugene Borden (Georges Mattieu), Martha Bamattre (Mathilde Mattieu), Mary Young (old woman dancer), Ann Codee (Therese), George Davis (Francois), Hayden Rorke (Tommy Baldwin), Paul Maxey (John McDowd), Dick Wessel (Ben Macrow), Don Quinn and Adele Coray (honeymoon couple), Lucian Planzoles, Christian Pasques and Anthony Mazola (boys with bubble gum), Jeanne Lafayette, Louise Laureau (nuns), Alfred Paix (postman), Noel Neill (American girl), Nan Boardman (maid), John Eldredge (Jack Jansen), Anna Q. Nilsson (Kay Jansen), Madge Blake (Edna Mae Bestram — customer), Art Dupuis (driver), Greg McClure (artist), André Charisse (dancing partner), Marie Antoinette Andrews (news vendor), Dudley Field Malone (Winston Churchill), Jean Romaine, Mary Jane French, Pat Dean Smith, Joan Barton, Ann Robin, Mary Ellen Gleason, Judy Landon, Beverly Thompson, Beverly Baldy, Angela Wilson, Sue Casey, Ann Brendon, Marietta Elliott, Lorraine Crawford, Lola Kenricks, Meredith Leeds, Marily Rogers, Pat Hall, Madge Journery Marlene Todd (“Stairway” girls), Mary Menzies, Svetlana McLee, Florence Brundage, Dee Turnell (furies), Harriet Scott, Janet Lavis, Sheila Myers, Lila Zali, Betty Scott, Eileen Locklin, Pat Sims, Linda Scott, Shirley Lopez, Shirley Glickman, Phyllis Sutter (place de la Concorde ensemble), Dick Lenner, Don Hulbert, John Stanley, Eugene Fuccati, Ray Weamer, Harvey Karels, Bert Madrid, Dick Landry, Rudy Silva, Rodney Beiber, Manuel Petroff, Robert Ames, Betty Hannon, Linda Heller, David Kasday, Marion Horosko, Pamela Wells, Dorothy Tuttle, Tommy Ladd, Albert Ruiz, Alex Goudovitch, Eric Freeman, Dick Humphries, Alan Cooke, John Gardner, Ricky Gonzales, Bill Chatham, Ernie Flatt, Ricky Riccardi, Graham Johnson, (firemen), Ernie Flatt, Alex Romero, Dick Humphries, Bill Chatham (four servicemen in Rousseau Place), Betty Scott, Shirley Lopez, Pat Sims, Dee Turnell, Sheila Myers, Janet Lavis (can-can dancers), Eleaner Vindever (Gaulou), Dick Lenner (Toulouse-Lautrec), Gino Corrado (Oscar Wilde), Alba No Valero (Aristide Briand).
Directed by VINCENTE MINNELLI from an original story and screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner based upon an idea by Arthur Freed. Photographed in Technicolor by Alfred Gilks. Ballet photographed by John Alton. Choreography: Gene Kelly. Music composed by George Gershwin, orchestrated by Conrad Salinger, and directed by Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin. Song lyrics: Ira Gershwin. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons and Preston Ames. Set decorators: Edwin B. Willis and Keogh Gleason. Ballet costumes designed by Irene Sharaff. Beaux Arts Ball costumes designed by Walter Plunkett. All other costumes designed by Orry-Kelly. Film editor: Adrienne Fazan. Technicolor color consultants: Henri Jaffa and James Gooch. Gene Kelly’s paintings by Gene Grant. Special photographic effects: Warren Newcombe and Irving G. Ries. Montage sequences: Peter Ballbusch. Make-up created by William Tuttle. Hair styles designed by Sydney Guilaroff. Songs and production numbers: “An American In Paris” (ballet) featuring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron; “Concerto in F” (instrumental) featuring Oscar Levant; “Our Love Is Here to Stay” featuring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron; “I Got Rhythm” featuring Gene Kelly and children; “Embraceable You” featuring Leslie Caron; “‘SWonderful” featuring Gene Kelly and Georges Guetary; “By Strauss” featuring Gene Kelly, Georges Guetary and Oscar Levant; “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” featuring Georges Guetary; “Tra-la-la” featuring Gene Kelly and Oscar Levant, “Nice Work If You Can Get It”. Lyrics for “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” by E. Ray Goetz and B. G. DeSylva. Sound recording supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Sound mixer: Bill Steinkamp. Music co-ordinator: Lela Simone. 2nd unit director: Peter Ballbusch. 2nd unit photography: Geoffrey Faithfull. Mr Kelly’s assistant: Carol Haney. Additional art directors: Jack Martin Smith (the beaux arts ball), Irene Sharaff (the ballet). Technical advisor: Alan Antik. Assistant to the director: Jane Loring. Chief set painter: George Gibson. Chief sculptor: Henry Greutart. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Arthur Freed.
Copyright 5 September 1951 by Loew’s Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 4 October 1951 (ran 7 weeks). U.S. release: 9 November 1951. U.K. release: 24 December 1951. Australian release: 2 April 1952. 10,204 feet. 113 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: American painter in Paris falls for a young woman.
NOTES: M-G-M production number: 1501.
Negative cost: $2,723,903.
Total worldwide rentals gross to 1975: $8,050,000.
Initial domestic rentals gross: $4 million, which gave it the number 5 position at the U.S./Canadian box-office for 1952.
The movie took good money but did not make the top lists of box-office attractions overseas. The title itself of course was a liability so far as non-American audiences were concerned.
First and only Hollywood film of Georges Guetary.
Number 3 on the National Board of Review’s American “Ten Best” list.
Also number 3 in The Film Daily’s poll of American film critics for 1951.
In addition to the Special Awards to Arthur Freed and Gene Kelly, the film won prestigious Hollywood awards for Best Picture [defeating Decision before Dawn, A Place in the Sun, Quo Vadis, A Streetcar Named Desire], Best Story and Screenplay [defeating The Big Carnival, David and Bathsheba, Go for Broke, The Well], Color Cinematography [defeating David and Bathsheba, Quo Vadis, Show Boat, When Worlds Collide], Color Art Direction [defeating David and Bathsheba, On the Riviera, Quo Vadis, Tales of Hoffmann], Best Scoring of a Musical Picture [defeating Alice in Wonderland, The Great Caruso, On the Riviera, Show Boat], Best Color Costume Design won jointly by Orry-Kelly, Plunkett and Sharaff [defeating David and Bathsheba, The Great Caruso, Quo Vadis, Tales of Hoffmann].
The film was also nominated for Best Directing [won by George Stevens for A Place in the Sun], and Film editing [won by William Hornbeck for A Place in the Sun].
When the film was being edited for release, some musical numbers were deleted and minor cuts were made to tighten the picture. Kelly was sorry to see his favorite number eliminated. “I’ve Got a Crush on You” was a solo number to which he had given particular thought and attention. “Love Walked In” and “But Not for Me,” both Guetary solos, were also taken out of the film. The former held up the tempo in the early part of the picture and the latter didn’t play in the surrounding whirl of the Beaux Arts ball. At the ball some trims were made, especially in view of the long ballet that followed.
Shooting commenced 1 August 1950 and wrapped up on 8 January 1951, with one day of re-takes on 2 April 1951.
Whilst Kelly was rehearsing the final ballet, Minnelli directed a sequel to his Father of the Bride. On 6 December when Minnelli came back to shoot the ballet, he brought with him John Alton, his cameraman on Father’s Little Dividend. “I regretted that I hadn’t had him for the whole film,” says Minnelli. “I think he is one of the greatest cameramen that I have ever worked with. Alton is very flexible; he doesn’t have a set mind like Gilks had, and he is capable of modifying his way according to the director’s indications.”
This was Alton’s first Technicolor assignment. But even so, he had very definite ideas as to how to bring about certain color effects. “The secret of the ballet’s photography,” he says, “was the fumata (smoky) quality, which changed all the colors to pastel. In the ballet we used English color quality for the first time. I was inspired, like everybody else on the picture, by the electrical force Gershwin’s music generated. In my case this showed itself in the way I used light... We all worked like a team. Every morning we would rush to the studio, eager to do something, even ahead of time. We were just like kids going to the candy store. That’s how excited we were....”
Many of Alton’s colleagues believed that no-one could have shot the ballet the way he did: shooting directly into a light, or using less than the minimum light deemed necessary for a good negative. And others considered him to be “a very arrogant man.”
There was also a row with the electricians. “They tried everything to stop his cutting down on lights,” says Keogh Gleason. “Alton could light properly and quickly. But the laboratories would say ‘It’s no good,’ because it was cutting down on the procedures. John also said he didn’t need any catwalks. That really blew the top off. Of some sixty lights, Alton would use only three or four, which cut down tremendously on labor. It’s a wonder he didn’t have a light dropped on him . . .”
The ballet begins as Kelly sits by himself on a balcony at the Beaux Arts Ball, ignoring the revelry inside, and looks out over the vast scene of Paris at night. His thoughts and his associations with the city and its painters materialize for the audience. Throughout the ballet he continually sees and courts and loses the girl, moving through familiar Parisian locations, all in the style of the painters who have influenced him. The Place de la Concorde swirls with people in a background suggestive of Dufy; he spots the girl and pursues her — through the Renoir-like streets around the Madeleine flower market — through a gaudy fairground as Utrillo might have seen it — through the holiday throngs at the Jardins des Plantes, a favorite subject of Rousseau — and to the Place de L’Opéra, reflecting the art of Van Gogh, and finally to the Montmarte of Toulouse-Lautrec
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Okay for all.
COMMENT: Because of a dispute between M-G-M and the newspaper I worked for over an unfavorable review (I forget what the movie was), I was not permitted to cover this film at the time of its release, so it was some twenty years before I saw it. All the same, I remember very distinctly how disappointed I felt when I missed the movie in 1952 and yet how I wondered what all the shouting had been about in 1972. For the film had captured no less than eight of 1951’s prestigious Hollywood awards: Best Picture, Best Story and Screenplay, Best Color Photography, Best Color Art Direction, Best Color Set Decoration, Best Color Costume Design, Best Score for a Musical Picture, and a Special Honorary Award for Gene Kelly “in appreciation of his versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film”.
Admittedly, the movie was handicapped for me by the presence of Gene Kelly himself. I concede that he is a brilliant (if extremely flashy) choreographer, an amazingly adroit dancer and a fairly imaginative director, but as a singer he is weak and as an actor he often displays many of the least likeable aspects of the American character: his brash, aggressive manner, his supreme self-confidence, his boastfulness and perhaps above all, his ingrained belief that the world owes him deference simply because he is an American. Unfortunately, these traits are in great evidence in An American In Paris.
Lacking sympathy for the central character, it is easy to see why the film failed to fully engage my attention back in 1972. I was not happy with the supporting characters either. As a singer, Georges Guetary belongs to the florid school, and as a personality, I do not remember him at all. And I much preferred glamorous Nina Foch (who is supposed to be the unsympathetic character) to gamin Leslie Caron (who is supposed to be the heroine). Oscar Levant is his usual amusing screen self.
The plot is slight and all-too-familiar but some of the songs are very catchy. On the other hand, I have never cared for the music of “An American in Paris,” which seems to me strident, forced, lacking in harmony and melody.
What impressed me most about the film in 1972 was its glittering color photography, its sumptuous sets and its dazzling costumes. I have no doubt that An American In Paris deserved the awards it won in these departments.
OTHER VIEWS: An American In Paris emerged as a surprise winner in the 1951 Hollywood awards’ sweepstakes, which had generally been regarded as a neck-and-neck race between A Streetcar Named Desire and A Place in the Sun. Perhaps a split in the votes had resulted in the statuette going to the Metro musical?
We selected each artist’s tone and felt for similar tone in the passages of the Gershwin score. For example, that one brassy section could have meant nothing else to us but Lautrec’s “Chocolat” and we all agreed immediately that the “Walking Theme” was most potently related to the lightly sketched style of Raoul Dufy. Our chief trouble was with the Rousseau, which being simply primitive, seemed even more so against the score. But we felt that to omit him would be a kind of misrepresentation, so we made the American tap-dance his way through a 4th of July celebration in Cohanesque manner, against the theme of the music, while Parisian revelry spins itself out around his figure.
— Gene Kelly in “Dance Magazine”.
The peak achievement of the American musical film of the ‘fifties and one of the most stunningly well-made and charming films of all time. This film, along with Everybody’s Cheering and On The Town, shows the talents of Gene Kelly as the greatest star/choreographer the cinema has produced. Here he plays Gerry Mulligan, a penniless artist living (naturally) in a garret in Paris surrounded by lovable eccentrics, chief among whom is the downstairs piano-player Oscar Levant at his most acid. Levant has a friend — Ivor Novello leading man Georges Guetary — Henri Borel, the toast (naturally) of the Paris night spots. He is about to marry his ward, Lise, who equally naturally falls for Kelly/Mulligan despite competition from the glamorous heiress with the big car who keeps after him.
This plot is merely a coat-hanger (though a very skilful one) on which to hang the production. Color, design, the M-G-M backlot settings which make an acceptable Paris (even for Parisians), and the Gershwin music are all as significant in forming the film as its script and dialogue (by one of the authors of My Fair Lady and Gigi—this film incidentally is one of the few movies of the cycle to have only one writer credit). The plot itself disappears completely in the magnificent, two-reel ballet at the climax.
In An American In Paris Minnelli has struck the perfect balance between the folksy charm of his early Under the Clock and Meet Me In St Louis and the striking color effects of less successful, later, straight films like Two Weeks In Another Town or Some Came Running. Like The Pirate and The Band Wagon, this film shows him as one of the great entertainers and one always wishes the formula could work again on other items like Bells Are Ringing and Goodbye Charlie.
Scene after scene is full of beautiful touches:— Caron in the cafe keeping a solemn face as Kelly clowns, the girl behind her bursting out with laughter at something completely different, Levant mixing cigarettes and coffee as the horrible truth dawns; the Black and White Ball which is just that — in a color film; that last barbed interchange between Levant and Nina Foch; and Kelly’s quite moving farewell, “The more beautiful it all is, the more it will hurt because you’re not here to share it!” — a line which really means something in a film as beautiful as this.
The photographic style is remarkable. The decor is improved by the use of transparencies — back-projected stills which, because they don’t move, don’t have to be restricted to 35 mm film, the larger plates giving much sharper detail and less grainy color saturation. The main film was shot by Alfred Gilks, a veteran cameraman whose work on the Sam Wood-Jackie Coogan Peck’s Bad Boy marked him as a superior craftsman as early as 1921. The dream sequence with its typical Minnellian use of colored light is credited to photographer John Alton who had never previously worked in color and whose award proved one of the most controversial to be given.
[Editor’s note: Failure of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences to acknowledge the often major contributions to color cinematography of color consultants, especially from the Technicolor company, had been a sore point for some time, but in 1952 the issue was pursued rather vigorously in some quarters, partly because of Alton’s lack of personal popularity among his fellow cinematographers.]
Each of the numbers requires comment. No other musical contains so many that are excellent. The formula of having Guetary sing while Kelly dances sustains the By Strauss and Love numbers perfectly. Kelly repeats his Living in a Big Way building site item as I Got Rhythm in the same mood, and his duet with Caron on the bank of the Seine as Our Love Is Here to Stay really does carry the plot as no words alone could. Her introduction in the multi-divided color image — she was just 20 at the time — is done to Levant’s Tra-la-la and the Gershwin number where he imagines himself playing all instruments before unwrapping the Coke in the champagne pot, are as good. Guetary’s Stairway to Paradise, however, belongs to another tradition of musical. The ballet itself with its rose motif, swirling colored smoke, solid fountains and enormous revolving mirrors is an achievement in itself and rumor has it that it was only inserted due to Nina Foch’s illness.
This film is the absolute triumph of form and craftsmanship in the cinema. It is difficult to imagine it being improved or surpassed. Rating: 100%.
— Barrie Pattison.
OTHER REFERENCES: The Musical Film by Douglas McVay (Zwemmer, London/Barnes, New York, 1967); Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance by John Kobal (Hamlyn, London/New York, 1970); The World of Entertainment by Hugh Fordin (Doubleday, New York, 1975); The Films of Gene Kelly by Tony Thomas (Citadel, Secaucus, 1974); Directed by Vincente Minnelli by Stephen Harvey (Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1989); The Magic Factory by Donald Knox (1973); The Best of M-G-M by James Robert Parish and Gregory Mank (Arlington House, Westport, 1981).
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Groucho Marx (Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding), Harpo Marx (Professor), Chico Marx (Emanuel Ravelli), Zeppo Marx (Horatio Jamison), Margaret Dumont (Mrs Rittenhouse), Lillian Roth (Arbella Rittenhouse), Louis Sorin (Roscoe W. Chandler), Hal Thompson (John Parker), Margaret Irving (Mrs Whitehead), Kathryn Reece (Grace Carpenter), Robert Greig (Hives), Edward Metcalf (Inspector Hennessey), The Music Masters (six footmen), Ann Roth (girl).
Directed by VICTOR HEERMAN from a screenplay by Morrie Ryskind. Script continuity: Pierre Collings. Based on the 1928 musical play Animal Crackers by George S. Kaufman, Bert Kalmar, Morrie Ryskind and Harry Ruby. Photography: George Folsey. Songs, “Why Am I So Romantic?” (sung by Lillian Roth), “Hooray for Captain Spaulding!” by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby; “Collegiate” by Moe Jaffe and Nat Bonx; “Some of These Days” by Sheldon Brooks. Music arranged by John W. Green. Producer: Jesse L. Lasky. Sound recording: Ernest F. Zatorsky. Movietone Sound System.
Copyright 6 September 1930 by Paramount Publix Corp. U.S. release date: 6 September 1930. (10 reels). (8,897 feet). (99 minutes). Filmed at Paramount’s Astoria Studios, Long Island, New York. Opened in New York at the Rialto: 28 August 1930.
SYNOPSIS: A valuable painting is stolen from the Long Island home of Mrs Rittenhouse, a leading society matron. Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding (“Jeffrey” in the credits, but “Geoffrey” in the movie) investigates.
NOTES: One of the top twelve domestic box-office attractions of 1930.
COMMENT: A filmed stage play with very long takes, theatrical and sound effects, topical references to the Theatre Guild and its programs, and no reverse camera angles. Everything is filmed from a stage audience’s point-of-view. The camera rarely moves, and the editing largely consists of substituting a two-shot for a four-shot. The acting is lively, the musical interludes are pleasant. Miss Roth is seen to better advantage as the film progresses. By present-day standards, the script is not very funny. Some of the puns are too atrocious (“spinach” for “Spanish”), but some sequences are very amusing. The film seems better in retrospect, when one remembers the best lines and situations. In all, the film is a bit disappointing after The Cocoanuts, but it is still good entertainment and must viewing for Marxian fans.
OTHER VIEWS: The laughs are wider-spaced in this, the second-released Marx Brothers’ film, though there are enough of them to make it rewarding for enthusiasts. The technical side is undistinguished.
— B.P.
A curate’s egg of a movie: — very funny (Spaulding’s African adventures), very entertaining (all the musical numbers including recitals by Chico and Harpo, Groucho’s wonderfully zany Spaulding side-stepping dance, and Miss Roth’s most appealing rendition of “Why Am I So Romantic?” which becomes a duet with Thompson and which Harpo then so engagingly reprises) in parts; rather tedious (many of the monologues and non-sequiturs) and dated (the Strange Interlude asides) in others.
The players are nothing if not enthusiastic, including the vivacious Miss Roth (her sister is easy to spot in the line-up of swimming-costumed cuties), and it’s always a great pleasure to see Margaret Dumont and Robert Greig, especially when they have lots of crazy material and “business” as here. Sorin is too dull to capture interest, and Mr Thompson too boy-next-door slick. But all the Brothers Marx, including the put-upon and not over-present Zeppo, have a grand time.
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Bing Crosby (Billy Crocker), Ethel Merman (Rena Sweeney), Charles Ruggles (Reverend Dr Moon), Ida Lupino (Hope Harcourt), Grace Bradley (Bonnie Le Tour), Arthur Treacher (Sir Evelyn Oakleigh), Robert McWade (Elisha J. Whitney), Richard Carle (Bishop Dobson), Margaret Dumont (Mrs Wentworth), Edward Gargan (detective), Jerry Tucker (Junior), Harry Wilson, Matt McHugh, Bud Fine (pug uglies), Billy Dooley (ship’s photographer), Matt Moore (ship’s captain), Rolfe Sedan (bearded man), and Dennis O’Keefe, Pat Collins, Jack Mulhall and Chill Wills and the Avalon Boys.
Director: LEWIS MILESTONE. Screenplay: Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse. Based on the stage play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Music and lyrics: Cole Porter. Photography: Karl Struss. Film editor: Eda Warren. Art director: Hans Dreier. Dances staged by LeRoy Prinz. Set decorations: A. E. Freudeman. Additional background music: Victor Young. Songs by Cole Porter: “Anything Goes” (Ethel Merman sings a few bars under the credits), “I Get a Kick Out of You” (Merman), “You’re the Top” (Merman and Crosby), “There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair” (Merman, Chill Wills and the Avalon Boys). Song by Hoagy Carmichael: “Moonburn” (Crosby). Songs by Frederick Hollander (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics): “Am I Awake?” (Crosby), “My Heart and I” (Crosby), “Hopelessly in Love”, “Shangai-de-ho”. Song by Richard Whiting (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics): “Sailor Beware” (Crosby). Additional song material: Edward Heyman. Copyright 10 January 1936 by Paramount Productions Inc. Presented by Adolph Zukor. Producer: Benjamin Glazer.
Released in the U.S. 24 January 1936. New York opening at the Paramount: 5 February 1936. Australian release: 22 April 1936. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward: 18 April 1936 (ran 2 weeks). 10 reels. 92 minutes.
TV title: TOPS IS THE LIMIT.
SYNOPSIS: A runaway English heiress (Lupino) is pursued by a young American (Crosby) aboard a transatlantic liner. (A variant of It Happened One Night).
NOTES: Anything Goes, with a book by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse revised by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, songs by Cole Porter and dances by Robert Alton, opened on Broadway in 1934. It starred Ethel Merman, William Gaxton, Victor Moore and Bettina Hall and ran for 420 performances. This was the vehicle in which Porter really made Ethel Merman a star.
— Thomas G. Aylesworth.
COMMENT: The director’s snappy editorial effects keep the film moving at a rapid pace. It is a pity that so many of Cole Porter’s songs were eliminated in favor of new numbers which are not nearly as memorable, but Ethel Merman plays with plenty of zest and Bing Crosby gives his usual smooth account of the leading male role. Ethel Merman was the star of the original Broadway production, but William Gaxton had the Crosby role and Victor Moore was the bogus reverend.
— G.A. and E.V.D.
OTHER VIEWS: When the musical was made into a film in 1936, only four of the original songs were kept, in addition to “All Through the Night”, which was used as background music only. The four were “You’re the Top”, “I Get a Kick out of You”, “Anything Goes” and “There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair”. In the ads, it was billed as “Cole Porter’s Anything Goes”, but in fact it was 60 percent the work of Hoagy Carmichael, Frederick Hollander, Richard Whiting, Leo Robin and Edward Heyman. Eight Porter songs had been deep-sixed.
As far as the cast was concerned, Ethel Merman was in there pitching, re-creating her stage role as Reno Sweeney. But substituting Charles Ruggles for Victor Moore was a terrible mistake. And Bing Crosby was not the one to use in place of William Gaxton. In short, it lacked sparkle, and sparkle was the thing most needed to overcome the silliness of the plot.
Thomas G. Aylesworth in Broadway to Hollywood.
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Dean Martin (Rick Todd), Jerry Lewis (Eugene Fullstack), Shirley MacLaine (Bessie Sparrowbush), Dorothy Malone (Abigail Parker), Eddie Mayehoff (Murdock), Eva Gabor (Sonia), Anita Ekberg (Anita), George “Foghorn” Winslow (Richard Stilton), Jack Elam (Ivan), Herbert Rudley (secret service chief), Richard Shannon, Richard Webb (secret service agents), Alan Lee (Otto), Kathleen Freeman (Mrs Muldoon), Art Baker (himself), Emory Parnell (Kelly), Carleton Young (Colonel Drury), Nick Castle, Jr (specialty dancer), Steven Geray (scientist), Charles Evans (general) and Otto Waldis, Margaret Barstow, Martha Wentworth, Sara Berner, Ralph Dumke, Clancy Cooper, Mortimer Dutra, Frank Jenks, Mike Ross, Patti Ross, Ann McCrea, Glen Walters, Larri Thomas, Sharon Baird, Eve Meyer, Dale Hartleben, Mickey Little, Patricia Morrow, Sue Carleton, Tommy Summers, Max Power, Frances Lansing, Don Corey, Frank Carter, Dorothy Gordon, Rudy Makoul, Jeanette Miller.
Director: FRANK TASHLIN. Screenplay: Frank Tashlin, Hal Kanter, Herbert Baker. Adaptation: Don McGuire. Based on the stage play “Rock-a-bye Baby!” by Michael Davidson and Norman Lessing. Photographed in VistaVision and Technicolor by Daniel L. Fapp. Film editor: Warren Low. Art directors: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen. Set decorators: Sam Comer, Arthur Krams. Costumes: Edith Head. Make-up: Wally Westmore. Process photography: Farciot Edouart. Special photographic effects: John P. Fulton. Dialogue director: Rudy Makoul. Technicolor color consultant: Richard Mueller. Songs by Harry Warren (music) and Jack Brooks (lyrics): “Artists and Models” (Martin, reprised Martin and Lewis), “The Lucky Song” (Martin), “Inamorata” (Martin, reprised MacLaine), “You Look So Familiar” (Martin), “When You Pretend” (Martin, Lewis, MacLaine and chorus). [Deleted songs: “When You Pretend” was originally heard not just at the finale but as an early duet between Martin and Lewis; “The Bat Lady”, a MacLaine solo in which she sings, dances and clowns around]. Music arranged and conducted by Walter Scharf. Vocal arrangements: Norman Luboff. Musical numbers created and staged by Charles O’Curran. Assistant director: C. C. Coleman Jr. Sound recording: Hugo Grenzbach, Gene Garvin. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: Paul Nathan. Producer: Hal B. Wallis. A Hal B. Wallis Production.
Copyright 1955 by Paramount Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Paramount: 21 December 1955. U.S. release: December 1955. U.K. release: 23 January 1956. Australian release: 17 August 1956. 9,827 feet. 109 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A comic-book addict meets the Bat Lady. The attraction — would you believe? — is mutual.
NOTES: The 16th of Martin and Lewis’ 18 movie appearances as a team.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Adults.
COMMENT: Like Animal Crackers, this is a curate’s egg of a musical comedy. Funny in spots, tedious in others. Ditto the songs. Martin’s “Lucky Song” is both elaborately and vigorously staged; the others are not only considerably less expansive, but somewhat heavy-handed. For instance, Martin’s pleasing ballad “Inamorata” is capped by an elephantine episode with MacLaine sending it up whilst Lewis clowns around.
Still the color is always bright. And if most of the girls — including Anita Ekberg — are wasted in fleeting appearances, at least their costumes are equally brief.
OTHER VIEWS: Yes the color is very attractive, and yes there are some very amusing sequences (the armor suits toppling down the staircase). Set against this are far too many slack passages and a disappointing waste of such “models” as Dorothy Malone (a thankless role) and Anita Ekberg (her part is virtually a nothing). Eddie Mayehoff manages to collect a few laughs.
— John Howard Reid writing as George Addison
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Mickey Rooney (Tommy Williams), Judy Garland (Penny Morris), Fay Bainter (Miss Jones), Virginia Weidler (Barbara Jo), Ray McDonald (Ray Lambert), Richard Quine (Morton Hammond), Donald Meek (Mr Stone), Alexander Woollcott (himself), Luis Alberni (Nick), James Gleason (Thornton Reed), Emma Dunn (Mrs Williams), Frederick Burton (Professor Morris), Cliff Clark (Inspector Moriarty), William A. Post Jr (announcer), Carl Stockdale (man), Dick Baron (Butch), Will Lee (waiter), Donna Reed (secretary), Joe Yule (Mason, aide to Reed), Anne Rooney, Dorothy Morris, Maxine Flores (Pit Astor girls), Stop, Look and Listen Trio, Six Hits and a Miss, Five Musical Maids (themselves), Tom Hanlon (radio man), Renee Austin (Elinor), Roger Steele (boy), Bryant Washburn (director), Charles Wagenheim (composer), Arthur Hoyt (little man customer), Jack Lipson (fat man customer), Margaret O’Brien (little girl at audition), Sidney Miller (pianist), King Baggott (man in audience), Barbara Bedford (matron), Shimen Ruskin (excited Russian), Jean Porter (“Hoe Down” dancer), Leslie Brooks (actress committee extra), Lester Dorr (writer), and Ava Gardner, Sue Garland, Roger Moore.
Director: BUSBY BERKELEY. Screenplay: Fred Finklehoffe, Elaine Ryan. Based on a story by Joseph Santley. Screen story: Fred Finklehoffe. Photography: Lester White. Film editor: Fredrick Y. Smith. Songs: “Babes on Broadway” (chorus), “How About You?” (Garland and Rooney), music and lyrics by Burton Lane and Ralph Freed; “Chin up”, “Cheerio”, “Carry on” (Garland), “Anything Can Happen in New York” (Rooney, McDonald, Quine) by Burton Lane (music) and E.Y. Harburg (lyrics); “A Bombshell from Brazil” (Rooney), music and lyrics by Roger Edens; “Hoe Down” (Garland, Rooney, McDonald), music and lyrics by Roger Edens and Ralph Freed; “F. D. R. Jones” (Garland), music and lyrics by Harold Rome; “I Belong to Glasgow” (Rooney), music and lyrics by Sir Harry Lauder; “Mamma Yo Quiero” (Rooney), music and lyrics by Jararaca and Vincente Paiva and Al Stillman. Music director: Georgie Stoll. Music adaptation: Roger Edens. Music orchestrations: Leo Arnaud, George Bassman, Conrad Salinger. Sound: Douglas Shearer. Sketch, “The Convict’s Return” by Harry Kaufman. “Ghost Theatre” created by Vincente Minnelli. Other script and sketch contributors: Robert Tree West, John Monks, Ralph Spence, Gertrude Purcell, Edmund Hartmann, Charles Reisner, Elsie Janis. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown. Set decorator: Edwin B. Willis. Art director for musical numbers: Merrill Pye. Gowns: Kalloch. Men’s wardrobe: Gile Steele. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Technical advisor and Miss Garland’s coach: Elsie Janis. Mr Rooney’s coach for “Mama Yo Quiero”: Carmen Miranda. 2nd unit director (Woollcott prologue): George Sidney. Additional songs: “Mary Is a Grand Old Name” (Garland) by George M. Cohan; “Blackout over Broadway” (Weidler) by Burton Lane (music) and Ralph Freed (lyrics); “She Is My Daisy” (Rooney) by Sir Harry Lauder and J.D. Harper; “I’ve Got Rings on My Fingers” (Garland) by Scott, Weston and Barnes; “Yankee Doodle Boy” (Rooney) by George M. Cohan; “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (entire juvenile cast) by Edward Madden and Gus Edwards; “Alabamy Bound” (Rooney) by Ray Henderson; “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” (entire juvenile cast) by Lewis E. Muir and Maurice Abrahams; “Swanee Ribver” (Rooney) by Stephen Foster. Minstrel show arranged by Roger Edens. [A deleted number, “Ballad for Americans”, was used in its entirety in Born To Sing (1943)]. Producer: Arthur Freed.
A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, copyright 5 December 1941 by Loew’s Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 31 December 1941 (ran 15 days). U.S. release: 2 January 1942. Australian release: 30 April 1942. 13 reels. 118 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Irrepressible youngsters decide to put on their own off-Broadway show.
NOTES: M-G-M production number: 1204.
Shooting from 14 July 1941 to 14 October 1941, with one day of re-takes on 7 November 1941.
Negative cost: $940,068.70.
Worldwide rentals gross: $3,859,000.
Figure for initial domestic rentals is not available, but the film placed in the U.S./Canada’s top twenty box-office attraction for 1942.
“How About You?” by Burton Lane (music) and Ralph Freed (lyrics) was nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award for Best Song, losing to “White Christmas” from Holiday Inn.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Okay for all.
COMMENT: Strictly for fans of Mickey and Judy with the egocentric Junior Yule doing impersonations all over the place (including a Carmen Miranda coached by the diminutive lady herself) and the darling of the Munchkin set oozing sentiment galore. Her scene with the British refugee children in which they are encouraged to send greetings to “mater” and “pater” in faraway war-torn London must surely be the all-time low sequence in any M-G-M musical. For maudlin sentimentality, Babes on Broadway has few equals. Still the musical numbers provide welcome oases of cheer, thanks to Busby Berkeley. Even a second-rate Buzz has more pace, verve and dazzle than the Felix Feists of this world at their peak.
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Fred Astaire (Tony Hunter), Cyd Charisse (Gabrielle Gerard), Jack Buchanan (Jeffrey Cordova), Nanette Fabray (Lily Marton), Oscar Levant (Lester Marton), Ava Gardner (herself), James Mitchell (Paul Byrd), Thurston Hall (Colonel Tide), LeRoy Daniels (bootblack), Robert Gist (Hal Benton), Douglas Fowley (auctioneer), Emory Parnell, Herb Vigran (train passengers), Ernest Anderson (porter), Barbara Ruick (woman alighting from train), Steve Forrest (man alighting from train), Donald Kerr (photographer), Frank Scannell, Stu Wilson, Roy Engel (reporters), Curtis Jackson (kid at penny arcade), Sue Casey (tall woman at penny arcade), Wilson Wood (knock the-cans operator), Al Hill (shooting gallery operator), Bert May, Matt Mattox, William Lundy (men in Gabrielle’s ballet), Madge Blake (gushy woman), George Sherwood, Harry Stanton, Marion Gray, Bess Flowers, Estelle Eterre, Lillian Culver (backers), Jack Gargan (Plaza doorman), Joe A. Brockman (horse-drawn cabbie), Betty Farrington (Faust’s set designer), Henry Corden (Faust’s conductor), Dick Alexander, Al Ferguson, Charles Regan, Jack Stoney (stagehands), Smoki Whitfield (Tide’s chauffeur), Manuel Paris (cast party caterer), Dee Turnell, Jimmie Thompson, Bert May, Elynne May, Judy Landon, Ann McCrea, Robert R. Stebbins, Ted Jordan, Lyle Clark, Peggy Murray (cast members at party), Lotte Stein (Cordova’s chambermaid), Dee Hartford, Eden Hartford, Julie Newmar (women in Girl Hunt ballet), Bill Foster, Shirley Lopez, Lysa Baugher (dancers), Bobby Watson (Bobby, Hunter’s dresser), Jack Tester (Ivan), John Lupton (Jack, the promoter), Owen McGivney (prop man), Sam Hearn (agent), Paul Bradley (dancer in park/waiter), Stuart Holmes (old businessman), Del Moore (Hunter’s servant).
Director: VINCENTE MINNELLI. Original story and screenplay: Betty Comden, Adolph Green. Narration for “Girl Hunt Ballet” written by Alan Jay Lerner. Photographed in Technicolor by Harry Jackson (borrowed from 20th Century-Fox), who replaced George Folsey who copped the blame for production delays early on in shooting. Film editor: Albert Akst (producer Freed’s brother-in-law). Production designer: Oliver Smith. Supervising art director: Cedric Gibbons. Unit art director: Preston Ames. Supervising set decorator: Edwin B. Willis. Unit set decorator: Keogh Gleason. Costumes: Mary Ann Nyberg. Make-up: William Tuttle. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Technicolor color consultants: Henri Jaffa, Robert Brower. Assistant director: Jerry Thorpe. Special effects: Warren Newcombe. Sound recording supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: Roger Edens. Producer: Arthur Freed.
Songs by Arthur Schwartz (music) and Howard Dietz (lyrics): “By Myself” (Astaire), “A Shine On Your Shoes” (Astaire, Daniels), “That’s Entertainment” (Astaire, Fabray, Buchanan), “Beggar’s Waltz” (danced by Charisse), “Dancing in the Dark” (danced by Astaire and Charisse), “You and the Night and the Music” (danced by Astaire and Charisse), “I Love Louisa” (Astaire and Fabray), “New Sun in the Sky” (Charisse, dubbed by India Adams), “I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan” (Astaire and Buchanan), “Louisiana Hayride” (Fabray), “Triplets” (Astaire, Fabray, Buchanan), “Girl Hunt Ballet” (Astaire, Charisse), “That’s Entertainment” (reprised by Buchanan, Fabray, Levant, Astaire, and Charisse dubbed by India Adams), “High and Low” (orchestral), “Something To Remember You By” (ensemble). [Deleted songs: “Sweet Music” (Levant and Fabray), “You Have Everything” (danced by Astaire, Charisse), “Got a Bran’ New Suit” (Astaire), “Telephone Duet” — originally a segment of the “Girl Hunt Ballet” — (Astaire and Charisse), “Two-Faced Woman” (Charisse dubbed by India Adams), “Alone Together”, “Never Marry a Dancer”]. Background compositions: Main title and “Opening Night Egg” by Conrad Salinger; “Carriage in the Park” by Roger Edens and Conrad Salinger; “Off-Scene Noodles” by Adolph Deutsch; “Oedipus Rex Bridge” by Roger Edens and Alexander Courage. Dances and musical numbers staged by Michael Kidd. Music director: Adolph Deutsch. Orchestrations: Conrad Salinger, Skip Martin, Alexander Courage. Dance assistants: Alex Romero, Pat Denise. Music co-ordinator: Roger Edens.
Copyright 3 July 1953 by Loew’s Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 9 July 1953 (ran 7 weeks). U.S. release: 7 August 1953. U.K. release: 15 February 1954. Australian release: 15 October 1953. 10,088 feet. 112 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A hefty percentage of the musicals produced in Hollywood in the 1930s were of the backstage variety — musicals in which putting on a show provided the major impetus for the plot. Astaire’s first film, Dancing Lady, was one of these, but thereafter, except for The Band Wagon, he avoided them. Although the setting for most of his films is show business in one form or another, almost all of his films are primarily love stories — romances about two people who happen to spend a great deal of time singing and dancing, usually with each other.
It was difficult to develop fully more than one plot line in the Hollywood musicals of Astaire’s era, because the films were short and so much of their time had to be given over to musical numbers. Although most backstage musicals also involve a love story, the putting-on-a-show theme tends to dominate, the love story to become incidental. This happens in The Band Wagon, too, though the script is perhaps slightly more successful than most in giving each plot line its due. In part this is because both revolve around the Astaire character. He plays a washed-up Hollywood hoofer who is trying to make a comeback on Broadway in a new show written for him by his friends, played by Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray. At first the show is a disaster, run by a director (Jack Buchanan) who insists on making it “intellectual.” When it fails, Buchanan willingly turns things over to Astaire, who achieves success by excising the pretentiousness and stressing that the show should be “fun set to music” — to borrow a line from an earlier Comden-Green fable, The Barkleys of Broadway.
— John Mueller.
NOTES: M-G-M production number: 1610.
Shooting from 1 September 1952 through to 28 January 1953, with one day of re-takes on 9 February 1953.
Negative cost: $2,872,581.
Initial worldwide rentals gross: $5,655,505.
One of the top thirty box-office attractions in the U.S./Canada for 1953.
Nominated for three prestigious Hollywood awards: Best Story and Screenplay [Titanic], Best Scoring of a Musical Picture [Call Me Madam], Best Color Costume Design [The Robe].
Number eleven on Bosley Crowther’s New York Times list of the Best Films of 1953.
First movie credits for costume designer Mary Ann Nyberg and set designer Oliver Smith. Second film — Where’s Charley? was first — for choreographer Michael Kidd.
Only screen appearance of famed Broadway musical star Nanette Fabray in a Hollywood musical (although she had previously played in movies in smallish parts as Nanette Fabares, and later returned to Hollywood productions in character roles).
The dance director was Michael Kidd, contributing here to his second film after some ten years of experience in ballet and on Broadway. A choreographer with a predilection for acrobatics and sight gags, Kidd had a sensibility that was quite different from Astaire’s, though the two apparently got along well on the set. Of Astaire’s numbers, Kidd seems to be largely responsible for “Girl Hunt Ballet,” most of “Triplets” and “That’s Entertainment,” parts of “A Shine on Your Shoes,” and perhaps portions of “Dancing in the Dark.”
Most of the main characters in The Band Wagon are based on real people. The writers, played by Fabray and Levant, are based on Comden and Green themselves — though parallels with Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon and with Oscar and June Levant have also been suggested. The flamboyant actor-director-impresario played by Buchanan was, according to Vincente Minnelli, “a cross between Orson Welles, stage designer Norman Bel Geddes and Jose Ferrer, who had at that time done similar pretentious productions.”
There is no ambiguity about the inspiration for the Astaire character — it was Astaire himself.
In her autobiography Charisse mentions a duet with Astaire that was cut. It involved a telephone: “He was at a desk in his office, I was in my apartment. And we had a conversation about making a date, using dance as our means of communicating. No words were spoken, only the way we danced conveyed our meanings. I think that was chopped because it was improperly shot.” The duet was not a separate number but part of “Girl Hunt Ballet”.
— John Mueller.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Adults.
COMMENT: Don’t get me wrong, I like it. Very much. All the same, I do have a few gripes: Minnelli’s direction tends to be over-emphatic. In consequence, his pace is too sluggish. He seems over-concerned that his audience will not get the point of the jokes, so his approach tends to be labored and heavy-handed.
Whilst Cyd Charisse is a marvel when she’s dancing, as an actress she’s often wanting in conviction. An especially bad scene has her crying obviously contrived tears when she’s supposed to be touching not phony. As a straight personality, Cyd is either unintentionally false or too bland. But once she puts on her dancing pumps, watch out!
I’m amazed no other critic has noticed, but Astaire’s potentially charming initial song, “By Myself”, has obviously been cut. There’s even a click on the sound track to indicate this very clumsy excision. A pity. It seemed most promising. And yet there is so much entertainment with a capital “E” crammed into The Band Wagon, what are a few petty complaints?
Superbly rended by Astaire, Fabray and Buchanan, “That’s Entertainment” has now become a theme song. I particularly like its brief reprise right at the very end, where the entire cast including Robert Gist and the chorus girls — plus some of the backers — join in.
Thanks to cameraman Harry Jackson (borrowed from Fox for the occasion) — as well as the presence of newcomers Oliver Smith, Michael Kidd and Mary Ann Nyberg — The Band Wagon often has the look of a Fox film rather than an M-G-M musical.
In all, a grand achievement. Delightful songs, invigorating dance numbers, amusing plot.
OTHER VIEWS: One of the screen’s great musicals — amusing, sophisticated, inventive, tuneful, effervescent and superbly produced! Fred Astaire’s magical dancing was never more fascinating and polished. Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant and James Mitchell give him vigorously enthusiastic support. Minnelli has directed it all with a sure hand (e.g. the show’s initial failure is amusingly captured with shots of stunned first-nighters leaving the auditorium dissolving into a close-up of a large egg; the official show party which only Astaire attends is delightfully contrasted with the party held by the lesser members of the cast culminating in Astaire and Nanette Fabray singing “I Love Louisa”).
— E.V.D.
Although the film was called I Love Louisa whilst in production, the title was changed to The Band Wagon before release. This was the title of a 1931 Arthur Schwartz-Howard Dietz musical comedy, though the film actually utilized songs from five of the team’s shows, plus two new ones, plus the “Girl Hunt Ballet” which was composed by Schwartz (arranged by Roger Edens) and written by Alan Jay Lerner and Vincente Minnelli). It all makes for a joyous musical comedy.
Jack Buchanan is absolutely splendid as the egotistical producer and makes the most of his opportunities — all of which occur, regrettably, in the first and second act. Thereafter, he is overshadowed by the musical numbers, though he does appear in the delightful “Triplets” song.
Fred Astaire fits happily into both comedy and song-and-dance — though his best number. “A Shine On Your Shoes”, is right at the very beginning. This number is absolutely brimming over with vitality and never fails to win a deserved round of applause from any audience.
For some reason, Cyd Charisse is made up and groomed to look like Ava Gardner. This was obviously done quite deliberately. Ava herself is introduced into the movie before we have even spotted Cyd. In her brief appearance, she is cleverly used both as a production asset and to deflate Astaire’s self-esteem. The idea was then doubtless to have the Charisse character modeled upon Gardner in order to heighten the antipathy the Astaire character initially feels towards her. Unfortunately, this transformation, though great in theory, does not work out at all well in practise. A Gardner mantle does not suit Cyd at all. She is simply not the exotically sirenic, super-sexy Ava Gardner type. In fact, the actual personality she displays here comes across as rather neutral and disappointing. On the other hand, the wonderfully zippy team of Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant play screenwriters Adolph Green and Betty Comden to perfection.
The whole film was lensed in the studio. No complaints: The sets are simply stunning. Harry Jackson’s fine color photography looks as crisp and sharp as usual and Minnelli’s direction rates at its most stylish. Altogether, it forms most delightful entertainment.
— John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.
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Red Skelton (Steve Elliott), Esther Williams (Caroline Brooks), Basil Rathbone (George Adams), Jean Porter (Jean Allenwood), Jacqueline Dalya (Maria Dorango), Bill Goodwin (Willis Evans), Donald Meek (Chester Klazenfrantz), Nana Bryant (Dean Clinton), Harry James (Harry), Buddy Moreno (Buddy), Helen Forrest (Helen), Carlos Ramirez (specialty), Ethel Smith (organist), Harry James’ Music Makers, Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra with Lina Romay (themselves), William Hayden (bit), Sarah Edwards (Miss Phillips), Almira Sessions (Miss Kern), Elspeth Dudgeon (Miss Travers), Ann Codee (Mme Zarka, the ballet teacher), Francis Pierlot (Professor Hendricks), Earl Schenck (Professor Nichols), Dorothy Adams (Miss Hanney), Shelby Payne (cigarette girl), Margaret Dumont (Mrs Allenwood), Russell Hicks (Mr Allenwood), Joe Yule (bartender), Janis Paige (Janis), Dorothy Ford (Dorothy), Betty Jaynes, Bevery Tyler, Margaret Adams, and Ann Lundeen (co-eds), Fidel Castro (student).
Director: GEORGE SIDNEY. Screenplay: Dorothy Kingsley, Allen Boretz, Frank Waldman. Adapted by Joseph Schrank from an original story by Kenneth Earl, M. M. Musselman and Curtis Kenyon. Photographed in Technicolor by Harry Stradling. Film editor: Blanche Sewell. Music supervisor/director: Johnny Green. Orchestrations: Ted Duncan, Calvin Jackson, Johnny Thompson. Dance direction: Jack Donohue, Robert Alton. Water ballet: John Murray Anderson. Art directors: Stephen Goosson, Merrill Pye. Set decorations: Edwin B. Willis, McLean Nisbet. Costumes: Irene. Associate costume designer: Kay Dean. Costumes for water ballet: Sharaff. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Technicolor consultant: Natalie Kalmus. Assistant director: George Ryan. Sound technicians: Frank B. MacKenzie, Ralph A. Shugart, William R. Edmundson. Producer: Jack Cummings. Presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Songs: “I Cried for You”, sung by Helen Forrest (Arthur Freed, Gus Arnheim, Abe Lyman), “Bim, Bam, Boom,” by Cugat’s orchestra, Lina Romay on vocal (J. Camacho, Noro Morales), “Tico-Tico,” by organist Ethel Smith (Zequinha Abreu), “Hora Staccato,” belted by James (Grigoras Dinicu, Jascha Heifetz), “I’ll Take the High Note,” rendered by Skelton, James, Porter, Smith, Paige, Ramirez, Forrest, Moreno (Harold Adamson, Johnny Green), “Trumpet Blues and Cantabile,” with James playing his own composition, “Magic Is the Moonlight,” sung by Ramirez (Maria Grever, Charles Pasquale), “By the Waters of Minnetonka,” played by Smith (Thurlow Lieurance, J.M. Cavanass), “Blue Danube Waltz,” rendered by Williams and the water ballet (Strauss), “Loch Lomond,” sung by girls’ chorus (traditional).
Copyright 29 May 1944 by Loew’s Inc. An M-G-M picture. U.S. release: July 1944. New York opening at the Astor: 27 June 1944. Australian release: 8 February 1945. 11 reels. 9,106 feet. 101 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: At a California summer resort Broadway song-writer Steve Elliott falls in love with Victoria College swimming instructress Caroline Brooks. Caroline plans to resign her teaching post and Steve decides to cancel his contract to write songs for producer George Adams’ water pageant. Learning the bad news, Adams tries to break up the marriage by having actress Maria Dorango pose as George’s spouse. Convinced that Steve is a bigamist, Caroline returns to Victoria College. Steve follows and becomes the first male to enroll at the all-girls school, leading to several uproarious incidents. Adams follows the pair to the campus where Steve vows that he will not write another song until his marital mix-up becomes untangled.
NOTES: Number 31 at Australian ticket windows for 1945.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Adults.
COMMENT: Dazzlingly directed Technicolor musical. The comedy scenes come across breezily, but the real joys of the film are the brilliantly staged musical numbers, beautifully photographed in glowing colors by Harry Stradling.
OTHER VIEWS: A piece of junk.
— Basil Rathbone.
Esther Williams’ first swimming spectacle [she had previously appeared in Andy Hardy’s Double Life (1942) and A Guy Named Joe (1943)], established the pattern for the rest of her Metro career. It’s certainly the most colorfully entertaining of the bunch. As she herself said: “All they ever did for me at M-G-M was to change my leading men and the water in the pool.”
— G.A.
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Bing Crosby (himself), Margie Babe Kane (Mary Malone), Dick Stewart (Jerry), Jimmy Eagles, Lincoln Stedman, George Pearce.
Director: LESLIE PEARCE. Story and dialogue: John A. Waldron, Earle Rodney, Harry McCoy, Lew Foster. Photography: Charles P. Boyle, George Unholz. Film editor: William Hornbeck. Art director: Ralph Oberg. Song: “Out of Nowhere” (Crosby) by Edward Heyman and John Green. Sound recording: Paul Guerin, Arthur Blinn. Producer: Mack Sennett. A Mack Sennett Talking Picture.
Copyright 20 March 1932 by Mack Sennett, Inc. Re-copyrighted 28 September 1934 by Educational Films Corporation of America. 1,919 feet. 21 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Bing falls for a girl on an advertising billboard.
NOTES: The fourth of Crosby’s six Educationals. See I Surrender Dear in this volume of Hollywood Classics.
This film is not available for review as we go to press. A critique will be published at a later date. The credit details are included in this volume to give background information on The Road to Hollywood.
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Bing Crosby (Jeff Lambert), Mary Martin (Betty Lou Cobb), Brian Donlevy (Memphis), Jack Teagarden (Pepper), Carolyn Lynn (Aunt Phoebe), Eddie “Rochester” Anderson (Louey), J. Carroll Naish (Blackie), Cecil Kellaway (Granet), Warren Hymer (Limpy), Horace McMahon (Wolf), Ruby Elzy (Ruby), Barbara Pepper (Maizie), Dan Beck (Deek), Harry Barris (Suds), Perry Botkin (Leo), Harry Rosenthal (piano player), Donald Kerr (Skeeter), Minor Watson (Lambert), Ronnie Cosbey (Jeff as a boy), Charles Lane (cinema manager), Mantan Moreland (trumpet player), Roscoe Ates (hack driver), Bert Roach (sleeping man), Victor Potel (beer garden trumpet player), Ernest Whitman (doorman), Pat West (pool hall manager), Guy Wilkerson, Jimmie Lucas (men outside jail), Constantine Romanoff, Harry Wilson (Blackie’s thugs), Bert Moorhouse, Edmund Mortimer (café patrons), Oscar Polk, Jeni Le Gon (prisoners), Sam McDaniel (clarinet player), Jimmie Dundee (Jake).
Director: VICTOR SCHERTZINGER. Screenplay: Harry Tugend, Walter De Leon. Story: Harry Tugend. Photography: William Mellor. Film editor: Paul Weatherwax. Art directors: Hans Dreier and Ernest Fegte. Process photography: Farciot Edouart. Costumes designed by Edith Head. Set decorator: Sam Comer. Set dresser: Stephen Seymour. Make-up: Wally Westmore. Dialogue director: James Vincent. Dialogue coach: Eda Edson. Assistant director: Hal Walker. Sound recording: John Cope and Earl Hayman. Associate producer: Monta Bell. Producer: Buddy De Sylva.
Songs: “The Waiter, the Porter and the Upstairs Maid” (Crosby, Martin, Teagarden) by Johnny Mercer; “St Louis Blues” (Elzy) by W.C. Handy; “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (Crosby) by Gus Edwards (music) and Edward Madden (lyrics); “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” (Crosby, Martin) by Harry von Tilzer (music) and Andrew Sterling (lyrics); “Birth of the Blues” (Crosby) by Ray Henderson, Buddy De Sylva and Lew Brown; “Waiting at the Church” (Martin) by Henry E. Pether (music) and Fred W. Leigh (lyrics); “Memphis Blues” (Crosby) by W.C. Handy (music) and George A. Norton (lyrics); “Tiger Rag” (Crosby), lyrics by Harry DeCosta; “Cuddle Up a Little Closer” (Martin) by Karl Hoschna (music) and Otto Harbach (lyrics); “My Melancholy Baby” (Crosby by Ernie Burnett (music) and George A. Norton (lyrics); “St James Infirmary” (Crosby) by Joe Primrose; “At a Georgia Camp Meeting” by Kerry Mills; “After the Ball” by Charles Harris; “That’s Why They Call me Shine” by Ford Dabney (music) and Cecil Mack (lyrics); “Gotta Go to the Jailhouse”; Paganini’s “Carnival of Venice”; Paderewski’s “Minuet in G”. Music director: Robert Emmett Dolan. Dance director: Eddie Prinz. Music advisor: Arthur Franklin. Clarinet playing for Bing Crosby dubbed by Danny Polo. Cornet playing for Brian Donlevy dubbed by “Pokey” Carriere. Dixieland music arranged by Joe Glover. Music orchestrations: Walter Scharf.
Copyright 7 November 1941 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 10 December 1941. U.S. release: 7 November 1941. Australian release: 17 December 1941. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward, running a disappointing three weeks, supported by Flying Blind. The picture was yanked in favor of Skylark which ran six weeks. Nothing But the Truth followed on 20 February and it ran seven weeks! 10 reels. 7,817 feet. 86 minutes.