Cult Flops - Centennial Summer

20th Century Fox, 1946
Starring Jeanne Crain, Cornel Wilde, Linda Darnell, and William Eythe
Directed by Otto Preminger
Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Jack Yellen

For the next two weeks. we're going to celebrate All-American Weekdays with  morale-boosting wartime revues and tales from American history. Tonight's entry is an example of the latter. This rarity was 20th Century Fox's attempt to capitalize on the overwhelming success of Meet Me In St. Louis two years before with their own tale of upheaval in a typical family during a major event. Let's head to Philadelphia, just in time for the Centennial Exposition of 1876, and see how well they did...

The Story: There's a lot of excitement in the Rodgers family as the Centennial begins. Flighty Aunt Zinnia (Constance Bennett) suddenly arrives from Paris with Philippe Lascalles (Wilde), a handsome young Frenchman who is in charge of the France Pavilion. Julia (Crain), the middle Rodgers sister, can speak some French and insists on helping him set up the Pavilion. Her older sister Edith (Linda Darnell) also goes after Philippe, despite already being engaged to obstetrician Dr. Ben Phelps (Eythe).

The Rodgers sisters aren't the only one who are both after the same man. Zinna obviously flirts with her sister's husband Jesse (Walter Brennan), who was just demoted by his employers at the railroad for spending more time with his innovative clock than at work. Zinna claims she can help promote Jesse and his clock, but Jesse's wife (Dorothy Gish) suspects her sister has more interests than just being helpful.

The Song and Dance: The cast is the thing in this mostly charming family tale. Brennan does especially well in the second half when Jesse is starting to enjoy the attention of the ladies, Bennett has a lot of fun as the flirtatious Zinnia, and Gish isn't bad in one of her few appearances in a musical. The lavish, period-accurate sets and costumes are especially lovely here, ably recreating the City of Brotherly Love during the rapidly-changing late 19th century.

Favorite Number: The Rogers family shares "Up the Lark" as they sing of their delight in getting up early and eating together in their kitchen. "All Through the Day" is an Oscar-nominated ballad performed by singer Larry Stevens at a local club, with a background of then-modern photographic slides. Black singer Avon Long does the adorable dance routine "Cinderella Sue" with a couple of kids at a saloon.

Trivia: This was Jerome Kern's last film. He died before its release; the Oscar nomination was posthumous.

What I Don't Like: The leads aren't nearly as good or as much fun as Judy Garland and Louise Bremer in St. Louis. Crain is the only one who is even remotely interesting. Darnell is a nasty piece of work, saying straight out that she intends to steal a man her sister wants just because she feels like it. Wilde is handsome but obnoxious, and Eythe is so dull, I have no idea why Edith went back to him in the end. Not to mention, all four were dubbed. (Though for some reason, Darnell sings with her own voice on "Up the Lark.") The love triangle between the older folks isn't much more interesting. Zinnia is just as obnoxious as her niece, though at least she's slightly less nasty about it and is genuinely trying to help out. The music is good but not great, especially disappointing for Jerome Kern's last work.

The Big Finale: As lovely as it looks, it's really a pale imitation of Meet Me In St. Louis. Ok if you love that movie or 40's musicals, not necessary for anyone else.

Home Media: The only place you can find this one at press time is YouTube; it's never been on DVD or video.

YouTube