You Can't Run Away From It

Columbia, 1956
Starring June Allyson, Jack Lemmon, Charles Bickford and Jim Backus
Directed by Dick Powell
Music by Gene De Paul; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

The Awful Truth was not the last classic screwball comedy Columbia remade in the 1950's. Three years later, they added music to the Best Picture Oscar-winner It Happened One Night. Is it as charming and hilarious as the original? Let's head over to to a yacht on the ocean and find out...

The Story: Ellie Andrews (Allyson) is mad as a hornet when her father, Texas cattleman AA Andrews (Bickford), kidnaps her and holds her on his yacht. He disapproves of her engagement to a notorious playboy. She dives out the window and flees for the nearest bus station. Meanwhile, unemployed reporter Peter Warne (Lemmon) thinks he's hit on the biggest story of his career. He keeps an eye on her on the bus and poses as her husband when they stop at a hotel. As they travel cross-country, the two begin to realize that they've fallen in love...but Ellie goes home when she realizes what Peter's doing. Trouble is, she's not so eager to be reunited with her husband anymore, and Peter's having second thoughts about that story.

The Song and Dance: This wound up being a bit of a surprise. It's too cute. Lemmon and Allyson may not be the first people you'd think to replace Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, but they actually have a lot of fun as the runaway heiress and the reporter who comes to think of her as a lot more than a headline. As per the original story, it's pretty small-scale for a musical of this time, and the intimacy is charming and rather refreshing.

Favorite Number: Popular musical group of the time The Four Aces harmonize beautifully on the title song over the credits. Stubby Kaye as a chummy sailor joins Lemmon, Allyson and the chorus on the bus for "Howdy Friends and Neighbors." "Temporarily" is Lemmon and Allyson singing about their sheet "Wall of Jericho" and their current relationship in the hotel. Trying to prove that she can have as much fun as the next person, Allyson enjoys cavorting with scarecrows and piles of hay in the Scarecrow Ballet.

Trivia: Apparently, there were at least two more numbers for other characters and a segment of the song "Hitchin' a Ride" that didn't make it into the film. The entire audio for "Hitchin' a Ride" survives on the soundtrack album.

This isn't the first time Columbia remade It Happened One Night. They'd done an earlier version in 1945 with Ann Miller, Eve Knew Her Apples.

What I Don't Like: Not for those looking for a bigger, brassier show. Like Let's Do It Again, this is pretty small-scale, with one major chorus number and fairly quiet songs for the leads. And while it is adorable in it's own right, it's not nearly the triumph that It Happened One Night was - or really Oscar material.

The Big Finale: While not the best adaptation, it does do a better job of adding music to One Night than the more staid Do It Again did with Awful Truth. Worth checking out if you're a fan of the stars or you run into it online or on cable.

Home Media: Until two years ago, the only way you could find this one was in rare showings on TCM. You can currently pick it up as part of that Mill Creek musicals collection (though not in its original widescreen) and on several streaming companies.

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