Family Fun Saturday - Dimples

20th Century Fox, 1936

Starring Shirley Temple, Frank Morgan, Helen Westley, and Robert Kent

Directed by William A. Seiter

Music by Jimmy McHugh; Lyrics by Ted Koehler

Most of Shirley Temple's movies followed the same basic pattern. She's an orphan taken in by lower-class citizens, including a man (usually an older man) she's close to. Her spunky ways charm members of the upper-class, including two younger people who side with her and her relatives. People who think they know better take her away...but she always returns to those she truly loves in the end, as she does in this one. How does this fairly typical example look today to kids with more jaded tastes? To answer that question, we start at the Bowery in 1853 New York, where a street gang performs for the passer-by...including a certain little girl with curls and a big smile...

The Story: Sylvia "Dimples" Appleby (Temple) loves dancing with her friends for pennies, but wishes her grandfather Professor Eustace (Morgan) would give up pickpocketing. She, her friends, and her grandfather are hired to play for a wealthy family at Washington Square Park. Mrs. Caroline Drew (Wesley) is taken with Dimples and asks her to live there, but she insists on staying with her grandfather.

Mrs. Drew's nephew Allen (Kent) shocks his fiancée Betty Loring (Delma Byron) and her stuffy father Colonel Loring (Burton Churchill) by becoming a stage producer. His first show is Uncle Tom's Cabin, with Dimples as Little Eva. The Professor gets into trouble by using Allen's money to buy a supposedly "antique" watch, which he can barely get a few dollars for at the pawn shop. Dimples agrees to live with Mrs. Drew so her grandfather will get the money and stay out of jail, but she's not happy away from him. 

The Song and Dance: Frank Morgan proved a formidable adversary for Shirley off-screen, being one of the only actors in any of her movies as prone to scene-stealing as she is. For all the problems, they do work well together and are believable as grandfather and adoring granddaughter. The other thing I like here is the unique setting. I don't know too many other family movies set in New York in the years prior to the Civil War; the kid gangs who roved the streets of the city then are even part of the plot. 

Favorite Number: Shirley kicks off the movies performing two really cute numbers with the street kids. "Hey, What Did the Blue-Jay Say?" is her big solo; talented young African-American dancers Jesse Scott and Thurman Black join her for "He Was a Dandy." She wistfully performs "Picture Me Without You" to her grandfather when she's leaving to live with Mrs. Drew.

What I Don't Like: This may be one of the most typical of Temple's films. Every melodramatic cliché is here, from an old man in unfortunate circumstances to the disapproving high society folks to her being torn away from her guardian, only to suddenly return to him. That the film hinges on a performance of the now-controversial Uncle Tom's Cabin doesn't help. Almost the entire final 20 minutes feature more than half the cast in very obvious blackface, including Morgan, that may be considered horribly offensive today. 

The "Dixieanna" minstrel show number does show off snazzy choreography for Temple by none other than Bill Robinson...but it's also awash in blackface, including on actual African-American actor Stephin Fetchit. That the few real black actors in the film play servants (including Fetchit) is historically accurate to the time and place, but may rub many people the wrong way today.

The Big Finale: I'm afraid that dated finale and the ridiculous melodrama makes this one of Temple's lesser vehicles. Only if you're a huge fan of hers or Morgan's. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Tom Thumb

MGM, 1958

Starring Russ Tambyn, Alan Young, Terry-Thomas, and Peter Sellars

Directed by George Pal

Music and Lyrics by various

Our second musical fairy tale of the week takes us into middle Europe for this retelling of a Grimm's story. George Pal, best known for his "Puppetoons" shorts featuring stop-motion puppets performing fairy tales, wanted to do this movie since the mid-40's. He went through several studios and leads before finally settling on acrobat Tambyn. MGM hoped to build him into a major star after he received excellent notices as the youngest of the brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. How does this funny and sweet fantasy look today? Let's begin in the Enchanted Forest, as woodcutter Johnathan (Bernard Miles) is about to cut down a very old tree, and find out...

The Story: The Forest Queen (June Thornburn) implores him to spare the oldest tree in the woods. After he finally relents, she offers him three wishes. He and his wife Anne (Jessie Matthews) initially squander the wishes on a sausage before Anne despairs that they'll never have a child of their own. Why, she'd love any child, even one no bigger than her thumb! The queen does grant them their wish when a tiny boy (Tambyn) turns up on their doorstep. Anne names him Tom and brings him among the toys they intended for a child of their own.

Tom convinces his father to let their friend Woody (Alan Young) take him to the carnival. He flies away on a balloon and lands in the hands of thieves Ivan (Terry-Thomas) and Antony (Sellars) who want to steal gold from a nearby castle. Tom's able to squeeze through the bars and get it for them. They give him a gold coin, which he accidentally drops in his mother's bread batter. Unfortunately, local soldiers taste the bread, bite into the coin, are convinced his parents stole the gold. It's up to Tom and Woody to capture the thieves themselves, before they can get away with the loot.

The Song and Dance: Adorable fairy tale is a bit simpler and easier to take than Pal's later Cinerama fantasy epic The Wonderful World of the Brother's Grimm. Energetic Tambyn is having a lot more fun here, especially in his numbers with the Puppetoon toys and the dancing wooden shoes. British musical stars Matthews and Miles are sweet and believable as an old married couple longing for a child, and Sellars and Terry-Thomas are hilarious as the bumbling burglars who think they have the perfect ally in Tom. Delightful Technicolor production really brings the fantasy world to life, especially in town during the carnival and in Tom's room with all those stop-motion puppet toys. 

Favorite Number: Anne gets a touching ballad as she sings to Johnathan about her longing for a child, "After All These Years." "Tom Thumb's Tune" lets Tambyn show off his amazing acrobatic abilities as he leaps and swings around giant toys, brushes, and pens in his bedroom. He even dances with an animated drawing version of himself at one point. Stop-motion "Talented Shoes" dance by themselves at the carnival, to the delight of the crowd...and then Tom dances along in his own smaller pair. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, while Tambyn's acrobatic feats are amazing, the songs themselves really aren't that memorable. Alan Young as Tom's amiable human friend doesn't come off as much more than bland and a bit silly; his pursuit of the Forest Queen is filler and the reason for a dull ballad. Several of the toys, especially the roly-poly Chinese Con-Fu-Shon and the black caricature doll, are designed as weird stereotypes that may be more offensive than cute nowadays; some of the other toys are more creepy than they are funny. 

The Big Finale: Fairy tale fans, or families with kids who love fairy tales, will want to look around for this very fun tale of the little boy with the big adventures. 

Home Media: On DVD and streaming, the former currently from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - Kismet (1955)

MGM, 1955

Starring Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Vic Damone, and Dolores Gray

Directed by Vincent Minelli

Music by Aleksander Borodin; Lyrics by Bob Wright and Chet Forest 

Wright and Forest's romantic adaptation of the 1911 play was a huge hit on Broadway in 1953. Having had luck turning Scandinavian composter Grieg's music into the operetta Song of Norway, they turned to the more exotic music of Borodin for this Arabian Nights-style fable. MGM already owned the play and almost as soon as the show ended its run, set out to film its musical version as well. How does this tale of lovers and poets who find their fortunes in the course of one fateful day look now? Let's begin in ancient Baghdad, where a poor Poet (Keel) is going about his day, and find out..

The Story: The Poet goes on to have one of the longest days in the history of the universe. First, he's kidnapped by a man named Jawan (Jay C. Flippen) who insists he put a curse on him that caused his son to be stolen. The Poet's given gold coins for removing the curse, but is arrested by the Wazir's (Sebastian Cabot) men. The Wazir is about to sentence the Poet, but then Jawan reveals whom he really is. He ends up making the Poet one of his men instead. The Poet schemes with the Wazir's bored wife Lalume (Gray) to make up an elaborate curse-reversal scheme...and meanwhile discover they're attracted to each other. 

Elsewhere, the Poet's daughter Marsinah (Blyth) falls for the handsome Calliph (Damone), believing him to be the gardener's son. The Calliph declares that he plans to marry a bride that night...to the dismay of the Wazir, who needs him to marry the princess of a neighboring country in order to secure a loan. The Poet tries to get Marsinah out of town, but Lalume hides her in the palace instead. Now the Poet has to figure out how to save them all, before the Wazir figures out he's no more a magician than he is an honest man.

The Song and Dance: If you love Arabian Knights spectacles, you'll really get a kick out of this one. Keel puts in one of his best performances as the hammy, cunning beggar who seizes the opportunity to get him and his daughter out of the gutter, and Gray and her belting more than match him. Cabot's having a good time as the scheming Wazir too. Cole's unusual stylized choreography fits far better in this colorful setting than it did in the biography The I Don't Care Girl, with him redoing several of his ballets from the Broadway show. 

Favorite Number:  We open with the Poet singing in the crowds what "Fate" has in store for him and for all of them if they buy his rhymes. One of the ballets is staged to "Not Since Ninevah" as six slaves perform a lively dance in the market with Lalume. "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" was one of the big hits; Blyth gets it here as the market sellers press Marsinah with beautiful jewels and fabrics. "Stranger In Paradise" is the soaring hit duet for the Calliph and Marsinah as they declare their love for each other in the garden. We get another ballet with the princesses and slaves, this time to "Night of My Nights" as the Calliph declares he's to wed. "And This Is My Beloved" has Marsinah trying to explain her newfound love to her father, while the Calliph dreams of his beautiful missing bride. 

Trivia: Yes, that was Jamie Farr, better known as Corporal Klinger from the TV sitcom MASH, selling oranges in the marketplace and whom the Poet holds down and calls "the father of none and the son of many." Future TV producer Aaron Spelling also turns up as a beggar.  

The original Kismet was a surprise hit in 1953, running for over a year and going over equally well in London. It was revived with an all-black cast as Timbuktu in 1978, with Eartha Kitt in the Lalume role. It hasn't been seen on Broadway outside of Encores concerts since, but it did turn up as recently as 2007 in England. 

What I Don't Like: Wish they hadn't lost several songs from the original show. The Wazir's comic number "Was I Wazir?" may have been a bit too dark for the movie, with its gristly descriptions of the Wazir's conquests and tortures...but why cut Lalume's part of "And This Is My Beloved?" It's not quite as charming done with three singers. Blyth's all right as gentle Marsinah, but Damone is completely out of his element as the Calliph. He doesn't sound like a ruler. He sounds like the crooner he is. 

It's also obvious Vincent Minelli wasn't interested in Arabian Knights fantasies. The crowd shots in particular look much skimpier than they should, while others come off as less "Arabian fable" than "high school production of Aladdin in Technicolor." 

The Big Finale: Fans of operetta, Keel, or Aladdin-style Arabian swashbucklers will want to throw themselves to fate and give this one a look.

Home Media: On streaming and disc, the latter from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Family Fun Saturday - The Happiest Millionaire

Disney, 1967

Starring Fred MacMurray, Leslie Ann Warren, John Davidson, and Tommy Steele

Directed by Norman Tokar

Music and Lyrics by Richard and Robert Sherman

This started life as a non-musical play in 1956, based after the autobiography My Philadelphia Father by the real Cordelia Biddle. Disney bought it in the early 60's, but had no intention of adding songs until the success of his own Mary Poppins in 1964 and The Sound of Music a year later made epic family musicals all the rage. How does this more domestic tale fare? Let's start in Philadelphia as Irish immigrant John Lawless (Steele) searches for employment in 1916 and find out...

The Story: Lawless takes the job as butler to the wealthy but eccentric Biddles. Patriarch Anthony Drexel Biddle (MacMurray) runs his own boxing and bible class in the stable, keeps pet alligators in the conservatory, and is a major advocate for the US entering World War I. His daughter Cordelia Biddle (Warren) was educated and raised at home, but is tired of being a tomboy and knowing about nothing but boxing, bibles, and alligators. She and her stuffy Aunt Mary (Gladys Cooper) convinces Biddle that she'd be better off at a girl's boarding school. 

While at a school dance, she falls for handsome Angier Buchanon Duke (Davidson). Angie wants nothing more than to get involved in designing cars in Detroit, but their parents would rather turn their wedding into the social event of the season. When Angie gets fed up and walks out, John takes it on himself to make sure the couple comes together, and their parents understand how important it is for the younger generation to follow their own dreams.

The Song and Dance: Definitely one of the stranger Disney live-action musicals. It's more like a long sitcom set in the early 20th century than a typical musical. Warren and Davidsonmake a charming couple, especially while riding in his shiny new automobile mid-way through. Steele's a lot easier to take as a robust Irish servant than he was as a leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow a year later. He has some nice bits in the beginning and end of the film, especially his dealing with the alligators and his speeches directly to the camera. (Look for the sequence where Biddle catches his fourth-wall-breaking and has no idea what's going on.) 

Favorite Number: We kick off with John Lawless explaining why "Fortuosity" brought him to Philadelphia and the Biddles, in a jaunty number he reprises several times. Cordy admits her confusion about whether she prefers "Valentine Candy" or boxing and bibles. John tells the Biddles and cook Mrs. Worth (Hermoine Badderly) why "I'll Always Be Irish" and still appreciate his new home country as he teaches the trio a delightful jig. Cordy's roommate at school (Joyce Bulifant) claims that the dashing Vamp number "Bye Yum Pum Pum" is all the rage. 

"Are We Dancing?" is Cordy and Ange's big duet at the dance, as they waltz on the patio and fall in love. "There are Those" claims Aunt Mary and Angie's snobbish southern belle mother (Geraldine Page) as they priggishly compare Philadelphia and New York society. "Let's Take a Drink on It" John tells Angie as his attempts to keep him drinking at a local bar turns into a huge barroom dance number, and then into a brawl.

Trivia: Leslie Ann Warren's film debut. 

The last live-action film Walt Disney personally oversaw. He died shortly after the first cut was completed.

What I Don't Like: This little father-daughter story was never meant to be a big epic musical. Cordy has two brothers who sing to her beau early-on about how she's punched other boys who took her out to scare him off. They do their number and are never heard from again. Likewise, Cordy's pal Rosemary teaches her "Bye Yum Pum Pum" and vanishes after the school dance. They should have focused on Biddle and his odd ideas or Cordy and her romance, not both. There's no real conflict or challenges until mid-way through, and most of them, like Cordy going to school, are settled much too quickly. 

The Big Finale: Too long and unfocused to be for anyone but the most ardent Disney, Steele, or Sherman Brothers enthusiasts. Look up some of the better songs and skip the rest. 

Home Media: Easily available on DVD and streaming; it debuted on Disney Plus last month. 

DVD

Disney Plus 

Thank Your Lucky Stars

Warner Bros, 1943

Starring Dennis Morgan, Eddie Cantor, Joan Leslie, and SZ Sakall

Directed by David Butler

Music by Arthur Schwartz; Lyrics by Frank Loesseur

This was the first Warners contribution to the "all-star musical semi-revue" genre. We've already seen their second, Hollywood Canteen, but this one gets away from the servicemen to focus on the studio and its star roster. In the 30's and 40's, Warners specialized in action and adventures, thrillers, gangster films, and the occasional wise-guy comedy. Busby Berkeley moved to MGM in 1939...and his kaleidoscopic fever dreams gave way to more typical backstage shenanigans, without the major talent of musicals at other studios of the time. How did Warners get around this? By bringing in their dramatic stars as well. Let's start with Dinah Shore on the real-life Eddie Cantor radio show to see how well they did with integrating their tough guys and gals into a patriotic revue...

The Story: Theater producers Dr. Schlenna (Sakall) and Mr. Farnsworth (Edward Everett Horton) want Dinah Shore to appear in their big theater revue for the troops, but she's under contract to Eddie Cantor and he won't let her appear without him. Cantor, however, has a reputation for taking over any production he appears in...and proceeds to do just that, shutting out the producers and drilling everyone until they're ready to throttle him. 

Meanwhile, aspiring songwriter Pat Dixon (Leslie) falls in with singer Tommy Randolph (Morgan) and dramatic actor Joe Simpson (Cantor). Simpson is a dead ringer for Cantor and can't get an acting job because everyone expects comedy from him. Randolph wants to be on Cantor's show, and then in the revue, but Cantor's beefy flunky Olaf (Mike Mazurki) throws him out. Pat finally comes up with the idea to replace Cantor with Joe and allow the show to go on, with a vast array of Warners stars.

The Song and Dance: Warners keeps surprising me with their musicals of late. This one was a lot cuter and funnier than I expected.Warners has a field day making fun of Cantor's image as a hilarious and yet hard-nosed and egotistical ham. He has a great sequence in a sanitarium when they nearly remove part of his brain. Leslie and Morgan also have a lot of fun as the duo who do most of the scheming...and I appreciate that Pat comes up with most of the schemes and it's the guys following her wild ideas, rather than the other way around. 

I also like how Warners gets around most of their star roster not being musically inclined and find ways for them to stay in character and appear in the show. Errol Flynn and Bette Davis are the winners here, but Humphrey Bogart gets a great bit where Sakall manages to intimidate him. 

Favorite Number: John Garfield spoofs his image as the resident Warners young and tragic hoodlum with his attempted rendition of "Blues In the Night." Cantor tells his unimpressed staff and the producers how "We're Staying Home Tonight" with his baby due to wartime restrictions. Comic orchestra Spike Jones and His City Slickers liven up Gower Gulch with the wacky "Ridin' For a Fall." Alan Hale Sr. and Jack Carson are vaudevillians who claim "I'm Goin' North," no matter how bad the weather is. We hear "The Dreamer" twice, first with Shore as a farm girl lamenting she's missing her sweetheart, later from George Tobias with Olivia DeHaviland and Ida Lupino dressed as 40's hipsters in striped swingy dresses and a scaled-down zoot suit. Leslie and Morgan get an entire restaurant to understand why there's "No You, No Me." Hattie McDaniel and a host of chic Harlem residents encourage "Ice Cold Katie" to marry the handsome soldier courting her in another big number.

Ironically, the biggest hits came from the stars with no musical talent at all. Errol Flynn sings pretty well and sounds like he's having the time of his life telling a pack of Brits in a pub "That's What You Jolly Well Get" when you've lead a life of wild adventure like he has. The standard here is "They're Either Too Young Or Too Old," performed by, of all people, Bette Davis as a woman who is very tired of men her age having gone off to war. Davis basically talks through the number, but the song is so good and the boys and old guys she dances with are so funny, it hardly matters.

What I Don't Like: For most people nowadays, Eddie Cantor is an acquired taste at best...and there's a lot of him in this movie. If you don't like him or his style of manic slapstick, you probably won't enjoy this. Also, while the plot is less overtly patriotic and goofier than Hollywood Canteen or This Is the Army, it's still pretty thin. We never even get to hear the sentimental ballad Pat's trying so hard to push to the studios in the early part of the movie. Some folks might be more offended by the Native Americans who grab the real Cantor to get him out of the show mid-way through, but like everything else, they're played for comedy and acknowledge the stereotypes. 

The Big Finale: This is probably my favorite of the three movies on that Warners Homefront Collection DVD set. Hilarious and filled with unique performances you won't see anywhere else, this is recommended for major fans of Cantor, World War II, or 40's musicals.

Home Media: Currently disc-only; the Blu-Ray is from the Warners Archive. 

DVD

DVD - The Warners Homefront Collection

Blu Ray

Orchestra Wives

20th Century Fox, 1942

Starring George Montgomery, Ann Rutherford, Lynn Bari, and Glenn Miller and His Orchestra

Directed by Archie Mayo

Music by Mack Gordon; Lyrics by Harry Warren

Big Band music reached its zenith during the late 30's and 40's, when bands like Glenn Miller's and Benny Goodman's toured the country. Their albums sold in the millions; their dance concerts raked in big bucks and lifted spirits during some of the most difficult times in the mid-20th century. Leaders of major orchestras were celebrities in their own rights, appearing on film and in their own radio shows. Most big band orchestras tended to be limited to specialties in bigger musicals, or heading fluffy B pictures. This is a rare A movie where the big band is front and center. How does this look at the world of one woman who marries a musician in a popular orchestra look nowadays? Let's start in New York, as Gene Morrison (Miller) and his boys rehearse "Chattanooga Choo Choo," and find out...

The Story: Connie Ward (Rutherford) is a huge fan of Gene Morrison and His Orchestra. Her boyfriend (Harry Morgan) takes her to a concert, and she's in seventh heaven when skirt-chasing trumpet player Bill Abbott (Montgomery) flirts with her. After a second concert, they jump into a hasty marriage before he has to go on tour with the band. The other wives traveling with them do their best to make life difficult for the newcomer, throwing out catty gossip about Bill chasing women. 

When she catches Bill with singer Jaymie Stevens (Lynn Bari), she finally leaves him and tell the other women flat-out that they're being obnoxious. That, however, makes the other band members realize they're neglecting their women, and the band splits. It's up to Connie, Gene, and pianist St. John (Caesar Romero) to reunite the group and patch up hurt feelings.

The Song and Dance: This is an unusual movie in many respects. Musical dramas were extremely rare in the early days of World War II. Though stage shows started to experiment at this point, most film musicals were made to be escapist fluff. This one has a bit more bite in it. It's more interesting during the second half, when we see the band travel and perform and get to hear some terrific numbers, including the Oscar-nominated smash "I've Got a Gal In Kalamazoo." Montgomery and Rutherford aren't bad as the slick musician and the small-town girl who jump into marriage without considering the ramifications or responsibilities. Carole Landis is another stand-out as the nastiest of the wives, while Lynn Bari is appropriately snarky and slinky as the band's glamorous singer. 

Favorite Number: Along with "Kalamazoo," the big hit here was the ballad "At Last," which is sung by Ray Eberele and Pat Friday (dubbing Lynn Bari) during the second concert. Though better-known for soul singer Etta James' rendition twenty years later, this one is a little faster (to the point where you don't catch all the lyrics), but still lovely. Friday also gets the other major ballad "Serenade In Blue" towards the end, when Connie and Bill are having problems. 

Of course, the smash was "I've Got a Gal In Kalamazoo." It became one of Miller's most popular songs, and it gets a routine worthy of it, too. After Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, and the Modernaires give the song an enjoyably relaxed work-out, the Nicholas Brothers tap up a storm with an incredible dance routine full of their trademark splits and fast footwork.

Trivia: In addition to Bari being dubbed, actual Glenn Miller trumpeter Johnny Best did Montgomery's playing, and pianist Crummy McGregor dubbed Romero. 

Film debut of later cowgirl Dale Evans as one of Connie's buddies. Look for a young Jackie Gleason as another member of the orchestra. 

"At Last" was recorded for Sun Valley Serenade, but held over for this movie. 

"Kalamazoo" was nominated for an Oscar. 

What I Don't Like: As much as I commend 20th Century Fox for trying something different, the story is bogged down by annoying and overwrought melodrama. It get so ridiculous that when Connie laughs bitterly at the other wives fighting each other after they're told their husbands are straying, too, you have to laugh right along with her. The whole plot with the band breaking up just because their wives whined about them leaving home is too much.

This is also pretty small-scale for a musical of this time period, and in black and white to boot. Obviously, this isn't for someone looking for a bright, fluffy romance or a bigger, bolder show. 

The Big Finale: Fans of Miller, big band music, the Nicholas Brothers, or the cast will want to hit the road and take a look around for this one.

Home Media: Alas, out of print and expensive on DVD. You may be better off looking for this one used or catching it in an occasional appearance on TCM.

DVD

Animation Celebration Saturday - Animalympics

Listberger Studios/NBC, 1980

Voices of Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal, Harry Shearer, and Michael Fremer

Directed by Steven Listberger

Music and Lyrics by Graham Gouldman

This rare film had a long and convoluted road to the big screen. Listberger first came up with the idea in 1976 after being inspired by the hype surrounding the Olympic Games that year. He initially made a seven-minute short; after that went over well, NBC asked him to expand it into two half-hour specials for the 1980 Olympics. The Winter Olympics segment aired as planned, but the Summer special ended up scrapped when the US boycotted the Summer Games from Moscow. Still hoping to get more of an audience for the segments, he finally edited the two parts together to make this film. How does this spoof of Olympic glory and sports celebrity look today? To answer that question, we follow four animal athletes bearing the torch to the lost island of Atlantis to watch the games begin. 

The Story: It's guts, glory, and flying fur as sports network ZOO brings us coverage of the first ever Animalympics. This mélange of winter and summer sports showcases some truly bizarre athletes from every continent in the world and "Eurasia" (aka Russia). Between events ranging from soccer to volleyball to figure skating and weightlifting, we mainly focus on three "main" stories that carry throughout the film:

African lioness Kit Mambo and European goat Rene Fromage are the favorites to win the marathon. They're neck and neck for almost the entire race...but no one knows what to do when they fall in love...

European Weiner dog skiing star Kurt Wuffner wins the slalom event, only to vanish mysteriously in the mountains before the big downhill event. 

American alligator high-jumper and sprinter Bolt Jenkins literally clawed his way out of the New York sewers to become a major track star. He reveals a keen sense of fair play as well when he protests the results of the 100 Yard Dash.

The Animation: Surprisingly good for an independent animated film originally intended to be two TV specials. Listberger went on to do the groundbreaking computer animation for the first Tron film; it shows in the incredible opening logo, with its satellites and muscular man who somewhat resembles Tron himself. There's a few too many static shots of non-moving artwork for their own good, but they make up for that with some wonderful work on the designs of the animals. You have no trouble telling what each critter is supposed to be and how they manage to play their respective sport. The movement in particular is quite well done.

The Song and Dance: I've loved this film since I saw it during frequent runs on HBO and Showtime in the mid-late 80's. The real highlight is the hilariously satirical script, played to the hilt by four talented comedians and voice actors. Each animal has such a distinct voice and character, you'd never realize the cast is so small if you didn't read the credits. Everything is true-to-life of sports broadcasts in the early 80's, from the flashy early CGI titles announcing each event to the puff-piece interviews to the dead-on spoofs of sports celebrities, endorsements, and rivalries (some of which exist to this day). Gouldman provided a memorable soundtrack, too, one that's lingered in my mind for years afterwards.

Favorite Number: "Born to Lose" is Bolt's number, showing how he went from a poor sewer dweller destined to be a hand bag to a beloved track star. "We've Made It to the Top" is the montage mid-way through depicting fierce competition in many smaller track events (along with cycling and an especially violent field hockey game). "Go For It," the disco dance routine at the Ark nightclub, spoofs Saturday Night Fever and other disco movies by showing the animals we've seen to this point happily carousing and letting off steam. 

"Away From It All" is the gorgeous ballad performed over the sequence that depicts what happened to Kurt Wuffner after he vanished, and how he loved and lost the female dog of his dreams. "Underwater Fantasy" gets more than a little surreal as we see what happens when Dean Wilson dives and really goes "into his own world." Kit and Rene have two ballads showing Rene's initial resistance to love, and their eventual coming together, "Love's Not For Me" and "With You I Could Run Forever." 

Trivia: Though the movie was shown theatrically in Europe and elsewhere, it went straight to cable in the US in 1984. It proved so popular in its frequent airings on HBO, Showtime, and later The Disney Channel, it's now considered a cult classic. 

Many of the animators involved in this film went on to far bigger projects in the 90's and 2000's. Brad Bird became a frequent Pixar director, including on The Incredibles and Ratatouille, and Roger Ailliers was one of the directors on The Lion King. 

Dean Wilson was named for surf rock musicians Jan Dean and Brian Wilson. 

What I Don't Like: The episodic structure makes it pretty obvious this wasn't originally intended to be a feature-length film. The movie lurches from sport to sport and from segment to segment with no rhyme or reason. Those frequent static pictures also reminds us that, while relatively high-budget for something initially made for TV, this is still lower-budget than the offerings from Disney or Don Bluth later in the decade. There's also a surprising amount of mature material and gags, from some of the hook-ups at the disco to Dean Wilson's assessment that Kit and Rene are going to go "all the way," along with several weight and stereotypes jokes that may not sit well with some folks today. 

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of the real-life Olympics, animation from the 80's and 90's, or other animated animal tales like Zootopia, you'll want to sprint to Animalympics Island and track this one down.

Home Media: It finally came out on DVD in the US in 2018 and can be found easily on streaming as well.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Blue Hawaii

Paramount, 1961

Starring Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman, Angela Lansbury, and Nancy Walters

Directed by Norman Taurog

Music and Lyrics by various

Vegas wasn't the only exotic vacation spot Elvis visited in his 50's and 60's vehicles. Hawaii and Hawaiian culture became a cornerstone of all things fashionable in the mid-20th century, especially after Hawaii was ratified as the 50th state. Tiki bars like Don the Beachcomber's and companies specializing in Hawaiian luaus and tropical parties sprouted across the country. Suburbanites bought rattan furniture, ship's wheels, and massive overhanging potted palms and dreamed of living in their own warm sunny paradise. TV shows like Hawaii 5-0 and movies like this one gave those who couldn't afford the cross-country trip a glimpse of tropical paradise. How does Elvis' first Hawaiian movie look nowadays? Let's start at the Honolulu International Airport as Chad Gates returns home from the Army and find out...

The Story: Chad is glad to be back in Hawaii, surfing with his friends and spending time with his girl Maile (Blackman).  His father Fred Gates (Roland Winters) and flighty southern belle mother Sarah Lee (Landsbury) wish he'd take over the family's Great Southern Hawaiian Fruit Company, but he has no interest in following in his father's footsteps. He takes a job as a tour guide for the agency where Maile works. 

His first assignment is to squire teacher Abigail Prentice (Walters) and her five teenage girl charges around the islands. Abigail and her girls are utterly thrilled by the luaus and pineapple picking, except for bored and spoiled Ellie (Jenny Maxwell). She throws herself at a tourist during a luau. After Chad moves in to defend her, the ensuing riot costs him his job. His parents still want him to return, but he wants to find independence. Abigail and her students may have the answer. With the help of Fred Gates' more laid-back business buddy Jack (John Archer), they finally find a way for Chad to have a life of his own, in his own way.

The Song and Dance: This was a lot better than I expected it to be. Once again, having a veteran director who knew how to handle fluffy musical vehicles made all the difference. Taurog spent his career directing similar musical romances for Bing Crosby and Lewis and Martin and ended it doing the majority of Elvis' Paramount films. The cinematography is absolutely stunning, showing off the lush tropical beauty of Hawaii in all its Technicolor widescreen glory. Love the references to real Hawaiian traditions and ceremonies and the fidelity to its culture, including the lavish wedding ceremony in the finale.

Favorite Number: We kick off with Chad singing to Maile how he's "Almost Always True" as she needles him about all the girls he must have met in the Army on their way back from the airport. "Rock-a-Hula Baby" is his big number at his parents' swank party, as he and his band buddies mix Hawaiian hula culture with the emerging rock culture. He makes the girls and Abigail swoon by crooning about how they can take a "Moonlight Swim." "Ito Eats" is a very funny number at the aborted luau about Chad's overweight, always-eating buddy, which goes straight into the big chorus dance routine "Slicin' Sand." Chad's singing the "Beach Boy Blues" when he and his buddies land in jail after touching off the riot at the luau. 

The big one here is one of the King's most enduring hits. He sings the simple but gorgeous ballad "Can't Help Falling In Love" to Maile's grandmother after he gives her a music box he brought back from Austria. It may not be flashy, but it's so lovely and sweet, you can understand why she appreciated it so much.

Trivia: Alas, the historic Coco Palms Resort, where the "Hawaiian Love Song" number and hotel scenes were filmed, was damaged badly in Hurricane Iniki in 1992 and abandoned; as of June 30th, it's scheduled to be demolished. 

Angela Lansbury and Nancy Walters were only about 10 years older than Elvis.

The film and soundtracks of Blue Hawaii were the biggest hits in Elvis' career. 

What I Don't Like: For all her chemistry with Elvis, Blackman can't match his overwhelming laid-back charisma in front of a camera. She's dull as dishwater in a thankless role. The dark makeup she wears only makes her look that much more fake around the real Hawaiians in the cast. Lansbury's equally fake Southern dithering can be as annoying to the audience as it is to Chad, especially when she's going on and on about how her little boy is doing naughty things and treating a 30-some-year-old man like he's five. (Not to mention, she doesn't get to sing or even join in on the chorus numbers.) And no matter how much she deserved it, Chad chastising Ellie's obnoxious behavior by giving her a spanking may be just as disturbing for some members of the audience nowadays as it is for her.

The Big Finale:  Another good "starter" Elvis film, especially as it features one of his most enduring hits. Recommended for lovers of the Pineapple State, the King, or 60's musicals.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD (often for under five dollars) and on Paramount Plus with a subscription.

DVD

Paramount Plus

Viva Las Vegas

MGM, 1964

Starring Elvis Presley, Ann-Margaret, William Demarest, and Ceasare Danova

Directed by George Sidney

Music and Lyrics by various

Normally, I'm not the biggest fan of Elvis or his films. I do like some of his songs, but he often came off as smarmy onscreen, or the movies were too bland or silly and not worthy of his talents. This week, I'm going to give the King of Rock a re-evaluation with two of his best-known musicals. The King was still on top in the mid-60's, with this one actually outperforming the Beatles' Hard Day's Night at the US box office and Elvis shattering records with his performances at the real Vegas. Does it still deserve the adulation nowadays? Let's head to the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas as the drivers of the Grand Prix and find out...

The Story: Lucky Jackson (Presley) needs a new engine for his beloved custom race car. He does manage to get the money working as a waiter, then loses it when Rusty Martin (Ann-Margaret), the pretty swimming teacher he has his eye on, shoves him in the pool. He does strike up a romance with her, but that dissolves when it turns out she wants marriage and he's more interested in his car. He first joins a talent contest to get the money...but she does, too. Doesn't help that his racing rival, Count Elmo Mancini (Danova), is also interested in Rusty. In the end, Rusty comes to realize how much racing means to Lucky...and he gets a new appreciation of her, too.

The Song and Dance: This is one of the only Elvis movies I ever really liked. Most of the leading ladies in his films tend to pale besides him. Ann-Margaret more than matches his charisma and cool, to the point where they dated for a while during filming. It's also one of his only movies to feel like it could be an MGM musical of a decade before. Having musical-veteran Sidney at the helm may have caused some headaches with the budget, but it also did wonders for the film's tone. There's some fabulous numbers here, including the hit title song that continues to be associated with Vegas and Elvis to this day, and gorgeous widescreen cinematography showing off neon-lit Vegas and the Nevada desert. Look for William Demerest getting some hilarious lines in as Rusty's crusty father. 

Favorite Number: Elvis leads a group of cowboys in a bar where he's looking for Rusty through the Lone Star State standards "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and "The Eyes of Texas," managing to get them out for a grateful manager. "The Lady Loves Me" says Lucky with his guitar...but Rusty doesn't agree in this hilarious duel of wits performed around the Flamingo's pool. Surrounded by loving couples in the Flamingo's bar after Rusty gets angry and walks out, Lucky finally admits in a shadowy number that "I Need Someone to Lean On." Rusty gets a red-hot stripper number under a white mink coat in the hope that someone will show "Appreciation" at the talent show, while Elvis joins a line of Vegas feathered chorus girls for the catchy title song. Rusty, fed up with playing second fiddle to an automobile while making a picnic lunch for her and Lucky, sings about how "My Rival" is a curvy, shiny car.

What I Don't Like: Some aspects of the story haven't dated well. I wish Rusty hadn't caved in so quickly to Lucky's charms. That "Lady Loves Me" number is just so funny, and sets up Rusty as a far tougher character than she proves to be later. Her obsession with marriage was still considered typical for most women then, but may seem a little too hasty or needy to some folks nowadays. There's also the fact that, while not as fluffy as some other Elvis vehicles, this isn't the strongest story in the world. The second half in particular loses slight momentum once Rusty changes dates and Lucky starts focusing on getting that engine.

The Big Finale: If you want to see an Elvis movie, this or Jailhouse Rock are probably the best places to start. A top cast, terrific production, and great music makes it one of, if not the best of his movies. Highly recommended. 

Home Media: As one of the most popular Elvis films, it's easily available in all formats. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - James and the Giant Peach

Disney, 1996

Voices of Paul Terry, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, and Jane Leeves

Directed by Henry Sellick

Music by Randy Newman; Lyrics by Randy Newman and Roald Dahl

After the success of The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993, director Sellick looked into other properties that could be done as stop-motion. The book was suggested as a possible animated film in the early 80's, but Disney didn't actually buy the rights until 1992. Sellick tossed around doing it as live-action, then all stop-motion, before finally hitting on a blending of the two. How does the bizarre story of a boy and his insect friends who travel to New York in the title fruit look almost three decades later? Let's start with James and his parents as they dream of a better life in the city and find out...

The Story: After his parents' death by rhino, he's sent to live with his abusive aunts Sponge (Miriam Margoyles) and Spiker (Joanna Lumley), who treat him like a servant. One day, after saving a spider from their insecticide can, he's given magical "crocodile tongues" by a strange old man (Pete Postlewaite). He accidentally drops most of the tongues, who burrow into the ground. 

The next morning, an enormous peach grows on a withered tree. The aunts claim it for themselves and turn it into a tourist attraction. James sneaks out at night and finds one last tongue, which he eats along with part of the peach. The part he eats forms a tunnel into the pit, where he encounters a talking centipede (Dreyfuss), glowworm (Margoyles), spider (Sarandon), earthworm (David Thewlis), grasshopper (Simon Callow), and ladybug (Leeves). They face many dangers on their way to the Big Apple, but learn in the process about the importance of following your dreams, and that the family you find can be just as important as the one you're born into.

The Animation: While not as detailed as Nightmare, it has its own good qualities. The snow when they drift into the Arctic and the tense action sequence on the ocean with the mechanical shark are especially well-rendered, and the peach and everything in it is so nicely done, you can see the fuzz in places. The bugs...well, it's probably hard to do stop-motion bugs without making them look creepy. The clothes and accessories do help alleviate the nightmare fuel somewhat, especially with Mrs. Ladybug and Mr. Grasshopper. 

The Song and Dance: Weird as this is, it has a certain charm to it, especially once they get into the peach. The voice acting is delightful, especially Terry as James, who is determined to get out of his aunts' shadow and find a place where he truly feels welcome, Sarandon as the sensual spider he rescued, and Dreyfuss as the cocky Brookyn centipede. Postlewaite brings the right amount of gritty strangeness to his role as the old peddler who starts James off on his adventure.

Favorite Number: The touching and sad "My Name Is James" kicks off the film as he wishes he could cross the ocean and see the city of his dreams, far from his uncaring aunts. "Eating the Peach" comes straight from Dahl...and it explains some of the more disgusting lyrics as the bugs compare the peach to their favorite delicacies from the garbage heap. "Family" has the bugs remind James that he's the one who brought them together right before they make it to New York - they've come too far to quit now.

What I Don't Like: The less-detailed animation and reliance on live-action for the first and last 10 minutes of the film makes it obvious that this was a lower-budget production than Nightmare. The oddball visuals, with their nightmarish cut-outs and mechanical sharks and Jack Skelleton-like pirate ghosts, makes this for older kids, as do Lumley and Margoyles' shrill performances as the worst aunts in the universe. 

The Big Finale: Too offbeat to be for everyone, but if you or your older-elementary and pre-teen kids enjoyed other bizarre Dahl books-turned-movies like Matilda or The Witches, you'll want to follow this peach to the city and give it a try as well.

Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming (including Disney Plus with a subscription).

DVD

Blu-Ray

Disney Plus

Doll Face

20th Century Fox, 1945

Starring Vivian Blaine, Dennis O'Keefe, Carmen Miranda, and Perry Como

Directed by Lewis Seller

Music by Jimmy McHugh; Lyrics by Harold Adamson

The burlesque of low comics, strippers, and slapstick that most of us recognize from movies like Gypsy and The Night They Raided Minsky's began as far more chaste spoofs of popular shows and books in the late 19th century. By the time this movie came out, it had split into family-friendly musical comedy and the bawdy variety show that made comics like Milton Berle and strippers such as Gypsy Rose Lee household names. In fact, this is based after Lee's hit Broadway play The Naked Genius, about a stripper who publishes her biography. How does this less naughty version look today? Let's begin at the real-life burlesque house The Gaiety Theater in New York and find out...

The Story: Mary Elizabeth "Doll Face" Carroll (Blaine) may be the biggest attraction at the Gaiety, but she's tired of the notoriety and is looking to expand into other areas of show business. Her reputation as a stripper keeps proceeding her, prompting legitimate producers to turn her away. Her fiancé and manager Mike Hannegan (O'Keefe) suggests she writes an autobiography to give her a little more class. He even hires wealthy Fredrick Manly Gerald (Stephan Dunne) to ghostwrite it. Mike is so enthusiastic about the good press for the book, he suggests doing a show on Broadway, with the performers putting up part of the money and Fredrick throwing in the rest.

With the publicity generating headlines, Mike figures they don't need to publish it. Mary Elizabeth wants to finish what they began and joins Fredrick in Jamaica to polish it off. They're stranded on a desert island when his boat runs out of gas...but a jealous Mike thinks there was more to it. Fed up, Mary Elizabeth takes off. Mike now has to get her back into his life and the show, before they're all caught with their baggy clown pants down.

The Song and Dance: An unusual cast - including Miranda at the tail end of her popularity and Perry Como at the beginning of his - highlights this different take on backstage stories. Some of it is drawn from real life. Lee did indeed write plays, mystery novels, and a biography, all of which were popular and gave her a more "literate" sheen that set her apart from most of her low comic brethren.Miranda and O'Keefe have the most fun as the sassy Brazilian stripper and fast-talking manager who thinks he's hit the perfect publicity scam.

Favorite Number: Blaine first performs "Someone's Walking In My Dream" early in the film at her failed audition. It becomes a chorus number for Como, Martha Stewart, and the Gaiety girls much later as the ladies strut around Como in barely-there negligees and Stewart flies down on the moon. Likewise, Como initially performs "Here Comes Heaven Again" as a simple ballad in front of the curtain early on; he reprises it towards the end with Blaine. "Dig You Later (A Hubba Hubba Hubba)" is Stewart and Como's spoof of hep cats and other 40's hipster types in a jazzy routine that actually became one of Como's first big hit songs. "Chico Chico" is Miranda's big Latin number with the chorus at the show. 

What I Don't Like: For all the unique trappings, this is at heart a standard programmer just barely above B material. It's was Miranda's first film to not be in color, which is a bit of a surprise. The burlesque setting cries out for a bold rainbow palette. Blaine is too polished and classy to suggest a low stripper, and Como doesn't have much to do besides sing and get advice from O'Keefe on how to push his girlfriend around. Dunne is mainly around for eye candy and is just plain dull. In fact, the whole movie feels just a little too polished and "safe" for something set around the naughtiest of all mid-20th century American art forms. 

The Big Finale: Too dull despite the unique setting to be for anyone but the most ardent Carmen Miranda and Perry Como fans.

Home Media: Look for the original 20th Century Fox Marquee Musicals DVD, either solo or as part of the Carmen Miranda Collection. The movie is in the public domain, and most of the copies currently streaming (including on Paramount Plus) are in terrible shape.

DVD

DVD - The Carmen Miranda Collection

Amazon Prime

The Time, the Place, and the Girl

Warner Bros, 1946

Starring Dennis Morgan, Martha Vickers, Janis Paige, and Jack Carson

Directed by David Butler

Music by Arthur Schwartz; Lyrics by Leo Robin

In the late 1940's, crooner Dennis Morgan and jovial Jack Carson appeared together in a series of fluffy musicals and comedies that were big money-makers for Warners. This one ended up being their biggest money-maker of 1947, a smash Technicolor candy box that included several hit songs and a backstage plot somewhat resembling lighter Busby Berkeley. How does this light-as-air tale of a young opera singer who joins a musical comedy look nowadays? Let's begin at the Bamboo Club in New York, as snooty classical music agent Martin Drew (Donald Woods) storms in, and find out...

The Story: Drew wants the musicians at the Bamboo Club to stop playing because it bothers the performers he represents, Victoria Cassel (Vickers) and her grandparents, orchestra leader Ladislaus (S.Z Sakall) and opera diva Lucia (Florence Bates). It's really Lucia and Martin who protests. Lucia wants Victoria to become a great opera singer herself, but she's tired of being sequestered inside. She and her grandfather attend a performance at the club and very much enjoy it. Victoria even falls for Steve (Morgan), one of the singers and songwriters who works there. This doesn't please Steve's girlfriend Elaine (Angela Greene), who's been chatting up a Texan oil man (Alan Hale Jr.) in an attempt to get his backing for the club.

After Martin does manage to close the club, Steve, his partner Jeff Howard (Carson), and Jeff's girlfriend Sue Jackson (Paige) opt to turn the numbers into a Broadway show. Feeling guilty, Ladislaus agrees to back the show if Victoria stars. What he doesn't know his, his wife has control of the money...and Elaine, who took off with the Texan, returns and insists on starring in the show herself.

The Song and Dance: Adorable piece of fluff shows off Morgan and Carson to best advantage, especially in the numbers. Sakall also has a great time as the flustered orchestra leader who finds himself in way over his head backing a major Broadway show. This is also a relatively strong story for a backstage story, or at least, more of a story than most later backstagers of this era tend to have.

Favorite Number: Morgan croons the sole ballad, "Oh But I Do," when he's charming Victoria while dancing at the Bamboo Club. Unlikely cowboys Morgan and Carson court "A Gal In Calico" Vickers in a spoof of B westerns. The big hit "Rainy Night In Rio" finishes off the night as the two couples dodge the rain and describe all the things you can do during bad weather in Rio, including watching ruffle-clad Brazilian dancers perform a fantastic routine at a club. 

Trivia: Cartoon fans may recognize "Rainy Night In Rio" as the number Bugs Bunny performs that keeps disrupting another opera singer, Giovanni Jones, in the classic Looney Tunes short "Long Haired Hare."

Vickers was dubbed by two different singers for the opera songs and showtunes.

Not related to the 1907 stage musical or lost 1929 early sound musical of the same title.

What I Don't Like: For once, the problem with a musical isn't too little plot, but way too much! More happens in the second half of this movie than it does in the entire running time of most other musicals. It's way too confusing, convoluted, and too fluffy for its own good. Vickers looks uncomfortable throughout and not really happy to be there, especially compared to the far more musically-inclined Paige. 

Let's discuss "A Solid Citizen of the South." This is the big blackface number early on at the Bamboo Club. Admittedly, we get some great tap dancing by the Condos Brothers towards the end and the costumes are pretty nifty, but it's also awash in stereotypes. 

The Big Finale: A surprising charmer if you love Morgan, Carson, or the big, bold Technicolor extravaganzas of the 1940's. 

Home Media: DVD only from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Happy 4th of July! - This Is the Army

Warner Bros, 1943

Starring George Murphy, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, and Ronald Regan

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

This year, we celebrate a rejuvenated 4th with the most patriotic film musical in existence. Berlin originally wrote the songs for Yip Yip Yaphank! in 1918, after the US entered World War I. The Army put on the show as a morale-booster. It went over so well then, they decided to do it again twenty years later for World War II. Berlin wrote new numbers, radio star Ezra Stone directed, and the show was renamed This Is the Army. It was such a smash success on Broadway and on tour, Warner Bros reworked it into a movie. How does this tale of two generation of performers putting on a show for - and with - the boys look now? Let's begin in 1917, just as vaudevillian Jerry Jones (Murphy) is drafted, and find out...

The Story: Jerry's ordered to stage a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank with his fellow Army soldiers. During their final number, his troop gets orders to leave for France. Eddie's hit in the leg by shrapnel, which ends his dancing career, but he does make it home to his wife Ethel (Rosemary DeCamp) and their new son. 

Twenty years later, his son has grown into a man, Johnny Jones (Regan). He's in love with Eileen Dibble (Joan Leslie), the daughter of the former bugler in Jerry's troop Eddie Dibble (Charles Butterworth), and is all set to marry her before Pearl Harbor is bombed. He now says he wants to wait for the wedding and avoid making her a widow. Meanwhile, he's also asked to put on a show with the troops, just like his father. It's such a fabulous hit, they take it on the road. Eileen, now in the Red Cross Auxiliary, follows. She'd better get a move on if she wants to marry him, because they're soldiers, and they won't be doing shows forever...

The Song and Dance: "Song and dance" are the operative words here. The only reason to see this today are the unique numbers, with men in women's roles as they were on the stage. Some of them are still funny as heck. Alan Hale Jr. has a great time as the drill sergeant who terrorizes two generation of New York soldiers, and Butterworth and George Tobias get a few good gags as two of Jerry's buddies in the Army who survive the war. Original stage director Ezra Stone gets a wordless skit doing a magic act while a sergeant gives him orders. 

Favorite Number: The best of the songs in the early Yip Yip Yaphank sequences is the big finale where they end up leaving the theater for good, "Goodbye France" and "We're On Our Way to France." It's truly stirring, especially seeing the reaction from loved ones in the audience whose husbands and sons are going overseas. "God Bless America" is performed by radio favorite Kate Smith as war clouds gather over Europe, providing the background music for a montage showing where the men of the World War I army are in 1941. 

"What Does He Look Like?" and "This Is the Army, Mr. Jones" introduces the World War II soldiers, as four undressed new recruits wonder what army life will be like. "I'm Getting Tired So I Can Sleep" was the hit ballad, here introduced simply onstage by one of the soldiers. "Ladies of the Chorus" and "I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen" are the drag numbers, spoofing chorus routines and the real Stage Door Canteen respectively. We even have men imitating stage luminaries like Alfred Lunt, Lynne Fontanne, and Ethel Barrymore. "Ladies" is the one with Alan Hale Jr. very reluctantly being forced into a pastel gown to dance with the boys. Black soldiers bring their own version of jazz (including another drag dance by telling us "What the Well Dressed Man In Harlem Will Wear" in an incredible jitterbug routine. 

Even Irving Berlin gets in on the show Yes, that's the songwriter himself reprising "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up In the Morning" from the original Yip, Yip Yaphank near the very end. 

Trivia: It entered the public domain in the 70's.

It was a smash as a movie and a show, earning nearly ten million for the Army Relief Fund.

Regan and Murphy went into politics after their film careers fizzled. Murphy was a Senator from 1967 to 1971. Likewise, Regan became the Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, and later became President of the US during the 1980's. 

What I Don't Like: This Is the Army was originally a flat-out revue onstage with no story. Studios were wary of plotless musicals after the failure of many revues during the early sound era, but maybe they should have left this one alone. The corny plot barely exists, especially once the numbers kick in during the second half. We don't even see much of Leslie, despite Johnny's claim that he does intend to marry her eventually. The big "Mandy" minstrel number, with men in blackface and doing bad stereotypes, was nostalgia for an earlier time then, but may offend a lot more people than it inspires now. It doesn't help that the "Harlem" number is also riddled with stereotypes. 

There's also the movie's just too darn long. Probably half the songs during the second half and a lot of the weaker plot moments could have been cut or trimmed with no one the wiser.

The Big Finale: See it for the numbers if you're a fan of Murphy or Regan's film careers, or are feeling especially patriotic. 

Home Media: As mentioned, it's in the public domain, so you can pretty much find it anywhere. I recommend just avoiding all those sub-par cheap DVDs and watching it online, or as part of the Warner Bros Home Front Collection.

DVD - Warner Bros Homefront Collection

Amazon Prime

Pin Up Girl

20th Century Fox, 1944

Starring Betty Grable, Dorothea Kent, John Harvey, and Martha Raye

Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone

Music by James V. Monaco; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

Women didn't just work in defense plants during World War II. They were everywhere, from the military up into the the higher echelons of government. Hundreds of women left suburbs and small towns to get well-paying jobs as secretaries and stenographers in Washington DC. Betty Grable, the nation's top box office star and beloved dreamboat of the boys overseas, pays tribute to those women in this light-as-air romantic comedy about a Washington stenographer whose little white lies get her into a ton of trouble. Let's start at a USO canteen in Missoula, Missouri, and see what all the fuss is about...

The Story: Laurie Jones (Grable) is Missoula's favorite canteen hostess. She's in charge of keeping every serviceman happy and always accepts every marriage proposal, even though she doesn't really mean it. She and her friend Kay Pritchett (Kent) are on their way to Washington DC, where they've accepted jobs as stenographers. Laurie figures one more white lie won't hurt and talks Kay into a night on the town in New York. When they're not allowed in a nightclub unescorted, Laurie claims they're with Navy hero Tommy Dooley (Harvey). The owner Eddie Hall (Joe E. Brown) lavishes the girls with champagne. Tommy and his friend Dud (Dave Wilcock) think they're blind dates. Laurie doesn't help when she and Kay claim to be stage stars.

Laurie's shocked when she encounters Tommy in Washington. Worse yet, she's assigned to be his secretary. She borrows mousey Kay's clothes and glasses and goes by her real name. Tommy's still smitten with "Laura Lorraine" and not only insists on taking her out, but convinces Eddie to feature her in his newly-opened DC nightclub. Not only is Eddie's star attraction Molly McKay (Raye) jealous, but then one of those men Laurie thoughtlessly accepted a proposal from back in Missoula appears, demanding she actually marry him.

The Song and Dance: You can't get much more patriotic or World War II than this movie. The entire premise was likely inspired by Grable's famous back-to-the-camera pin-up photo (which is seen briefly when Tommy shows it to Eddie) that graced so many footlockers during the 40's. Grable - along with some good comic bits from Raye and Brown as the cheerful nightclub owner and his jealous star - is the main reason to see this one nowadays. She's obviously enjoying her Clark Kent-like disguise, especially when she tries to talk up "Laura Lorraine" to Tommy. There's some awesome Technicolor costumes for the time, too, especially with rationing going on.

Favorite Number: June Hutton and the Stardusters perform a lovely ballad as we enter Eddie's nightclub in New York, "Time Alone Will Tell." Martha Raye introduces "Red Robins, Bobwhites, and Bluebirds," which is then done in a huge flurry of red, white, and blue sequins and feathered fans by champion roller skater Gloria Nord and the Skating Vanities. Grable does the lively "Don't Tell Tales Out of School" twice with Charlie Spivack and His Orchestra, first with male dancers the night she meets Tommy, and later near the end of the film in her "Laurie Jones" secretary outfit. Raye takes everyone on a "Yankee Doodle Hayride" dressed as an extremely unlikely farm girl, with the Condos Brothers doing a terrific tap solo in overalls afterwards. 

The movie ends with "The Story of the Merry Widow." It starts as a more typical chorus dance, with Grable in her black feathered gown amid dancers clad in white lace. Mid-way through, Grable turns up in uniform and leads real WACs through a long but complex and interesting drill routine. 

Trivia: Grable was seven months pregnant during the shooting of this film.

This was originally to be a drama staring Don Ameche and Linda Darnell. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, anyone besides Grable, Brown, Raye, and Eugene Pallatte as a blustery admiral is pretty much window-dressing. Harvey is such a snore and reacts so badly to her supposed "engagement," I'm not sure what she or Raye see in him in the first place. The story is utterly ridiculous, even for one of Grable's movies. I have no idea how Tommy doesn't realize who "Laurie" is to begin with. Her disguise isn't exactly that thorough. What happened to Kay after she loaned Laurie her clothes and glasses? She vanishes during the second half without explanation. 

And what's with the non-ending? We don't even get to see the lovers reunite after the big drill finale, just a smile from Tommy. A few lines of reconciliation from the lovers or a final embrace would have been nice.

The Big Finale: The numbers alone make this worth checking out for major fans of Grable or the patriotic musicals of World War II.

Home Media: Not on streaming at press time, but it can be found on DVD and Blu-Ray (the latter from Twilight Time). 

DVD

Blu-Ray