Starring Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Carleton Carpenter, and Ricardo Montalban
Directed by Roy Rowland
Music and Lyrics by various
With summer in full swing, it's time pack up and take our musical dreams on vacation. Our first two entries this week focuses on family trips to idyllic summer resorts in the early 20th century. City dwellers traveled to rugged mountain inns and fabulous grand resorts to enjoy fresh air and "get away from it all." This one has more than a little bit in common with a much later family resort tale, Dirty Dancing, from the Catskills setting to the plot of a teenage girl falling for an older man her parents don't approve of. Let's meet the Robinson family as they prepare for their trip at home in New York and see just how alike - and how different - the story is set 50 years earlier...
The Story: Oldest sister Patti Robinson (Powell) falls for handsome Cuban playboy Demi Armendez (Montalban) after she accidentally knocks tapioca pudding on his jacket. Trouble is, her mature dancer friend Valerie Stressman (Phyllis Kirk) is also after him...and unlike Patti, she's able to wear corsets and long skirts. Patti's mother Katherine (Ann Harding) still insists on dressing her in frilly ankle-length skirts and shapeless bloomer bathing suits. Her father Horatio (Louis Calhern) is slightly more understanding. Patti's devastated when Valerie announces to everyone at the resort that she doesn't wear a corset. She thinks she has to hide forever, but her dad has a way to make her feel a lot better. Meanwhile, her younger sister Melba (Reynolds) chases towering Billy Finlay (Carpenter), the son of the resort's owner (Clinton Sundberg) who has his own growing problems.
The Song and Dance: Powell called this adorable cross between Meet Me In St. Louis and Dirty Dancing her favorite starring vehicle, and I can understand why. She's delightfully awkward as the teenage girl in the midst of her first really adult crush. It's especially funny when she's trying to hide from Demi, whether having her siblings bury her in the sand to avoid seeing her frumpy bathing suit or falling out of a canoe after trying to flirt with him. Reynolds and Carpenter steal the show as the bolder young teen who has no difficulty chasing the boy of her dreams and the skinny youth with a puppy love crush on Patti who barely notices her sister, and Harding and Calhoun do equally well as their flummoxed elders.
The other place where this one scores is recreating the Catskills of over a hundred years ago. We get a lovely glimpse of what those mountain resorts were like in their heyday, from swimming in bloomer bathing suits in the local lake to amateur shows and 4th of July fireworks put on by the resort's staff. The gorgeous Technicolor ably shows off the glowing greens and soft pastels of the Catskills Mountains. Gorgeous costumes, too, and fairly accurate for the era.
Favorite Number: Patti joins her sister and the other teens at the resort for the energetic ragtime routine "The Oceana Roll" the night they arrive. All of the principals perform "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" as couples row on the lake in the summer moonlight...except poor Patti, who sings alone while Valerie flirts with Demi. Reynolds and Carpenter had major hits with their funny and energetic "Abba Dabba Honeymoon" at the party the night before the 4th of July and the boardwalk-themed "Row, Row, Row" at the amateur show.
Powell shines in two extended dance routines. The first is a dream sequence after she's refused to attend the amateur show because of her shame over not wearing a corset. She somehow turns her appearing in a frilly girdle and wide flowered hat into an operetta spoof, complete with the customers at the resort singing "My Beautiful Lady" in elaborate fairy-tale costumes, Carpenter and Montalban lunging into a sword duel, and Powell serenading the victorious Demi with "My Hero." The second finally allows Patti to dance a sumptuous tango in the arms of her Demi at the amateur show, "A Media Luz."
What I Don't Like: As cute as it is, it's not quite up to St. Louis. First of all, Valerie's selfish and spoiled behavior exemplifies the old saying about not needing enemies when you have friends like her. Montalban doesn't really have much to him other than being charming and Cuban, especially compared to the energetic performances from the younger and older people around him. Patti's emotional outbursts are fairly realistic for her age in the film, but some people may find them annoying or a bit much. (Melba certainly did!) We don't really see much of the girls' younger brothers, either, other than building sandcastles at the lake and a wacky sequence with their father trying to sleep with them, then accidentally setting off fireworks under their bed.
The Big Finale: An underrated charmer from MGM's "golden era." Highly recommended for fans of Powell, Reynolds, or the big musicals of the 1950's.
Home Media: DVD only from the Warner Archives.
No comments:
Post a Comment