Starring Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayres, and Lewis Stone
Directed by Reinhold Schunzel
Music and Lyrics by various
As the US plunges into winter, we're bringing this year to a close with our first musicals with ice skating routines. The popularity of champion figure skater Sonja Henie at 20th Century Fox prompted other studios to create their own skating extravaganzas. Crawford hadn't appeared in a musical since Dancing Lady in 1933. MGM hoped to bolster her career by turning her into their own Henie, but...well, let's begin at a bottom-basement skating show as Larry Hall (Stewart), his partner Eddie Burgess (Ayres), and his girl Mary McKay (Crawford) and find out how far this one skids off the ice.
The Story: Larry's crazy about Mary, actually marrying her after the show one night. Truth be told, Mary is a terrible skater. She keeps getting them fired. Larry won't leave her behind, though. He has this big idea for an "Ice Follies" skating revue, but no one will hear it.
Hoping to earn some money and get her husband's ideas heard, Mary goes right to studio owner Douglas Toliver Jr. (Stone) and convinces him to hire her. She becomes a huge star, but thanks to her hastily-signed contract, has to keep her marriage secret. He finally takes off, tired of living in her shadow. Thanks to shady producer Mort Hodges (Lionel Stander) he does get the Follies off the ground...but it keeps taking him away from his wife. Mary's ready to give up show business to be with him, until she comes up with a solution that makes everyone happy, including Toliver.
The Song and Dance: At the very least, this doesn't fall into the trap of Crawford's other vehicles and make both men fall for her. In fact, Eddie's not really fond of Mary and points out that she's taking away from their act. Stewart, Crawford, and especially an energetic Ayers do the best with the material handed them. Crawford also gets her only chance to be seen in three-strip Technicolor in the dazzling fairy-tale finale. She looks radiant, and the frothy pastels are gorgeous in the restored copy at TCM.
Favorite Number: It's all about the Ice Follies here. We don't see them until almost ten minutes in, but when we do, it's a lavish circus routine. The guy in drag and his partner skating to an instrumental "While Strolling Through the Park" were especially funny. After Larry gets the show going near the middle, we get a nifty precision dance routine with the Ice Folliettes in kilts skating to "The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lamond." As per Larry's promise of "stories told through skating and dance," we also get a more serious (and stereotypical) Indian duet with two skaters doing a lyrical routine while costumed as Natives.
The big one here is the color finale. MGM pulled out all the stops. Crawford is Cinderella, there's an adorable Little Red Riding Hood who gets an energetic solo, and Ayers even turns up as Cinderella's dull prince. The big finale to Crawford's "It's All So New to Me" is beautifully skated and romantic.
Trivia: The Ice Follies is a touring skating company founded by Eddie and Roy Shipstead and Oscar Johnson. They merged with Holiday On Ice in 1980 and are now mainly known for producing the Disney On Ice shows.
What I Don't Like: Everything else. No matter how hard Crawford, Stewart, and Ayres try, they are not skaters and don't belong in this film. I have no idea what MGM was thinking. Couldn't they have gone back to the Dancing Lady well if they wanted to bolster Crawford's career with a musical? Or, if they had to do a skating musical, found actual skaters to appear in at least the female lead? Crawford is such a terrible skater, it's a joke in the finale. Also, while her vocals have improved since Dancing Lady, they're still not that great. The dialogue is corny, forced, and badly written, and the plot is cliches of the dullest sort.
The Big Finale: No wonder Crawford bought out her MGM contract a few years later and wouldn't do another musical until 1953. Only the biggest fans of Stewart, Crawford, or figure skating need to see this. All others would be better off staying away or looking up that Technicolor finale.
Home Media: It's out of print on Warner Archives DVD; your best best is streaming.
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