1h 41min | Comedy, Fantasy, Musical | 30 May 1943 | Color
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Stars: Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly.
Charles Walters ... dance director
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035829/
damaged disc - again! Ch16-20 skipped. Ordered replacement
In the Tap! Appendix for GK; only 1 solo dance (ch9). He also dances with LB & RS (sometimes +2 more) to the song Friendship (finale), done in a hick demeanor, and they're all doing the same stuff, so he might as well not be there. The solo dance is good, but not spectacular. The first portion is in the dark with a spotlight. That means his black tuxedo is against a black background, so you really only see his face, shirt, hands and the shine of his shoes. When the lights come up, 20 chorus girls join him, half of them in solid bright yellow-green, the other half in magenta. I already lose my bet about his doing aeroplane: he doesn't do it in this film. Instead he does his seal bit, a bouncing push-up, which he does across the chorus line, where they each have to jump over him.
The costumes/sets are terrific for Technicolor. But not all of the print looks sharp: that 3-strip offset effect is visible a bit. Or maybe it's my eyes.
A young Zero Mostel (b. 1915; LB b. 1911) adds to the comedy. He does a decent impression of Charles Boyer, actually assuming his facial expression pretty well. (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is '66, The Producers is '67).
Maybe I'll update the rating once I see the whole film. 6 was my prior rating.
MGM, dir. Del Ruth; 6
