1h 40min | Drama, Musical, Romance | 10 February 1944 | Color
Director: Mitchell Leisen
Stars: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Warner Baxter, Jon Hall, Barry Sullivan, Mischa Auer.
Billy Daniel ... dance stager: "The Circus" and Miss Parker's dance (as Billy Daniels)
Don Loper ... dance: Miss Rogers (danceR or dance stager? He has 4 choreography credits after this.)
Sam Ledner ... dance supervisor (uncredited)
Al Mann ... assistant dance director (uncredited)
bootleg copy, very fuzzy/blurry, and seems like some chunks are missing (very abrupt cuts, like repairs to a damaged film/tape).
Here's my history with this piece: I watched the Julie Andrews movie Star! ('68, dir. Robert Wise, who directed her in The Sound of Music ('65)), a biopic of Gertrude Lawrence, the originator of Liza in the B'way production of the musical. In Star!, JA sings My Ship, and performs a terrific circus act for the song Jenny, choreographed by Michael Kidd.
Then I discovered the book Lady in the Dark: Biography of a Musical Paperback by Bruce D. Mcclung, and the cast album of the show. The book is terrific; here's the most relevant part of my review:
But I re-emphasize: this is a great book for those who are interested in this musical or the history of musical theatre in general. I loved the description of opening night and the set and costume changes. I loved the chapter on the cultural context for the run of the play, especially since 1941-43 straddled American isolationism through our complete immersion in the war, and therefore enormous changes in attitudes toward women in the workforce. And I loved the chapter on the theatrical context of this musical, comparing it with contemporary milestone musicals "Pal Joey" and "Oklahoma!"
Eventually I found a copy of this '44 film, and the '54 TV production starring Ann Sothern. Sothern's version is closer to the original, which isn't difficult. This '44 film only retains Jenny in full, and a sad snippet of My Ship. Other songs here are not by Weill and Gershwin.
The other thing that bugs me about this film is that I know that Ginger Rogers was a Christian Scientist, and did not believe in psychiatry/psychology or any form of medical science. I never heard anything about how she felt playing a psych patient in various films, including this one.
But the real irritant: this film makes a very blatant anti-feminist statement while we're still in the midst of the War, and women are home alone and working in defense plants. Was that a deliberate request from the government propaganda people to start preparing women to go back home once the men returned? V-E day is more than a year away. Grr.
I would like to see a good print of this some day. The costumes and the color must be terrific. And the dancing and the dream sequences are probably good to view as well.
Paramount, dir. Leisen; 6-
