2h 7min | Biography, Drama, Musical | 24 May 1940
Director: Irving Cummings
Stars: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Henry Fonda.
Seymour Felix ... dances staged by
I watched the featurette about Lillian Russell first, and the movie left out some marriages and tragic child death. The film also lingered too long on playing dramatic scenes (probably based on the script). (The film does NOT show us she marries A.Moore and retires, as stated in the synopsis. That is from the featurette!)
Don Ameche plays a bitter character, not the way I want to see him; but he sings a bit, and that's welcome.
We get a good amount of singing, and some production numbers. The final production is almost dizzying, with dancers oozing from lots of orifices in the set. The dance style is that of the time of the title character, so this film is not in the Tap! Appendix, although there was a novelty clogging-style act that might have qualified had it been choreographed to be good.
Henry Fonda's character is contrived to make us long for them to get together, and provide satisfaction at the end. I don't recall any such incident from the featurette.
Fox, dir. Cummings; 6+
