2h 4min | Musical, Comedy, Romance | June 1944
Director: Richard Thorpe
Stars: Van Johnson, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Tom Drake, Jimmy Durante.
Sammy Lee ... dance director
First director (out of 49 people) to make my list of people with 100+ sound film credits (1924-67). This is the first in this Musical quest, with at least 8 more to come through '57 (Jailhouse Rock), 4 with Esther Williams.
I do not understand why this movie is so good. Strikes against it:
- b/w
- VJ, JA, GDH, especially when the sisters sing together
- no worthwhile dancing
- seemingly ordinary plot of sisters hunting for a rich husband
Runs batted in:
- lots of music: swing (Harry James), Latin (Cugat w/Lina Romay, & Carlos Ramirez), classical (Jose Iturbi & sister), but see strike 2
- Gracie Allen's comic piano specialty
- JD (he's my favorite kind of comic: with a sad and vulnerable side. See: Chaplin, but probably not that level of genius.)
- 3 other GIs beyond VJ: a soldier who seems menacing sometimes, handsome TD, and a pudgy Marine.
- charming father and grandfather of VJ
- the plot twist that the sisters aren't just hunting for $$; they put on their own private canteen often, feeding and entertaining GIs they round up on the street in groups of 20+, in their modest but spacious apartment. Then someone fulfills their wish to open their canteen in the vacant warehouse down the street.
The romantic lattice sorts out nicely, with each sis landing the correct man: you know, the sis who doesn't care about $$ gets the rich one, and the sis who was hunting the $$man the hardest realizing she actually loved the handsome but modestly-monied rancher.
Favorite moment in the film: when GDH realized she actually loves TD, and he readily admits he loves her, she asks him "why haven't you tried to kiss me?" He: "you didn't want me to." That's special because she never had to say no, she never had to rebuff him, he wasn't aggressively pursuing her. He wasn't coy or flirty, he just kept coming back, helping out, making her aware of him in the best possible ways, until she finally woke up. Imagine a guy who pays sufficient attention that he knows whether she wants him to smooch her. In a video-clip enhanced dictionary, that moment could define 'gentleman'.
Favorite moment in the film: when GDH realized she actually loves TD, and he readily admits he loves her, she asks him "why haven't you tried to kiss me?" He: "you didn't want me to." That's special because she never had to say no, she never had to rebuff him, he wasn't aggressively pursuing her. He wasn't coy or flirty, he just kept coming back, helping out, making her aware of him in the best possible ways, until she finally woke up. Imagine a guy who pays sufficient attention that he knows whether she wants him to smooch her. In a video-clip enhanced dictionary, that moment could define 'gentleman'.
MGM, dir. Thorpe; 7
