1h 28min | Musical, Romance | 31 January 1947
Director: Allan Dwan
Stars: Jane Frazee, William Marshall, Gail Patrick, Kenny Baker, Victor McLaglen, Irene Rich, James Ellison.
Ruth Fanchon ... dance director (as Fanchon)
Watched on AmazonPrime; poor print. Also on a megapack.
Previously rated 5, but sometimes my tolerance has grown. And I was curious to see Jane Frazee in action; I've seen her name on lots of musicals that can't be found. If this is representative, it makes sense to leave them in the warehouse. If she danced more than once, I didn't notice. She moves as though she's trained, but it was very dull: lots of spinning around the floor, shot from overhead (the perspective of another character in an apartment above the courtyard). So I didn't look very long at other musical moments.
Of course, I don't like James Ellison (Alice Faye's love interest in The Gang's All Here ('43)), where he played a rich hero. Here he played a rich rat, but I didn't enjoy disliking him. Gail Patrick provided her usual rich-bich (no spelling complaints for bich?) persona, trying to wrangle him into marriage.
The "good guy" was William Marshall, who has 24 film credits, only 5 more after this one. He lived a long life, and was married to Ginger Rogers ('61-'69 (or '71 on his page <sigh>), his 3rd of 4, her 5th and final), but he doesn't even have a photo on IMDb.
Victor McLaglen was very unpleasant as JF's father. The man is tall and brutal, and always spoiling for a fight. I wonder what he was like in real life. I vaguely remember liking him in Gunga Din ('39). A big man can afford to be kind, because he can always summon his strength when needed. Instead, he's playing a bully with a hair-trigger temper. I really didn't like him.
Kenny Baker is the one I'm sure does his own singing (although Soundtracks only lists WM as being dubbed.) But this is set in the turn of the century, and the songs are old-timey. (Yes, the "modern" era begins in the '30s for me.) So I don't really like any of the performances.
VM's violent nature almost sent this rating to a 4. Just don't watch this again, ok?
Republic, dir. Dwan; 5-
