93min | Comedy, Musical, Romance, Sport | 4 December 1947 | Color
Director: Charles Walters
Stars: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Patricia Marshall, Joan McCracken, Ray McDonald, Mel Tormé.
Robert Alton ... dance director
In the Tap! Appendix for Joan McCracken, Ray McDonald. They're terrific, but they ain't tapping.
Remake of Good News (1930, MGM)
College musicals were all the rage in the 30s. This is the college musical to top them all. Exuberant singing and dancing mostly by large groups with some superb featured dancers, and glorious technicolor.
Songs performed (32 chapters with menu). All are Music by Ray Henderson, Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva except as noted. Songs that were also in the original are noted with ('30, 1927), where '27 is the publication date listed on the prior film Soundtracks.
Songs performed (32 chapters with menu). All are Music by Ray Henderson, Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva except as noted. Songs that were also in the original are noted with ('30, 1927), where '27 is the publication date listed on the prior film Soundtracks.
- ch2. Tait Song ('30, 1927), Performed by Joan McCracken and chorus
- ch2. Good News ('30, 1927), Sung by Joan McCracken and chorus
- ch4. Be a Ladies' Man, Performed by Peter Lawford, Ray McDonald, Mel Tormé, Tom Dugan and Lon Tindal; in the ('30) movie, there's a song called He's a Ladies' Man (1927) by the same team; this dvd menu has chapter title He's a Ladies' Man, but they sing BE, not HE.
- ch9. Lucky in Love, Performed by Patricia Marshall, Joan McCracken, Mel Tormé, June Allyson and Peter Lawford
- ch11. The French Lesson,Written by Roger Edens, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Performed by June Allyson and Peter Lawford
- ch12. The Best Things in Life Are Free ('30, 1927), Performed by June Allyson in American and Peter Lawford in French
- ch16. Pass That Peace Pipe, Written by Roger Edens, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, Performed by Joan McCracken, Ray McDonald and chorus
- ch21. Just Imagine, Sung by June Allyson
- ch23. The Best Things in Life Are Free, Reprised by Mel Tormé
- ch31. Varsity Drag ('30, 1927), Performed by June Allyson, Peter Lawford and chorus
Joan McCracken was the first wife of Bob Fosse. This is her 2nd of 3 movies (1st was Hollywood Canteen ('44), the last is Main Street to Broadway ('53), which looks unpromising for her to perform, but I did find it online today.) Although JA is the star here, the reason to watch this film is JM's song performances.
You can see the distribution of songs is uneven; far too much plot (football, romance of various pairs) is the focus in the second half. But the finale is a strong finish. Previously rated 7 on 2006-01-02, I'm bumping this up due to the experience of this quest.
DVD contains 2 excerpts from the 1930 film: Good News and Varsity Drag, both featuring Penny Singleton also doing some exuberant dancing, with lots of handsprings. Who knew Blondie was so skilled this way?
MGM, dir. Walters; 8-
