1h 43min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 29 May 1952 | Color
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Stars: Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Marge Champion, Gower Champion, Ann Miller, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Kurt Kasznar, Marcel Dalio.
Hermes Pan ... choreographer
Vincente Minnelli ... director: fashion show sequence (uncredited)
bootleg, ok copy, could be better
Remake of Roberta ('35, RKO), which was a musical play by Kern, Fields, Harbach. I recognized songs during the overture (opening credits); the same 4 songs I liked best in Roberta are here again. This is a good idea: take a meh Astaire&Rogers musical, and remake it with singers and dancers. I like this one better than the 6+ I gave Roberta.
Remake of Roberta ('35, RKO), which was a musical play by Kern, Fields, Harbach. I recognized songs during the overture (opening credits); the same 4 songs I liked best in Roberta are here again. This is a good idea: take a meh Astaire&Rogers musical, and remake it with singers and dancers. I like this one better than the 6+ I gave Roberta.
In the Tap! Appendix for Ann Miller.
Songs performed (7 chapters, no menu):
- ch1. Opening Night, Sung by Howard Keel, Red Skelton and Gower Champion
- ch1. I'll Be Hard to Handle, Sung and danced by Ann Miller and male chorus
- ch1. Lafayette, Sung by Howard Keel, Red Skelton and Gower Champion
- ch2. Yesterdays, Sung by Kathryn Grayson
- ch2. I Won't Dance, Sung and danced by Marge Champion and Gower Champion
- ch3. You're Devastating, Sung by Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson
- ch3. Lovely To Look At, Sung by Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel
- ch4. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Danced by Gower Champion and Marge Champion
- ch5. The Most Exciting Night, Sung by Howard Keel
- ch5. Go Tell Aunt Rhody, Sung by Red Skelton accompanied by Gower Champion on piano
- ch6. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Sung later by Kathryn Grayson
- ch7. Yesterdays, Danced by Gower Champion and Marge Champion
- ch7. The Touch of Your Hand, Sung by Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel
- ch7. Lovely To Look At, Reprised by chorus in finale
We have a lot of characters, with 4 couples here; one of them is Kasznar/Gabor, and the character development isn't terribly deep, but each couple works for me.
We get 3 dances by Marge&Gower, the same number of dances as F&G had (although I also noted FA had 2 solos). I like M&G, and their dance during the fashion show is especially welcome, because the fashions are awful and the show is long.
Someone noted (on the Connections page) the plot differed between the 2 versions. I only remember that FA came to Paris with his band; I don't remember his connection to Randolph Scott (maybe the band's manager?), who is the heir to Roberta. Roberta was still alive in the '35 film, dying during the visit. I remember the elevator being a problem in this film, which it is in the '52 version too.
Here RS is the heir, and HK+GC are his producing partners trying to mount a show. They come to Paris to sell his interest in the shop, and find it floundering financially, so they help produce the next fashion show. Conflict: they meet KK, who can finance the NYC show, and HK strikes a deal to abandon the fashion show and return to NYC.
Good dancing, good songs, good singing, good color. Would make a good first movie of M&G.
MGM, dir. LeRoy; 7
