1h 33min | Biography, Musical | 11 November 1949
Director: John M. Stahl
Stars: Mark Stevens, June Haver, S.Z. Sakall, Charlotte Greenwood.
Seymour Felix ... choreographer
bootleg, mediocre copy
I'm getting tired of biopics of old-timey composers.
The most interesting thing to me: Chicago (That Toddlin' Town) was thrown in to the medley in the finale. Other than the title song, that would seem to be Fisher's most famous...now. That song's first IMDb credit is in '32.
Not covered by the film: daughter Doris already had success in composing by now, having written songs used in nearly 40 films already; her total so far is 123 Soundtrack credits, of which 77 are films.
So you can't trust the veracity of these films, and the music doesn't interest me too much. I like JH, but MS makes me shrug: he doesn't sing (he's dubbed), don't remember him dancing in any film, and he has little personality. CG doesn't sing/dance here, acts with an accent. Cuddles ain't cuddly: he's cranky and disappointed with himself for not getting his opera published/performed, despite all the popular success his tunes have had.
JH dances a bit, but I don't remember any production numbers. So I'm glad to have the disc for my JH collection, but this is shrug-worthy.
Fox, dir. Stahl; 6
