1h 44min | Comedy, Musical | 9 July 1952 | Color
Director: H. Bruce Humberstone (as Bruce Humberstone)
Stars: Virginia Mayo, Ronald Reagan, Gene Nelson, Don DeFore, Phyllis Thaxter, Patrice Wymore.
LeRoy Prinz ... musical numbers staged and directed by
In the Tap! Appendix for Virginia Mayo, Gene Nelson.
Remake of The Male Animal ('42), which I rated 7, both based on the Thurber play.
Songs performed (11 chapters, no menu):
Remake of The Male Animal ('42), which I rated 7, both based on the Thurber play.
Songs performed (11 chapters, no menu):
- ch1. With Plenty of Money and You, Performed and Danced by Virginia Mayo (dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams) and Chorus
- ch3. We're Working Our Way Through College, Performed by Chorus, Virginia Mayo (dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams), and Gene Nelson
- ch4. I'll Be Loving You, Performed and Danced by Virginia Mayo and Gene Nelson, Mayo's voice dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams
- ch6. The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, Performed and Danced by Virginia Mayo (dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams) and Gene Nelson (dubbed by Hal Derwin)
- ch7. Love Is Still for Free, Performed by Patrice Wymore, Blackburn Twins, and Chorus
- ch8. Am I in Love?, Sung and Danced by Gene Nelson doing full gymnastics on high bar, rings, trampoline, speedbag; Awesome.
- ch10. (You've Got to) Give 'em What They Want, Performed by Chorus and Patrice Wymore
- ch10. The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, Performed and Danced by Virginia Mayo (dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams) and Gene Nelson (dubbed by Hal Derwin)
- ch10. Reprised as "Love is Not for Free"by Virginia Mayo (dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams) and Chorus
- ch11. Working Our Way Through College, Performed by Chorus, Virginia Mayo (dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams), and Gene Nelson
The dance in ch8 is really just a gymnastic medley done to the rhythm of the music. He doesn't do fancy dismounts, but he swings and bounces and boxes all with beautiful form. I would be surprised if he did not do gymnastics competitively in school.
Other dance numbers are sort of cluttered, not giving GN as much solo time as I'd like.
Only 4-5 more dancing films for GN. Here's an insight for why (from IMDb bio trivia): "Suffered a fractured pelvis in 1957 when a horse fell on him while on film location in Tennessee."
Although she dances fine, I don't like VM's (b. '20) acting. Fortunately, here she's not a nasty character, so she's more tolerable. And being paired with GN (b. '20) as college students is made more plausible by the casting of lots of similarly aged "students". My eyebrow went up when they said RR (b. '11) was VM's teacher in high school, but it's numerically possible.
The story is about jealousy: RR/PT each jealous of the other's interest in VM and DD, PM's jealousy of VM+GN, and the threat of jealousy with a married authority figure attempted romance of VM. The puttin-on-a-show plot brings us the musical numbers.
Warner, dir. Humberstone; 6+
