1h 33min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 9 March 1949 | Color
Director: Busby Berkeley
Stars: Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett, Edward Arnold, Jules Munshin.
Stanley Donen ... musical numbers staging
Gene Kelly ... musical numbers staging
Stanley Donen ... choreographer with Gene Kelly
Alex Romero ... assistant choreographer (uncredited)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041944/
In the Tap! Appendix for Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra.
Notice the billing order; it was the same on Anchors Aweigh ('45). GK takes top billing on their 3rd pairing, On the Town ('49). This is the least fun of the 3 pairings of Sinatra & Kelly, which is like saying Rope ('48) isn't Hitchcock's best film; it's still better than most films produced.
Songs performed (30 chapters with menu):
- ch2. Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Sung & danced by Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra
- ch4. Yes, Indeedy, Sung & danced by Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra
- ch9. O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg, Sung & danced by Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin
- ch10. Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Reprised by Esther Williams, where she swims a few laps
- ch12. The Right Girl for Me, Sung by Frank Sinatra
- ch17. It's Fate Baby, It's Fate, Performed by Betty Garrett and Frank Sinatra
- ch18. Strictly U.S.A., sung/danced by Betty Garrett, Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams and Gene Kelly
- ch21. The Hat My Dear Old Father Wore upon St. Patrick's Day, Sung and Danced by Gene Kelly
- ch30. finale (including reprise of Strictly U.S.A.), sung/danced by BG, FS, EW, GK
What misses here? Not sure. We have a liberated woman (EW) who demonstrates the skills of a ball player, but doesn't actually want to be one (she inherited the team). BG chases FS, but in a sweet, insistent way. BG & EW wear more colorful gowns than other women on the street (this is the era when showing an ankle is shocking). EW dances plenty, and she's a little taller than GK, even when she's in completely flat ballet slippers (not toe shoes). We get lots of peppy tap dancing, but no serious ballet.
Maybe that's the problem: the soul-searching conflict is revealed in a montage, not a song/dance? It's still early to see expressive ballet in every film (I don't think it was in Anchors Aweigh).
I've decided it's the story: it's too complicated. It's not hard to follow, it just changes direction too many times. I started to write a full synopsis, and it got lengthy & boring. Although we have 3 credited screenplay writers, Kelly & Donen get story credit onscreen. Whether they're responsible for the whole synopsis that makes me wince, I don't know.
This is one of those Busby Berkeley directing efforts where we get none of his glory from the 30's: no scantily-clad chorus girls in geometric patterns shot from overhead; no long rows of girls with oversized bats and balls. And he's not a fabulous director without those signatures. I remember GK making some disparaging remarks about how BB was old-fashioned somehow as a director. Not sure what prompted that.
Still, the dancing is good, especially the opening number with FS & GK. FS can do successive bell kicks very well.
MGM, dir. Berkeley; 7+
