2h 2min | Biography, Drama, Music | 26 May 1955 | Color, WS
Director: Charles Vidor
Stars: Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell.
Alex Romero ... dances originated by / dances supervised by
Hal Bell ... assistant choreographer (uncredited)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048317/
This is tough stuff. JC, who walks with a limp here, and does not dance, plays a tough guy, and does so very well. So we always have the threat of violence, in his business dealings and his employees, including with DD. We get violence with DD twice: once seems to be a forced sexual encounter (then the next scene is their marriage announcement), and once he slaps her. The capper is that he shoots her music director. So this is very unpleasant.
We get 2 vintage shorts ('30, '32) starring the real Ruth Etting, and even taking into account the change in performance styles and technology, DD has far more talent than RE displays. DD sometimes dances in production numbers (which RE did not do in these shorts), which is nice, but she's done more impressive dancing elsewhere.
Songs performed, most only partial (33 chapters with menu):
- ch1. Love Me or Leave Me, Played during the opening credits
- ch3. Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (Has Anybody Seen My Girl?), Danced by Doris Day and chorus girls
- ch3. I'm Sitting on Top of the World, Sung by Claude Stroud
- ch5. It All Depends On You, Sung by Doris Day
- ch8. You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It), Sung by Doris Day
- ch9. Stay On the Right Side, Sister, Sung by Doris Day
- ch11. Everybody Loves My Baby (but My Baby Don't Love Nobody but Me), Sung by Doris Day
- ch11. Mean to Me, Sung by Doris Day
- ch14. Sam, the Old Accordion Man, Sung by Doris Day
- ch17. Shaking the Blues Away, Sung by Doris Day, Danced by Doris Day and chorus
- ch20. (What Can I Say) After I Say I'm Sorry?, Sung by Doris Day during the sheet music montage
- ch20. I Cried for You, Sung by Doris Day during the sheet music montage
- ch20. My Blue Heaven, Sung by Doris Day during the sheet music montage
- ch20. Ten Cents a Dance, Sung by Doris Day
- ch23. I'll Never Stop Loving You, Sung by Doris Day (uncredited)
- ch25. Never Look Back, Sung by Doris Day (uncredited)
- ch28. At Sundown (Love Is Calling Me Home), Sung by Doris Day
- ch32. Love Me or Leave Me, Also sung by Doris Day
- ch?. I Miss My Swiss (My Swiss Miss Misses Me), Sung by the chorus girls during rehearsal
Very strange that this is MGM, since both DD & JC were Warner stars.
Previously rated 8, I'm far too sensitive to the violence and menace of violence to keep it there.
MGM, dir. Vidor; 6
