1h 30min | Drama, Music, Romance | 15 July 1953 | Color
Director: Allan Dwan
Stars: Ray Middleton, Lucille Norman, Eileen Christy, Clinton Sundberg.
Nick Castle ... dance director
Watched online, bad print: some sections turned into a single color, and many jump cuts felt like damage splices.
Why would this have a 7.5 rating (only 18) votes?
We have here a collection of several good singers, singing lots of meh songs (no performers listed in the Soundtracks.) And some ok dance numbers. It's all set in the 1850's, so not my preferred era. One number is done in blackface, including the female lead singer (dressed in male attire).
The story, about a woman and near-adult daughter who rediscover the husband/father who mom abandoned years ago to give the daughter a more stable life (?). Yet when his tent show comes to town, they end up leaving with him/it. (I skipped all the stuff in the middle.)
I like film because it gives me insights about the era in which it was filmed. I don't get that from period pieces like this. So those have to give me even better story than a contemporary film. Didn't happen here. Lots of unfamiliar faces (except the lead, the abandoned father, although even looking at his filmography didn't explain why I find him familiar), and I don't care about the story or the characters.
Republic, dir. Dwan; 5
