1h 40min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 22 February 1954 | Color
Directors: Alfred E. Green, Albert Zugsmith (uncredited)
Stars: Phil Silvers, Rose Marie, Jack Albertson, Johnny Coy.
Ron Fletcher ... choreographer
Jack Donohue ... choreographer (uncredited)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046443/
Watched online: part1, part2. OK print.
IMDb lists 1.85 : 1 (intended ratio), but this print was FS. ("Intended" doesn't seem to mean they definitely filmed it that way.) Also obvious that they filmed it 3D (they throw things at the camera), but IMDb says it was released flat.
8th & final film credit for Johnny Coy. He's great to watch, but I'm not putting this on my "worthwhile" dancing list.
1st film credit as an adult for RM (b. '23; she's credited in International House ('33) and 3 shorts in the 30's.)
13 songs in the Soundtracks with no performers. All words/music by Johnny Mercer.
This is a bit strange: a filmed version of a B'way play about a TV show/star who came from (and reminisces about) vaudeville/burlesque. Too bad it didn't originate on radio and/or in a novel that was serialized in a magazine.
Once or twice we see/hear an audience applaud, and they're dressed formally, so they're a B'way audience, not a TV studio audience. Most of the time, this feels like we're watching a dress rehearsal. The audio is definitely a recording of a stage performance. Everything takes place on a stage. Sometimes they go in for a closeup (7 people in an "elevator").
It feels like TV, which is the subject, but it feels like it needs a laugh track/ life audience.
Other than JC's dancing, the best parts are the vaudeville/burlesque routines recreated by PS and others. The film has familiar comic faces whose names I don't know (ex: Joey Faye, Herbie Faye).
Roadshow Prod., distr. UA, dir. Green & Zugsmith; 6
