1h 35min | Comedy, Musical | 6 December 1953 | Color
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Stars: Donald O'Connor, Janet Leigh, Buddy Hackett, Scatman Crothers.
Louis Da Pron ... choreographer
Kenny Williams ... dance director
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046531/
Bootleg, poor print.
This is the film JL watches in Columbo: Forgotten Lady (1975) (TV Episode).
Bootleg, poor print.
This is the film JL watches in Columbo: Forgotten Lady (1975) (TV Episode).
In the Tap! Appendix for Janet Leigh, Donald O'Connor.
Warning: in ch1 BH does his hideous Chinese waiter routine, complete with rubber band over his eyes.
Songs performed (10 chapters, visual menu):
If this were a decent print, I might give this an 8.
The synopsis above doesn't do this justice. Yes, we see DO, JL, BH in their final days in the army, singing, dancing, playing in their band, and yes his band is a failure back home. But it's because he, like Benny Goodman, is trying to find a new sound, yet make it social-danceable. After the final failed gig, the band member quit, and DO&BH go across town to see the minstrel show that drained their expected crowd. Surprise, it's SC, JL & her uncle. Yes, the boys join her troupe, but soon it fails too and DO is back to trying to find his new sound.
I don't want to write the whole plot, but it's engaging. And we get lots of older music, which is adapted to various styles, including some esoteric stuff. The best is the finale, with Muskrat Ramble (a very familiar Dixieland/ragtime tune) played in a jazzy arrangement, a vamp version, and then neoclassical with symphonic instrumentation, and 3 different dances to match. That finale is a good recap of the whole film: exploring arrangements/styles of music, accompanied by good dancing.
BTW, in that symphonic section, JL has a very poofy dress: lots of ruffles & petticoats. Except the skirt opens in the front, and when she lifts it from the hem, it, um, looks like a Georgia O'Keefe painting, and on the print I watched, the underskirt is in red/pink, and she stands with her legs straight, not bent-knee as in the staged photo.
I should mention: DO sings really well here.
While my attraction to this film was its use in the JL Columbo episode, where we saw little more than the opening credits, I really love the film, and hate that it has NOT been released to home video. If the IMDb company page is believable, not even to Laser or VHS. Glad I found a copy last year; I didn't find it when I searched today.
- ch1. Walkin' My Baby Back Home, Sung by chorus in opening credits, walked by 2 pair of feet
- ch1. The Glow-Worm, Sung by Janet Leigh and The
ModernairesSportsmen, danced by JL & chorus - ch2. Hi-Lee, Hi-Lo, sung/danced by DO
- ch3. De Camptown Races, Sung by Janet Leigh (humming in high key dubbed by Paula Kelly)
- ch4. Down in the South, Sung/danced by JL & DO in blackface
- ch5. Walkin' My Baby Back Home, Sung by Donald O'Connor, Danced by Donald O'Connor and Janet Leigh
- ch6. Honeysuckle Rose, sung by SC
- ch6-7. Hop on the Bandwagon, sung/danced by DO w/JL
- ch7. South Rampart Street Parade, Sung by Janet Leigh and The Modernaires
- ch8. Man's Gotta Eat, sung by SC
- ch8. DO frustration dance, music unidentified. When he stops, we get a bit of WMBBH.
- ch9. Muskrat Ramble, danced by DO, JL, then by JL & chorus, then by JL,DO in formal wear
- ch10. WMBBH brief reprise.
(I just spent at least an hour on the IMDb Soundtracks performance credits. I HATE that you can't see a preview of all the codes you have to use.)
The synopsis above doesn't do this justice. Yes, we see DO, JL, BH in their final days in the army, singing, dancing, playing in their band, and yes his band is a failure back home. But it's because he, like Benny Goodman, is trying to find a new sound, yet make it social-danceable. After the final failed gig, the band member quit, and DO&BH go across town to see the minstrel show that drained their expected crowd. Surprise, it's SC, JL & her uncle. Yes, the boys join her troupe, but soon it fails too and DO is back to trying to find his new sound.
I don't want to write the whole plot, but it's engaging. And we get lots of older music, which is adapted to various styles, including some esoteric stuff. The best is the finale, with Muskrat Ramble (a very familiar Dixieland/ragtime tune) played in a jazzy arrangement, a vamp version, and then neoclassical with symphonic instrumentation, and 3 different dances to match. That finale is a good recap of the whole film: exploring arrangements/styles of music, accompanied by good dancing.BTW, in that symphonic section, JL has a very poofy dress: lots of ruffles & petticoats. Except the skirt opens in the front, and when she lifts it from the hem, it, um, looks like a Georgia O'Keefe painting, and on the print I watched, the underskirt is in red/pink, and she stands with her legs straight, not bent-knee as in the staged photo.
I should mention: DO sings really well here.
While my attraction to this film was its use in the JL Columbo episode, where we saw little more than the opening credits, I really love the film, and hate that it has NOT been released to home video. If the IMDb company page is believable, not even to Laser or VHS. Glad I found a copy last year; I didn't find it when I searched today.
Universal, dir. Bacon; 7+
