In reviewing the so-called golden age of the MGM musical, sometimes it's instructive to bypass the big, accomplished, but pretentious famous titles (An American In Paris, The Band Wagon, On the Town, Kismet) and skip to the smaller movies produced by someone other than Arthur Freed. This 1951 tuner from the Jack Cummings unit is probably Red Skelton's best movie, which may not be saying much, but it's a very smart and pleasing little musical that doesn't wear out its welcome (it's a trim 80 minutes or so). Red's dopey slapstick is kept to a minimum (just two set pieces, at the beginning and the end), and what's in between is surprisingly gentle and well-written Americana -- in sunny Technicolor. The underrated score, by Dorothy Fields and Arthur Schwartz (who wrote another wonderful score for Broadway that year, the equally underrated "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn"), is solidly integrated into the plot, and the musical staging, by Hermes Pan, is bright and inventive. (The movie contains what may be the least plot-motivated "dream ballet" ever, but even it's quick and unpretentious.) Sally Forrest is pretty as a picture and a heck of a dancer, and Monica Lewis socks two comedy numbers across. They will help you past the dum-dum physical comedy that was Skelton's stock in trade.
It's no award-winner, nor did it do much at the box office, but it holds up much better than some of the bigger, weightier MGM titles.
It's no award-winner, nor did it do much at the box office, but it holds up much better than some of the bigger, weightier MGM titles.