Some people look at Betty Grable's career at Fox and think her popularity started to wane in 1950...that she was mainly a star of the 1940s who became less relevant in the postwar years. Well, it's true she didn't transition to television. And it is also true that some of the vehicles Fox put her in during the early 1950s may have been better.
But Miss Grable was still turning out hits for her home studio, and on one occasion, she was loaned out to Columbia. When she made MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW, she was enjoying box office success with WABASH AVENUE. She still had HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE ahead of her. So she was not by any stretch of the imagination someone on the downswing.
Where I think she loses a bit of her mojo at this time is when she is given scripts that seem overly formulaic. However, even the most standard plots feature her considerable charms and talents. And those gorgeous legs.
MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW was written and directed by Dick Sale, and while sluggish in a few spots, it still has enough oomph to sustain its 87-minute running time. It's presented in Technicolor with the musical numbers and flourishes associated with a Grable picture.
The production relies in large part on an exaggerated comic premise. It all begins when Grable's character separates from a manipulative Broadway producer husband (Macdonald Carey). Their union has hit a few snags, and she relocates from New York to Florida to reinvent herself. Part of this involves amnesia, which is a convenient excuse to do outrageous things that would ordinarily be out of character.
Made just as television was gaining traction with audiences, I would say this is a movie sitcom with music. Though not all the story elements come off convincingly, Miss Grable is nonetheless served well by the outstanding dance routines that enliven the proceedings...including gyrations with a muscular hunk.
Mr. Sale's production is a slight adaptation of an earlier hit at 20th Century Fox called HE MARRIED HIS WIFE (1940). In addition to the entertaining song-and-dance segments, there is dependable acting from the men supporting Grable in this endeavor: Mr. Carey and costar Eddie Albert.
Most remember Mac Carey for SHADOW OF A DOUBT or Days of Our Lives...but he was bonafide movie star and a most underrated performer. He has a knack for delivering lines in a way that makes a man a wolf in sheep's clothing and a sheep in wolf's clothing.
Carey gets the chance to sing to Grable during a scene on a boat, which is a bonus. He would go on to collaborate with Dick Sale in three more films...LET'S MAKE IT LEGAL with Claudette Colbert; MY WIFE'S BEST FRIEND with Anne Baxter and MALAGA with Maureen O'Hara. Meet me after this review, and I can recommend more Mac Carey movies.
But Miss Grable was still turning out hits for her home studio, and on one occasion, she was loaned out to Columbia. When she made MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW, she was enjoying box office success with WABASH AVENUE. She still had HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE ahead of her. So she was not by any stretch of the imagination someone on the downswing.
Where I think she loses a bit of her mojo at this time is when she is given scripts that seem overly formulaic. However, even the most standard plots feature her considerable charms and talents. And those gorgeous legs.
MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW was written and directed by Dick Sale, and while sluggish in a few spots, it still has enough oomph to sustain its 87-minute running time. It's presented in Technicolor with the musical numbers and flourishes associated with a Grable picture.
The production relies in large part on an exaggerated comic premise. It all begins when Grable's character separates from a manipulative Broadway producer husband (Macdonald Carey). Their union has hit a few snags, and she relocates from New York to Florida to reinvent herself. Part of this involves amnesia, which is a convenient excuse to do outrageous things that would ordinarily be out of character.
Made just as television was gaining traction with audiences, I would say this is a movie sitcom with music. Though not all the story elements come off convincingly, Miss Grable is nonetheless served well by the outstanding dance routines that enliven the proceedings...including gyrations with a muscular hunk.
Mr. Sale's production is a slight adaptation of an earlier hit at 20th Century Fox called HE MARRIED HIS WIFE (1940). In addition to the entertaining song-and-dance segments, there is dependable acting from the men supporting Grable in this endeavor: Mr. Carey and costar Eddie Albert.
Most remember Mac Carey for SHADOW OF A DOUBT or Days of Our Lives...but he was bonafide movie star and a most underrated performer. He has a knack for delivering lines in a way that makes a man a wolf in sheep's clothing and a sheep in wolf's clothing.
Carey gets the chance to sing to Grable during a scene on a boat, which is a bonus. He would go on to collaborate with Dick Sale in three more films...LET'S MAKE IT LEGAL with Claudette Colbert; MY WIFE'S BEST FRIEND with Anne Baxter and MALAGA with Maureen O'Hara. Meet me after this review, and I can recommend more Mac Carey movies.