Pleasant enough B musical from Republic, with country gal Judy Canova, played by Judy Canova, balancing proposals from the local doofus (Alan Hale Jr., and you see why he never became a leading man) and the city-slicker music publisher (Eddie Foy Jr., lost in an unappealing part) who wants to buy her song, which his company has already mistakenly published and recorded. Judy was an enthusiastic and boisterous comedienne with a fine contralto, and like other funny ladies-Martha Raye, Betty Hutton, Nancy Walker-she also did well by ballads. She gets a swell one here, and amid all the slapstick and action and rather dumb comedy (a completely extraneous number featuring ice cream man Fuzzy Knight), she remains feminine and appealing. There's a fairly exciting covered wagon race climax, and Claire Carleton does some good work as a femme fatale. It's all rather stupid, but it's fast, and a good Judy showcase.
2 Reviews
The honey from this chile' is not the bee's knees.
mark.waltz15 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
When New York songwriting agents Walter Catlett and Eddie Foy Jr. realize that the song they copywrote for another singer was actually sent to them by country bumpkin Judy Canova, they must rectify their mistake by going to see her in her cornpone community to get her to sell them the rights after she had requested the song back. Foy pretends to court Canova, creating conflict between Canova and her fiancee (an enthusiastic Alan Hale Jr.), especially after Foy has Hale set up with a big city vixen (Claire Carleton). More conflict and site gags occur in two different sequences involving covered wagons, one where Carleton is trapped on a speeding one, and another as part of a covered wagon race where Canova finds herself in a runaway wagon as well and later dealing with a local bad guy. She also deals with her pranksterous younger siblings (Karolyn Grimes and Brad Morrow) who practically spoil her big birthday party in various ways, most memorably with Morrow switching a box of fresh cherries with three huge frogs in a gag sequence that doesn't really have the funny payoff it should have.
While Canova had made some entertaining musical comedies in the 1940's, her return to the screen after a five year absence is quite disappointing, a musical farce with poor songs (including the title song that Catlett and Foy are so desperate to buy), ridiculous situations, and some dated comedy that will make you sit there completely stoic as the gags fly by. A sequence involving obnoxious window washer Gus Schilling is just wretched, although one gag involving a gown Canova ordered for her birthday does have some impact on those who can find laughter in the corniest bits of humor. For "cuteness" other than Grimes and Morrow there are two adorable little old gossipy ladies (Ida Moore and Sara Edwards), but their parts have no real impact on anything other than to reveal the disgust that the town has for Canova cavorting with big city show biz types. The print I saw, credited with "TruColor", was extremely faded, so it might as well have just been in black and white. However, the movie is so unmemorable, I don't think that restoration would even be worth it.
While Canova had made some entertaining musical comedies in the 1940's, her return to the screen after a five year absence is quite disappointing, a musical farce with poor songs (including the title song that Catlett and Foy are so desperate to buy), ridiculous situations, and some dated comedy that will make you sit there completely stoic as the gags fly by. A sequence involving obnoxious window washer Gus Schilling is just wretched, although one gag involving a gown Canova ordered for her birthday does have some impact on those who can find laughter in the corniest bits of humor. For "cuteness" other than Grimes and Morrow there are two adorable little old gossipy ladies (Ida Moore and Sara Edwards), but their parts have no real impact on anything other than to reveal the disgust that the town has for Canova cavorting with big city show biz types. The print I saw, credited with "TruColor", was extremely faded, so it might as well have just been in black and white. However, the movie is so unmemorable, I don't think that restoration would even be worth it.
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