Meet Me After the Show

Meet Me After the Show

Twentieth-Century Fox

August 15, 1951

Musical, Comedy, Romance

DVD
B+

This movie is both satisfyingly tropy and full of wacky surprises.  Grable is an utter delight, but everyone else throws themselves into it, even the one-line cop who tells Macdonald Carey (as Grable's jerkface husband) that he'll see him again soon.  The songs and dances are for the most part amazing, especially the proto-feminist "Betting on a Man."  One of the most enjoyable movies I've seen in ages, and surprisingly "modern" for a 70-year-old movie, like something from the later '50s or even '60s or '70s, from the slang ("chick," "dig") to the quasi-beatnik musclehead played by Rory Calhoun.  There's even a number (the one about "Joe") that anticipates Julie Brown's "Big and Stupid."  This is one of the few movies in this project I'd actually buy, although the DVD I watched is woefully lacking in extras.

Richard Sale directed and co-wrote.  And, yes, Gwen Verdon plays a character named Sappho!

The Lemon Drop Kid

The Lemon Drop Kid

Paramount

April 2, 1951

Comedy
DVD
D+

I probably saw this as a kid but at first I was mixing it up with Sorrowful Jones, which I remember liking.  Oh well.  This is based on the Damon Runyon story, as it tells us.  Sidney Lanfield and Frank Tashlin directed.

The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit

The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit

Disney

December 20, 1968

Children's, Comedy

DVD

D+

Surprisingly flat, considering the cast and the set-up, but I didn't even get up to Dean Jones meeting the title character.  This is based on the Louis Pelletier book The Year of the Horse, and directed by Norman Tokar.