Twentieth-Century Fox
August 15, 1951
Musical, Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+
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!
