Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

wes-connors This lightweight update of "Swanee River" (1939) is also in color, but lacks Al Jolson. "I Dream of Jeanie (with the Light Brown Hair)" is not only the title, but also introduces perky Eileen Christy (as Jeanie). She is the love interest of great American songwriter Stephen Foster (Bill Shirley), but he thinks he likes sister Muriel Lawrence (as Inez). Minstrel showman Ray Middleton (as Edwin P. Christy) is the man who helps turn Mr. Foster's songs into hits. Home studio Republic's Rex Allen joins in a partially embarrassing "black-face" sequence, by which time the movie has lost sight of its flimsy plot. It's tuneful, though.*** I Dream of Jeanie (6/4/52) Allan Dwan ~ Bill Shirley, Ray Middleton, Eileen Christy, Rex Allen

MARIO GAUCI On the surface, this is a poor man's SWANEE RIVER (1939) – the big-budget 20th Century Fox biopic of celebrated American songwriter Stephen Foster (played in that film by Don Ameche); actually, there had been an even earlier film version of the same events entitled HARMONY LANE (1935) and starring Douglass Montgomery! This Republic production is, nevertheless, a colorful diversion – with a third-rate cast scoring quite nicely with their enthusiastic performances, and especially Ray Middleton (as famous minstrel man, E. P. Christy – portrayed in SWANEE RIVER by Al Jolson, and whom Middleton appears to be mimicking throughout), Muriel Lawrence (as Foster's snobbish fiancée) and Eileen Christy (as her earthier younger sister, the Jeanie of the title). However, the actor who portrays Foster here – Bill Shirley – is rather weak and fails to do real justice to the troubled, short-lived composer! Rotund character actor Percy Helton has a nice supporting role as Foster's sarcastic employer during his day job as a book-keeper.The film starts off amiably enough, but the second half is mostly bogged down by an uninterrupted succession of musical numbers – although Middleton's forceful, slightly campy portrayal of the flamboyant Christy does a lot to enliven proceedings nevertheless. Prolific Hollywood veteran Dwan dabbled in practically every genre; this, in fact, wasn't his first musical – having earlier made the 1939 version of THE THREE MUSKETEERS (also known as THE SINGING MUSKETEER, and whose recently-released DVD edition I need to pick up, especially now that I've just acquired a number of his work via budget releases from VCI). For the record, three cast members from the film – Middleton, Shirley and Christy – were re-united with their director here for next year's SWEETHEARTS ON PARADE.

tavm Just found out on this site that the man who portrays Stephen Foster here was the voice of the Prince in Disney's Sleeping Beauty and the singing voice of Freddie in Warner Bros.' My Fair Lady. I recognized two names in the cast credits: Louise Beavers, who I knew from Imitation of Life, portrays another Mammy role, the kind that she became known for and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (credited as Carl Dean Switzer) who portrays a different Freddie here (his character works at the same accounting office Foster works). Everyone else drew a blank though I also found out Rex Allan, who guests here in blackface, was also a narrator in films like the original movie versions of The Incredible Journey and Charlotte's Web. Mostly enjoyable musical despite the blackface number near the end that I just referred to. For that reason, more sensitive souls should proceed with caution. Made before the civil rights era came into full bloom.

Bobs-9 I also watched the DVD that resurrected this forgotten film. The minstrel show scene aside (and that was not considered particularly hateful by white society in 1952), the racism isn't any more offensive than anything you might see in "Gone with the Wind." Ray Middleton is fun to watch as an egotistical hambone of a showman, but he is not the hero of this story. This film's real crime is to make the film's subject, songwriter Stephen Foster, the most unappealing, weak-willed, limp dishrag of a person ever to have a film centered around him, and there was no compensating spark of personality, wit, or nobility to counterbalance that impression. There was a sense of romance about him, in a wan, hopeless, tear-in-the-eye Pierrot sort of way. But really – he was portrayed as such a sad sack human doormat that you couldn't even feel sorry for him. I found it altogether puzzling.