weezeralfalfa
Too often, Betty Hutton had to carry her, mostly B, films by herself(If anyone could, she could!). This film is a prime example. She should have often been teamed with a major comedic and/or musical film performer, as part of a team such as MGM's Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, or Universal's Don O'Connor and Peggy Ryan. Bob Hope, who was also contracted with Paramount, would seem the perfect partner for her. They only did one earlier film together. I realize that Bob was spending much time on tour with troops during this time. Why didn't Betty replace Dorothy Lamour in some of 'The Road Series'? Barry Fitzgerald may have been a recognizable supporting dramatic actor, but he's deadly dull, for the most part, in his leading role in this film. Perhaps "Cuddles" Sakal, as an older gentleman benefactor for Betty, could have breathed some life into this role.Latino Andy Russel is supposed to provide a little musical diversion and support for Betty in his first(of only a few) Hollywood film appearance. I suppose he was chosen because of his recent hit "Besame Mucho" and presumably cheap price. He only had a little screen time, mostly devoted to the ballad "Love Me" and backing up Betty in the weepy ballad "If I Had a Dozen Hearts". Unfortunately, he had no charisma and no chemistry with Betty. The former ballad is actually a decent, if not very imaginative, love song, and his crooning-style performance was OK, if not overpowering. The latter ballad didn't come off well. But, Betty's encore, as she and boyfriend Danny (Don Defore) are making up in the finale, sounds much better.Think I can see why this B&W film did well at the box office(especially for women) at the time. Courtesy of Barry's character: "Pop" Bates, Betty and her fellow impoverished hatchecking girlfriend(Gwen) get to buy all sorts of expensive things, a luxury apartment, and even get to order a chauffeur around. To a war-weary public, denied new consumer goods for some years, this was a fantasy come true. Betty, however, has to pay the price that her marine boyfriend, Danny, shows up and, naturally, assumes that she must be sponging off some sugar daddy, and wonders why she is living with 'Pop', thus wants to dump her. Meanwhile, Betty thinks her benefactor probably is her employer, Mr. Billingsley, while 'Pop' pretends he is a dirt poor panhandler. Eventually, Betty learns that 'Pop' is her true benefactor, while Danny finally gets confirmation that 'Pop' is rewarding Betty for saving his life. But Danny doesn't tell Betty right away that he has changed his attitude. So, she concocts a complicated nonsensical story about her grandfather and 'Pop's father and a gold mine(hilarious), which he pretends to fall for. Meanwhile, Betty is at work trying to arrange a reconciliation of "Pop" and his estranged wife. The finale, with Betty singing at the Stork Club, while Danny, as the orchestra conductor, is whispering sarcastic comments in her ear about her concocted story, is quite amusing!Actually, Don Defore(as Danny) is quite adequate, if lacking charisma, for what he is asked to do. Ditto for cute Iris Adrian, as Betty's girl friend. Iris rather looked like a shorter brunette version of Betty, and plays an Eve Arden-like woman, with a sharp tongue. Although she didn't look it, she was a decade older than Betty, and would appear in many more films than Betty, beginning at the dawn of talkies, usually as a chlorine, low class gold digger or gangster moll, later as a friend of the lead, mostly in B films.Betty has a couple more songs, none being an elaborate production. At 'Pop's request, she does a soulful rendition of the old chestnut "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree": a top hit in 1905, when 'Pop' was courting his future wife. It reemerges near the finale when Betty is trying to reconcile Pop and his wife. Her spirited novelty song "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief", with male quartette backup, was the hit of the film and enjoyed a life as a top pop single, although it's not my favorite in this film. Actually, she seems more like typically Betty Grable in this performance than the classic inimitable zany frenetic Betty Hutton showcased in the lively number "I'm a Square in the Social Circle". Her number "Daddy O" was cut from the film, but later recorded by Dinah Shore.For Betty Hutton fans(which includes me), this is a worthwhile film to check out, despite the major problem of the casting of Barry. The story is mostly fun, if implausible. The songs are decent,and a variety of types, if not obvious 'keepers'. Betty is cute and winsome. There are currently a surprising variety of DVD releases of this film available. I got the one that includes "The Perils of Pauline": one of Betty's best regarded films. It's not the greatest quality B&W, but adequate to get the gist of the film.
Jay Raskin
The first forty minutes of the movie is delightful with Barry Fitzgerald playing a millionaire in disguise who turns hatcheck girl Betty Hutton's life upside down. The last ten minutes are also fine with a cute and satisfying ending. Its the forty-five minutes in-between that gets bogged down. The biggest problem is the subplot with Don Defore. Defore plays an ex-marine returned from the war and the leader of an orchestra looking for a job. He is passionless and dull in both roles. He rejects long time girl friend Judy (Hutton) because he finds her in a wealthy apartment wearing rich clothes and assumes (incorrectly) that she got the goodies by whoring around. This might have made him noble in 1945, but now he seems like a "holier than thou" male chauvinist. One feels like telling the distraught Judy that she was lucky to get rid of the creep. Unfortunately, she has to feel guilty for having had good fortune without the help of her "man". She spends the rest of the movie trying to win him back.The other problem is that Betty sings just four musical numbers and only two ("Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" and "Square in a Social Circle") are in her inimitable jitterbug-swing style. These two numbers are the highlights in the film. Andy Russell, a rather lifeless Bing Crosby/Frank Sinatra type crooner is given three numbers, including a duet with Hutton, which just slows the film down. In sum, the delightful performance of Barry Fitzgerald and the comical energy and singing talent of Betty Hutton start the movie in a glowing fashion and eventually get us over the finish line, but the middle part is dated and a bit wearisome.I think the movie is worth seeing for two scenes - Hutton's dynamic delivery of "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" and her jarring scene where she welcomes her soldier boyfriend back from the war, saying "Move, Danny, Move, Do Something," I think at that moment she captured some of the extraordinary happiness that people felt about the war ending at that time.
