Jenna Walter
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Tayyab Torres
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Winifred
The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Andrew Schoneberg
Designed partially as a showcase for RKO owner Howard Hughes girlfriend, Janet Leigh. Hughes could afford to import quite a lot of first rate talent in the effort, mostly from best in the musical business MGM. Current or former MGM talent included Leigh, Ann Miller, Gloria DeHaven, and Tony Martin, along with musical number director Busby Berkeley. Leigh proved herself competent as a singer and dancer, and is certainly pleasant in personality and a pleasure to look at.In the musical numbers featuring the four "girls", Gloria DeHaven is the standout (sorry Ann Miller fans). DeHaven sings superbly, handles the dancing with aplomb, has just the right mix of charisma, humor, sincerity, and takes a back seat to no one in the beauty department.I thought the musical numbers well staged and mostly very pleasant (exception the very banal Pellican Falls school song). The comedy of Smith and Dale, I could live without, if you'll excuse the expression. And Eddie Bracken is too frenetic and broad in his comedy for my taste.Though none of the songs became a standard, a couple are excellent; I especially enjoyed "The Worry Bird", and "The Closer You Are" has a gorgeous melody.All in all, the film is the equal of many of the lower budget MGM musicals, and that ain't bad at all.
froberts73
First of all, to those upset about the Indian number - get a life. This was '51. Don't take it so seriously - and keep away from pictures with Mantan Moreland, etc.Then there are the criticisms about Tony Martin. He has the dark look, so some people automatically assume he should portray gangsters. Prejudice, prejudice against dark-haired people. Tsk.Martin sang grand opera in this movie, pop songs, novelties and did beautifully with all of them. Not all of the music was memorable, but even the songs that might be described as mediocre were beautifully presented. The girls were attractive and personable. Miss Leigh was a doll and, yes, she did her own singing and dancing.No one can knock Ann Miller. What a great talent. Speaking of talent, The Charlivels were outstanding as a high wire act, and as dancers.Interesting casting was Max Baer's bro, Buddy, also a boxer, as a tough swabbie.The Bob Crosby number, where he compares himself with brother Bing was very well done - real life situation. The one thing I missed - I wish his band had played some of its trademark Dixieland. OOoops - is that word offensive to northern ears? The plot was ancient but, who cares. Howard Hughes put this together and came up with a fun, pleasant movies.
f111151
The initial commenter wondered if Janet Leigh was dubbed in this film since he couldn't remember her singing in any of her other pictures. Well, she did sing in other films, most notably in "Bye Bye Birdie", and "My Sister Eileen", and while she was not known as an accomplished singer or dancer, she managed to give fairly good performances in both films and to demonstrate a competent ability in numerous guest appearances on variety television programs of the '50's and the '60's. I hope this will help to answer your questions. You might also look at her work in "Rogue Cop", where she plays a singer, and "Walking my Baby Back Home", a musical she made with Donald O'Connor, as well as "Fearless Fagan" where again, she is a singer/entertainer. She speaks at length about her musical experiences in her autobiography, "There really was a Hollywood", and gives a great accounting of her early career.
Dale Houstman
This is not a bad musical. It's also not a good one. Tony Martin has a solid - yet unexciting - singing voice, and Janet Leigh - of course - cannot sing OR dance. So she was the perfect choice for a musical? It all drifts along without offending or titillating (now and then touched by a nice bit from Eddie Bracken, or the "Jewish" banter of the restaurant owners), and one can watch it or not. And then Martin appears as "Big Chief Hole-In-The-Ground" in a musical number that should be profoundly repulsive to modern audiences. Its caricature of reservation Indians as being somehow rich, due to oil being found on the land, is quite offensive when one realizes that many, many times entire tribes were moved off their land simply because it suddenly became valuable. So this bit is no longer amusing in the least. It wouldn't be any great problem (given that such casual racism pops up in a lot of older films), except that the film is so near to being empty of interest, that this concern - at least for this viewer - is downright horrifying. All the film's other problems (Janet's non-musicality, a general lack of wowser tunes, the presence of that "Dancing Loutess" Ann Miller, and a drifting filmic sensibility) fade to nothing beside this large hole in the "entertainment."