You Were Meant for Me

1948 "The Loves, the songs, the laughter of that wonderful "Flapper Age"!"
6.1| 1h32m| en
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A bandleader falls in love and marries a small town girl.

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Reviews

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.
Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
Manthast Absolutely amazing
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
JohnHowardReid Dailey's alto sax solos were dubbed by Russ Cheever. Songs and musical numbers included: "Crazy Rhythm" (Irving Caesar, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Joseph Meyer), "You Were Meant for Me" (Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown), "Goodnight Sweetheart" (James Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Ray Noble), "If I Had You" (Campbell, Connelly, Ted Shapiro), "Ain't She Sweet" (Jack Yellen, Milton Ager), "Ain't Misbehavin" (Andy Razaf, Fats Waller), "I'll Get By" (Roy Turk, Fred Ahlert), "Concerto in F" (George Gershwin, played by Levant), "Sweet Georgia Brown" (Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard, Kenneth Casey), "What Can I Say After I Say I'm Sorry" (Walter Donaldson, Abe Lyman), the latter two done by Eddie Miller on the soundtrack.Copyright 16 January 1948 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 28 January 1948. U.S. release: February 1948. U.K. release: 23 August 1948. Australian release: 1 April 1948. 8,247 feet. 91 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Small-town girl, Jeanne Crain marries bandleader Dailey. Tiring of constant travel, Crain goes home. His bookings ruined by the onset of the Great Depression, Dailey joins her there, along with his cynical manager, Levant. Then Dailey decides to take off alone, determined to conquer the big city. COMMENT: Moderately entertaining, black-and-white musical, runs through some familiar songs in a pleasant manner and is agreeably acted. The script is an old one and the direction does little to give it sparkle. Production values are moderate. But fortunately I liked all the songs and Levant's piano-playing is in top form. It was also a pleasure to hear Gershwin's "Concerto in F". Dailey is his usual bumptious, go-getting self - he's not one of my favorites, by any means - but Jeanne Crain is both appealingly nice and suitably vulnerable, and there's a fair line-up of character players including Percy Kilbride and Selena Royle.
dougdoepke The movie puzzles me. On the whole, it's a rather dour little musical, but not without its moments. However, I'm struck that the cast is not well served by the quality of the production. Given TCF's reputation for gloss, particularly in its musicals, this production almost looks like a neglected child. The b&w is undistinguished, the direction uninspired, the production numbers meager and the script erratic, particularly in the final few minutes. It's as if the producers wanted a quick, happy wrap regardless of what went before. Given Crain's rising star, State Fair (1945) and Leave Her to Heaven (1945), the studio's apparent disregard seems doubly puzzling.Nonetheless, Crain's charm shines through as she battles to keep her marriage together through both high times and low. Dailey too, is engaging as a bandleader who has trouble coping when the Depression suddenly dries up his gigs. Happily, there's some genuine chemistry in their pairing. To me, the high point comes when he and Crain break into an impromptu little dance in the drugstore. It's a charming little display of musical talent, helped along by the movie's generally tuneful selection of songs. Speaking of talent, Levant's gift for dourly humorous asides is ill served by director Bacon. Levant is primarily a personality, not an actor, so he needs a lot of coaching, which his uneasy performance apparently didn't get. Too bad, since he can be delightfully sour when more comfortable. All in all, the two stars shine through even though the production doesn't.
edwagreen "You Were Meant for Me" has all the elements of a very nice film. We have a dance band and Jeanne Craine falling for and marrying band leader Dan Dailey over night.All goes well until the stock market crashes in 1929 and the band is forced to disband.Dailey and Jeanne move back with her parents, Percy Kilbride, who, for a change is not funny here and the dependable Selena Royle who really never was known for comedic gifts. Their lack of it is showing here. Kilbride,in particular, wastes chances to enhance his part. Known for deadpan humor, it is missing here.Invariably, when Dailey refuses a job offer that he considers beneath him, the two argue and Dailey runs off to N.Y.It is at this point that the film goes awry. Dailey, at the bus depot, looks out at Bloomington, Indiana. He runs back to Craine where he finds long-time pal Oscar (Oscar Levant) at the house. Kilbride comes home from his job. By the next scene, Dailey is leading a band and Levant is working selling bricks at Kilbride's place.Craine and Dailey dance and the film ends. There was no proper segue leading up to this end.In addition, the few dance numbers are too stilted. Craine, tries but gives little pep to this film. Song and dance man Dailey is wasted here.
Lou Rugani Yes, I know it's been done before, but this great little tale of a struggling Thirties couple really has something special. Optimistic Dan Dailey keeps smiling through it all, Jeanne Crain lights up the screen, Oscar Levant is a wry delight, and see Percy Kilbride just before his "Pa Kettle" persona caught on. And that great title song.......! Highly recommended to all.