Thursday, July 3, 2014

MARDI GRAS

Cadets? -- Dick Sargent, Tommy Sands, and Pat Boone
MARDI GRAS (1958). Director: Edmund Goulding.

A bunch of twenty-something cadets raffle off a date with new French-Hollywood movie star Michelle Marton (Christine Carere). Everyone is dismayed when the winning ticket goes to the most studious and disinterested among them, Paul (Pat Boone). In New Orleans Paul actually spends a very pleasant day with Michelle, who has switched places with her studio helpmate Eadie (Sheree North); he has no idea the young lady is the movie star he is supposed to be squiring. This leads to mostly unamusing complications. Mardi Gras is the most undistinguished of musicals; it has one decent song, "I'll Remember Tonight," and the rest are atrocious. Boone [Journey to the Center of the Earth] isn't bad; Carere is, well, pretty and little else; Gary Crosby essentially plays the same character he plays in every movie he did; Tommy Sands over-sings everything; and Dick Sargent is another over-aged cadet. Sheree North and Fred Clark add little to the tedious proceedings, although there are a couple of funny lines, as well as forgettable  cameos by Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter. This movie in no way captures the excitement of Mardi Gras even though there is some grainy stock footage of it. Hard to believe this treacle was directed by Edmund Goulding.

Verdict: Watch Goulding's The Old Maid instead. *1/2.

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