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| Donald O/Connor |
ARE YOU WITH IT? (1948). Director: Jack Hively.
Milton Haskins (Donald O'Connor of
Something in the Wind) is an actuary with an insurance firm who puts a decimal point in the wrong place and gets in hot water. Contemplating his future in the park, he encounters carny worker "Goldie" McGoldrick (Lew Parker), who thinks he can use his obvious smarts working for the carnival. His fiancee, Vivian (Olga San Juan of
One Touch of Venus) isn't as enamoured of the idea, especially when there are dancing girls in his act. There's not much more to the film's plot, aside from some business about Milton exposing a woman who is trying to buy the carnival from Pop (Walter Catlett of
Fired Wife).
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| Olga San Juan |
Are You With It? is an amiable if distinctly minor musical that has a fine lead performance and some engaging enough supporting players, but is not distinguished by any great songs (Miller and James). The production numbers go from mediocre ("Baba's Alley") to terrible ("Prince of a Fella"). There is, however, a lively dance competition between Milton, Goldie and a bartender in a tavern, and "What Do I Have to Do?" cleverly features O'Connor in advertisements that come to life. Lew Parker seems like a cross between Milton Berle and Phil Silvers but isn't as interesting as either. This was his only big role in a theatrical film as most of his work was on the stage or television.
Verdict: Some fun but fairly forgettable. **1/4.
2 comments:
I think the only A+ film O'Connor ever did was Singin in the Rain. Though I do like him with Ethel Merman, Mitzi Gaynor, Dan Daily and Marilyn Monroe in No Business Like Show Business. If this comes along on TV,I'll give it a look.
-C
O'Connor did a lot of movies of varying quality and budgets. He was a good performer. I think like a lot of actors of this period he became a bit bitter that the kind of thing he used to excell at became dated in the sixties.
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