DO YOU LOVE ME?

Dick Haymes and Maureen O'Hara

DO YOU LOVE ME? (1946). Director: Gregory Ratoff. 

Katherine Hilliard (Maureen O'Hara) is a rather plain college professor, dean of the School of Music, who loves classical music and is engaged to fellow professor Ralph Wainwright (Richard Gaines). Traveling to New York by train she is insulted by a trumpeter, Barry Clayton (Harry James), after she tells him she doesn't care for his music. Stung by his criticism and glamorizing herself, Katherine is soon getting wolf whistles from Barry, singer Jimmy Hale (Dick Haymes), and others. But true love never runs smoothly, so it may be a while before "Kitty," as she is called, and Jimmy can get together. 

Harry James with O'Hara

Do You Love Me? is another film that focuses somewhat on the battle between classical and swing music, although there seems to be a truce by the end of the film. The movie tries to make out classical music lovers as being stuffy, but doesn't quite succeed in this, in large part because the classical pieces that are chosen are so rousing and exciting that no one but an idiot could find them dull. As for the "modern"  tunes, they are all sung quite well by Haymes: "I Didn't Mean a Word I Said," is especially nice, as is "The More I See You," which has become a standard. Haymes has a very good voice. His acting is also swell, O'Hara is luminescent and gorgeous, and even James gives a professional enough performance, though his trumpet-playing is better. Betty Grable, who was married to James at the time, has an amusing cameo. If you blink you might miss Lex Barker as a party guest. As an associate of Katherine's Reginald Gardiner is Reginald Gardiner, although he is quite convincing when he takes up the baton. James isn't as convincing conducting what sounds like a version of Gershwin's "Summertime."

Verdict: Amiable if minor Technicolor musical with some nice tunes. **1/2. 

CARNIVAL IN COSTA RICA

Dick Haymes and Vera-Ellen

CARNIVAL IN COSTA RICA (1947). Director: Gregory Ratoff. 

Luisa Molina (Vera-Ellen), daughter of Costa Rican Rico (J. Carrol Naish) and American Elsa (Anne Revere), is told that she is to have an arranged marriage to Pepe Castro (Cesar Romero). For his part Pepe is already in love with the brash Celeste (Celeste Holm), and pretends to Luisa and her parents that he is too sickly to dance, sightsee or do much else that she might enjoy, hoping they will cancel the engagement. While Luisa is contemplating this possible union with a low-energy, half-dead spouse, she meets Jeff Stephens (Dick Haymes), who practically sweeps her off her feet during Carnival. Neither Luisa's or Pepe's parents have a clue to what is going on as everyone tries to do the right thing -- but what is it?

Celeste Holm and Cesar Romero

Carnival in Costa Rica is, as the title implies, very colorful and full of music, including a few fairly insipid if inoffensive songs by Levanna and Ruby. There isn't much plot beyond what is described in the paragraph above, so the movie sinks or swims on its musical numbers, which are at least energetic if not terribly inspired, and its performances. Everyone in the cast is more than adequate, but I especially enjoyed Anne Revere, sophisticated and stylish as the mother; Romero, who is as charming as ever; and of course the ever-delightful Fritz Feld as a hotel manager who has an amusing scene with the two fathers in question. Dick Haymes' is fine as an actor, and when he opens his mouth out comes one of the smoothest and most attractive voices in popular music. He knows how to put over a song, too (if only the songs had been a bit better). Little red-headed Tommy Ivo plays Luisa's sister even if he doesn't look much like a Costa Rican. Vera-Ellen's dancing is swell, but this could have used an Astaire or Kelly. 

Verdict: A pleasant and perfectly forgettable musical comedy without enough comedy. **1/4.

DU BARRY WAS A LADY

Ball, Kelly, Skelton, O'Brien, Dorsey

DU BARRY WAS A LADY (1943). Director: Roy Del Ruth.

May Daly (Lucille Ball) is a nightclub singer who is courted by both Alec (Gene Kelly) and Louis (Red Skelton), neither of whom are rich enough to suit her. She is squired around town by a man who is wealthy, as well as much older, Wille (Douglass Dumbrille). When Louis wins the sweepstakes May wonders if she can have any kind of life with the newly rich fellow, but before any decision is made Louis collapses and dreams that they are all back in the days of King Louis and Madame Du Barry. Who will May ultimately wind up with, and will the IRS man (Donald Meek) leave any money for Louis? Du Barry is a strange picture, whose plot -- such as it is -- is put on hold for about half an hour (after the brief opening minutes) while we watch Tommy Dorsey and his band perform and the Oxford Boys do their impressions of famous band leaders. Others in the cast include the delightfully deadpan Virginia O'Brien; Zero Mostel (who does a pretty terrible impression of Charles Boyer); Louise Beavers as May's sassy maid, Niagara; Dick Haymes, who only appears as the lead vocalist in a group of singers; and drummer Buddy Rich. There's also Clara Blandick as a funny little old lady on a subway who gives advice to Ball and Skelton. This is very loosely based on a Cole Porter Broadway show, although most of the songs in the movie were written by others. Du Barry isn't a very good movie, but it goes out on a high note, with the cast spiritedly performing Porter's "Friendship." Another bright spot is Kelly's dancing to "Do I Love You.", although Kelly doesn't get to do nearly enough dancing in this.

Verdict: Silly, amiable, light-weight, but well-performed, and the final number is a pip. **.

ONE TOUCH OF VENUS

Sleeping Beauty: Ava Gardner

ONE TOUCH OF VENUS (1948). Director: William A. Seiter.

"Debussy. Debussy does something to women." -- Mr. Savory.

"Personally, I go for Buzzy Balou and his Musical Crew." -- Molly.

Eddie Hatch (Robert Walker of My Son John) is a window dresser for Savory's department store. Mr. Savory (Tom Conway) has just acquired a $200,000 statue of Venus which he wishes to unveil and he instructs Eddie to make sure the curtain rises perfectly at the right moment. Eddie impulsively kisses the statue, and the next thing he knows it has come to life. Venus (Ava Gardner), Goddess of Love visiting from Olympus, is charmed by Eddie, and he is smitten with her, although he already has a girlfriend in clerk Gloria (Olga San Juan). Eddie's buddy, Joe (Dick Haymes of St. Benny the Dip) has a secret crush on Gloria, as secretary Molly (Eve Arden) does on her boss, Mr. Savory. Spotting her asleep in a model home on the first floor of the store, Savory determines to drape this goddess in gowns and make her his own. Will all of these lovers get together with the right person, and will Eddie have to go to jail for stealing a very expensive statue? One Touch of Venus, adapted from the Broadway show that starred Mary Martin, takes a while to get its footing (a third of the movie has gone by before anyone sings a song, for one thing), but it develops into a charming and well-performed musical comedy. Gardner [The Night of the Iguana] makes a luscious Venus, and is good in the role, although her singing is dubbed. The other performers are all on the money -- Sara Allgood has a nice turn as an anxious landlady --  and Eve Arden adds just that extra special sparkle that the proceedings require. The movie drops about half of the songs (Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash) -- some are heard in the background -- but retains "Speak Low;" "That's Him;" and "My Foolish Heart." Olga San Juan was in the original Broadway cast of Lerner and Loewe's Paint Your Wagon.

Verdict: Romantic tomfoolery perhaps, but it certainly has its delights. ***.

ST. BENNY THE DIP

Nina Foch and Dick Haymes

ST. BENNY THE DIP (1951). Director: Edgar G. Ulmer.

Benny (Dick Haymes), Monk (Lionel Stander), and Matthew (Roland Young) are three con artists trying to pull a rather mean score when the law intervenes and they take it on the lam. The trio hide out by disguising themselves as priests, and wind up running an abandoned mission for the indigent. Benny has trouble staying in character when he meets pretty illustrator Linda (Nina Foch), and the three men's fates just might turn out differently than expected. The premise might be a bit sappy, but it has possibilities that aren't overly plumbed in this quaint comedy that has some good performances. Haymes [Irish Eyes Are Smiling] is a cast standout, and is given one nice number, "I Believe," which is not to be confused with the more famous song of the same name; he's also in fine voice. Young and Stander are also good, with the latter less gross and tiresome than usual. He has a good scene reuniting with his long-suffering wife, Mary (a notable Jean Casto), late in the picture. Nina Foch [Illegal] is given an odd part, and at times she seems demented in her determination to marry a man she hardly knows. A shockingly bad performance is given by a grown-up Freddie Bartholomew, once a wonderful child actor, who plays a geeky young priest named Wilbur. Bartholomew could give good adult performances, as he did in The Town Went Wild, but in this he just tries too hard to be funny; it was his last picture. The odd thing about this movie is that it has a certain quality and appeal despite the fact that it's really not that good. Robert W. Stringer's interesting score, especially the excellent theme music, may have something to do with that.

Verdict: Oddly interesting comedy with some good performances. **1/2.

FOUR JILLS IN A JEEP

Martha Raye, Carole Landis, Kay Francis, Mitzi Mayfair

FOUR JILLS IN A JEEP (1944). Director: William A. Seiter.

Loosely based on the wartime experiences of the four leading ladies, this has them playing themselves as they go on an entertainment tour for the fighting GI's. Kay Francis, who can't sing or dance, acts as the mistress of ceremonies, while Carole Landis sings, Mitzi Mayfair dances, and Martha Raye (who was not a bad singer herself) mugs and makes the usual jokes about her appearance. John Harvey [The Man with My Face]  plays Landis' love interest, who marries her during the film (Landis did marry an Army man during the war but the union only lasted two years). Phil Silvers plays the Army jeep driver who escorts the ladies everywhere and tries to get a date with Raye. Dick Haymes [Irish Eyes are Smiling] is cast as Mayfield's love interest and he offers a smooth delivery of a couple of romantic ballads. Bandleader Jimmy Dorsey [Lost in a Harem] is pleasant playing himself. Landis' apprehension when Harvey, a flier, is late in coming back from a mission is well delineated, but it leads to an odd sequence. One of the other pilots crashes off-screen and literally a second later Harvey shows up for a clinch., but neither of them ever say a word about the flier who was presumably killed, making them seem cold-blooded to say the least. The film's highlights include Mayfair's scintillating dance numbers; Betty Grable singing "Cuddle Up a Little Closer;" the drag queen-like Carmen Miranda dancing and warbling in her inimitable manner; and especially Alice Faye's moving rendition of  her haunting signature tune, "You''ll Never Know." Another terrific number, Rayes' "With a Wing and a Prayer," was left on the cutting room floor but can be seen on the DVD along with Miranda's rendition of "Mama yo quero." The songs were by McHugh and Adamson. Mayfair was essentially a Broadway tap dancer and made few films. She's cute, perky, and talented, and could have had a nice career playing second leads in romantic musicals.

Verdict: For what it is, a kind of time capsule with good performances from all. ***.

STATE FAIR (1945)

Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain

STATE FAIR (1945). Director: Walter Lang.

The Frake family head for the Iowa state fair with a variety of goals: Father Abel (Charles Winninger) wants his boar, Blueboy, to win a prize; mother Melissa (Fay Bainter) also wants to win a ribbon for her mincemeat; restless daughter Margy (Jeanne Crain) has spring fever and is hoping to meet someone more exciting than her fiance, Harry (Phil Brown of Obsession); and son Wayne (Dick Haymes) just seems to want to have fun. Margy meets a newspaperman named Pat (Dana Andrews), who tells her he'll just disappear if if doesn't work out with her, and Wayne encounters singer Emily (Vivian Blaine), who has a little secret. Frankly, the romantic aspects of the movie are a little lopsided -- who really falls sincerely in love in two days? -- and the siblings blow off their respective beaus with casual, if not heartless, ease, but this is standard stuff for the period and since everything is just a framework for some excellent Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes, it doesn't really matter. "Spring Fever," "That's For Me," "I Owe Iowa" are all fine numbers, but the best songs are Haymes [Irish Eyes are Smiling] and Blaine's zesty delivery of "Isn't It Kind of Fun?" and the movie's best song, the beautiful "It's a Grand Night for Singing," a classic Rodgers melody. State Fair was not based on a Broadway show but on the first State Fair film, a non-musical starring Will Rogers made in 1933, although Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the screenplay for this remake (just as he did the librettos for their stage musicals). The acting in this is uniformly excellent, with Donald Meek nearly stealing the picture as a judge who gets drunk on Melissa's brandy-soaked mincemeat. Percy Kilbride scores as the Frakes' pessimistic neighbor, as do Jane Nigh, Harry Morgan, and William Marshall [The Phantom Planet] in smaller roles. Remade in 1962; both versions are in color.

Verdict: As stories go, this is not exactly The King and I, but the performances are good and the songs are all lilting and memorable. ***.

ALL ASHORE

ALL ASHORE (1953). Director: Richard Quine.

This is another sailors-on-shore-looking-for-girls movie (like the Quine-directed So This is Paris), and not one of the better ones. Joe (Dick Haymes) and Skip (Ray McDonald) importune "buddy" Moby (Mickey Rooney) to stake them to an outing to Catalina. Joe and Skip behave so badly toward Moby -- at one point Joe even walks off with Moby's date -- that after awhile it becomes more depressing than funny. There are assorted misadventures, with Moby winding up in bed in the girls' apartment, and so on. The "girls" are Peggy Ryan, Barbara Bates, and Jody Lawrance [The Family Secret] and none of them make much of an impression. Haymes [Irish Eyes are Smiling] has a fine voice, McDonald is a swell dancer, the ladies are pretty, Rooney aims for pathos with a number about how he's a loser etc., but this is not very entertaining. Some of the Wells and Karger songs are okay.

Verdict: Even Mickey Rooney can't save this one. *1/2.

IRISH EYES ARE SMILING

IRISH EYES ARE SMILING (1944). Director: Gregory Ratoff.

This purports to tell the life story of composer Ernest R. Ball (Dick Haymes) who wrote such popular songs as When Irish Eyes Are Smiling and Mother Macree. However it comes off as just the usual fictionalized schlock in most of these Hollywood musical biopics about subjects who are too dead to protest and whose life story is not well known enough for the audience to care. June Haver is the quick-with-her-fist gal that Ball falls in love with. Veda Ann Borg shows up briefly in a vivid bit as a bitchy performer who fires Haver. Monty Woolley, the real star of the film, gives an excellent performance, but he's completely wasted in this tripe. Haymes makes a pleasant and attractive leading man, and has a nice voice. Haver is as competent as ever; she's just not very distinctive. Famous baritone Leonard Warren sings one of the ballads and steals the show. Clarence Kolb and Anthony Quinn are along for the ride. Nice music. The Bonnie with a Bustle number is high camp. A completely contrived script.

Verdict: Can't beat that bustle! **.