DUCHESS OF IDAHO

Esther Williams and Van Johnson

DUCHESS OF IDAHO (1950). Director: Robert Z. Leonard.

Ellen Hallet (Paula Raymond) is madly in love with her playboy boss, Doug Morrison (John Lund of The Perils of Pauline), but he doesn't know she's alive. He consistently has Ellen pretend to be his fiancee so he can dump other women in a very cruel fashion. While any woman with sense or self-respect would tell Doug to go screw himself, Ellen has to have him, and her sister, Christine (Esther Williams) -- a theatrical swimming star, of course -- comes up with an idea. This idea, which doesn't make much sense, is for her to go to Sun Valley where Doug is staying and romance him, apparently with the hopes of opening his eyes to Ellen's charms. Say what? As only can happen in the movies, this ploy apparently works until Doug finds out about it, and we mustn't forget the complication of band leader and singer Dick Layn (Van Williams), who falls for Christine but is put off by her attentions to Doug. Oy vey. The plot for this flick is pretty stupid, but it has its charms, mostly due to a winning cast. Paula Raymond [The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms] has one of her most memorable roles, and is on screen almost as long as Williams. (In fact, there are times when our gal almost seems crowded out of her own movie.) Johnson makes a handsome and adept leading man for Williams, Lund is also good, and Williams swims with distinction and plays with her usual saucy and sexy attitude. Eleanor Powell dances in a guest bit, Red Skelton cameos for a minute or two, and Connie Haines, as singer Peggy Elliott, is merely mediocre. Mel Torme plays a bellboy named Cyril and looks 14, Lena Horne warbles a number, and Amanda Blake [Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard] is effective as the slinky Linda, who tries to drag Doug to the altar. Clinton Sundberg makes his mark, as usual, as Doug's slightly acerbic butler. The song numbers, mostly be-bop or a lesser variation on swing music, are not memorable.

Verdict: The script is nothing to crow about, but the cast puts it over with aplomb. **1/2. 

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1947)

Betty Hutton and John Lund

THE PERILS OF PAULINE (1947). Director: George Marshall.

Pearl White (Betty Hutton) leaps from a factory job into "show business" when she joins a traveling theater company with the help of a dowager named Julia (Constance Collier). Tired of her mistreatment by the dreamy head of the troupe, Michael Farrington (John Lund of No Man of Her Own), she walks off and finds herself in silent pictures, becoming the great and wealthy serial heroine of The Perils of Pauline and others. But when she offers Michael a job as her leading man will it lead to lasting love for the couple or just disaster? The Perils of Pauline is very loosely based on the life of Pearl White, which actually had enough drama in it without the screenwriter's inventions. Hutton, never one of my favorites, is excellent, however, and she gets good support from Lund (playing a truly obnoxious character whose good looks only make slightly more palatable), Collier [Rope], Billy De Wolfe, and William Demarest as a film director. Songs by Frank Loesser [The Most Happy Fella] include "Rumble," "I Wish I Didn't Love You So," and "Papa Don't Preach." In real life serials were made very quickly, but in this the filming of The Perils of Pauline stretches out for years and years!

Verdict: Hutton in fine form and an entertaining biopic, if mostly balderdash. ***.

NO MAN OF HER OWN

NO MAN OF HER OWN (1950). Director:Mitchell Leisen.

Based on Cornell Woolrich's novel "I Married a Dead Man" this stars Barbara Stanwyck as Helen Ferguson, who is pregnant and abandoned by her faithless lover Steve (Lyle Bettger). She meets a lovely young newlywed couple (Richard Denning and Phyllis Thaxter) on a train, but after a train crash finds herself a victim -- or lucky recipient -- of mistaken identity. Taken in by a family who thinks she's someone else, she wonders how long she can pull off the deception. She falls for Bill Harkness (John Lund) and then the scummy Steve shows up ... This is not the great suspense film it might have been had Hitchcock been at the helm, but it is quite entertaining and full of interesting twists courtesy of Woolrich. Stanwyck gives yet another terrific performance, and there is a solid supporting cast, including Jane Cowl as Bill's mother. Leisen doesn't do that much with the more tense sequences in the film and Lund is only adequate, but Stanwyck's performance puts this over if nothing else. The novel was adapted on other occasions, being the basis for a French version and the much lighter Mrs. Winterbourne with Ricki Lake. I believe there was also another American version under a different title.

Verdict: Another example of Stanwyck's superb thespian ability. ***.