I'LL GET BY

William Lundigan and June Haver

I'LL GET BY (1950), Director: Richard Sale.

Aspiring songwriter William Spencer (William Lundigan of Pinky) meets another composer named Freddy Lee (Dennis Day) and the completely fictional team of Spencer and Lee is born. The two men have romances with the singing team, the Martin Sisters: Liza (June Haver of The Dolly Sisters) and Terry (Gloria DeHaven of So This is Paris). Thelma Ritter cracks wise now and then as their secretary; Steve Allen appears as a radio DJ; and Harry James occasionally blows on his trumpet.

Gloria DeHaven and Dennis Day

I'll Get By apparently ran out of real-life songwriting teams when it came up with this concoction, but the soundtrack contains such memorable standards as the title tune, "You Make Me Feel So Young," and "Deep in the Heart of Texas," as well as a host of other songs written by a variety of composers and lyricists including Vernon Duke and Jules Styne. The story, alas, is not up to the music. It begins in 1939 and goes up to the end of WW2, which is almost literally tossed off with a gag. Dennis Day has a nice voice and likable manner, the two leading ladies are pleasing, Lundigan is smoothly handsome and professional, and Ritter probably makes the best impression with her deadpan delivery. Danny Davenport plays the initially naive songwriter Chester Dooley. When he asks Lundigan how much he will have to pay to have his song published, Ritter says "Who let you off the farm?" There are cameos by Jeanne Crain, Victor Mature, Dan Daily (doing a soft shoe routine) and Reginald Gardiner.  The film is fun at first, but the silly misunderstandings that keep the two couples apart eventually become irritating.

Verdict: Some good songs and talented performers can't quite save a tired screenplay. **1/4. 

REAR WINDOW

Hitch does his cameo in Rear Window.

REAR WINDOW (1954). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

Photojournalist "Jeff" Jefferies (James Stewart) is stuck in an apartment with a broken leg and a cast when he'd rather be out covering action in far-flung places with exotic names. Jeff has a beautiful girlfriend named Lisa (Grace Kelly), but he fears proposing to her because he doesn't think her patrician, elegant manner will go well with the places he has to travel to [although nowhere is it written that the wife must accompany her husband on such assignments]. Bored and needing distraction, Jeff begins observing his neighbors (on a marvelous, detailed set that shows many different kinds of apartments and tenants), such as the voluptuous dancer across the way, a pair of newlyweds who disappear behind the shade after moving in, a frustrated composer of romantic music, and a woman he calls "Miss Lonelyhearts" (Judith Evelyn) who talks to imaginary dates while she's having supper and gets drunk in bars. Eventually Jeff focuses on a man named Thorwald (Raymond Burr), whose nagging wife disappears one afternoon and never comes back. Jeff has reasons to believe Thorwald murdered the woman -- and eventually gets both Lisa and his nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) on his side -- but his smug detective friend Doyle (Wendell Corey) assures him that he checked and the woman really is out of town. But is she? Jeff and the ladies begin an investigation of their own that leads them into some serious danger. Some viewers of this wonderful film don't like being put in Jeff's position all the time, peering through windows, and find the film claustrophobic, but I can't agree. The movie, while imperfect, is very cinematic and well-made. It does take a while for the basic mystery plot to begin unfolding, but the two main characters and their dilemma -- two very different people in love but uncertain of how it will work out -- are interesting enough to hold the attention, and Stewart and Kelly give fine performances, along with Ritter, Evelyn and others. [This is another film like The Tingler in which the talented Evelyn gets across a character without really saying a word.] The movie builds in suspense and has a creepy and exciting finale. One thing Rear Window is missing is a great score by, say, Bernard Herrmann, but you can't have everything. John Michael Hayes' screenplay is full of black humor, even relating to the dismemberment of the woman's corpse, which is a plus or a minus depending on how you look at it. Based on  a story by Cornell Woolrich.

Verdict: Smooth, unusual suspenser from the master. ***1/2.

PILLOW TALK

Hudson and Day

PILLOW TALK (1959). Director: Michael Gordon.

"It's like being around a pot belly stove on a frosty morning."

Interior decorator Jan Morrow (Doris Day) shares a party line with playboy and composer Brad Allen (Rock Hudson) and has conniptions trying to get him off the line -- he's usually giving the same old palaver to one woman or another -- when she needs to use the phone. Brad finally meets Jan and likes what he sees, but pretends to be a shy Texan so she won't know who he really is, leading to amusing complications. The two leads are very good and have fine support from the likes of Tony Randall (a friend of Brad's who loves Jan) and Thelma Ritter (Pam's tippling maid). Hayden Rourke, Nick Adams, Lee Patrick and Allen Jenkins also have smaller roles. At one point Brad, in his own identity, suggests that the out-of-town Texan Jan is dating [himself, of course] is a "mama's boy" [read gay], which must have made Hudson a little uncomfortable [besides being decidedly dated]. Generally, however, this is a good-natured, funny movie and the first of several films made by the odd but effective pairing of Day and Hudson. Produced by Ross Hunter, who first brought Hudson to the big time in Magnificent Obsession, this is full of suggestive scenes and lines that must have made it seem daring in its day.

Verdict: You wouldn't think this would work, but it does. ***.