THREE LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE

Blaine, Vera-Ellen and Haver

THREE LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE (1946). Director: H. Bruce Humberstone.

Three farm sisters in 1902 -- Pam (June Haver), Liz (Vivian Blaine) and Myra (Vera-Ellen) -- learn that they haven't inherited as much from their late aunt as they were expecting. So they go to Atlantic City and book a suite while Pam pretends to be an heiress. with Liz playing her secretary and Myra playing her maid. The plan is to attract a wealthy husband whom she will also, naturally, fall in love with. Pam quickly gets two suitors: Van (George Montgomery of The Brasher Doubloon) and Steve (Frank Latimore of In the Meantime, Darling). Meanwhile Myra finds herself very attracted to hotel employee Mike (Charles Smith of Henry and Dizzy) and vice versa. Of her two gentlemen callers Pam prefers Van, but will the fellow propose before their money runs out? 

Frank Latimore and George Montgomery

If Three Little Girls in Blue sounds familiar it's because it was already filmed at least twice as Three Blind Mice and Moon Over Miami. The plot is creaky but it's been dressed up with enthusiastic players and technicolor. There are several song numbers, with the suspicion being that the forgettable ditties are new while the best songs -- "On the Boardwalk in Atlantic City" and especially "You Make Me Feel So Young" -- are classics. All of the performances are good, with Charles Smith particularly notable as the likable Mike. As usual Vera-Ellen impresses with her dancing skills. Celeste Holm, who made her film debut in this picture, shows up late in the movie as Steve's sister. At times she channels "Oklahoma's" Ado Annie (she was in the Broadway show) and other times is the bitchily genteel Southern belle.

Verdict: Amiable, pleasant and well-played poop. ***. 

DOLL FACE

Perry Como and Vivian Blaine

DOLL FACE (1945). Director: Lewis Seiler.

"Doll Face" Carroll (Vivian Blaine) is a top burlesque performer who tries to go legit, but when one producer, Flo Hartman (Reed Hadley), finds out who she really is he refuses to hire her. Doll Face's manager and boyfriend, Mike (Dennis O'Keefe), comes up with the dubious notion of showing that she has "class" by hiring a ghostwriter, Fred (Stephen Dunne), to pen her memoirs -- as a burlesque queen! As Fred falls for Doll Face, and singer Nicky Ricci (Perry Como) tries to get dancer "Frankie" (Martha Stewart) to warm up to him, Mike decides to turn Doll Face's memoir into a Broadway show. Can Doll Face finally go legit? And will she wind up with Mike or Frank?

Stephen Dunne and Carmen Miranda

This was adapted from a play by Gypsy Rose Lee but Doll Face should certainly not be confused with Gypsy! The script for this is no world-beater, although most of the performers are game. Vivian Blaine had her most famous role in Guys and Dolls, but in this I found her lacking in distinction. O'Keefe is as buoyant as ever, and poor Carmen Miranda is given no romance and only one catchy number, "Chico from Puerto Rico." The songs by McHugh and Adamson [Four Jills in a Jeep] are pleasant, however, with "Here Comes Heaven Again" arguably being the best. Reed Hadley is fine as the producer, who ultimately opts to work with Doll Face, and Perry Como is mildly appealing as Nicky. Handsome Stephen Dunne is billed in this as "Michael" Dunne, the name he used in his earliest appearances. He later starred as "Steve" Dunne on The Brothers Brannagan for TV.

Verdict: Acceptable but rather minor musical. **1/2. 

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. ***.

THE DARK

William Devane and Cathy Lee Crosby

THE DARK (1979). Director: John "Bud" Cardos.

Los Angeles is beset with a series of horrific murders in which random victims are beheaded. The killer is dubbed "the Mangler," and ex-con turned novelist Steve Dupree (William Devane) is the father of the first victim. A psychic named De Renzy (Jacqueline Hyde) has visions of a young actor who may be the next victim, but detectives Mooney (Richard Jaeckel of The Drowning Pool) and Bresler (Biff Elliot of I, the Jury) are dubious. An ambitious reporter named Zoe Owens (Cathy Lee Crosby) teams up with Dupree in order to expose the killer, who is not quite what everyone expects. Most of the actors in this just seem to be going through the motions, and Devane's [Family Plot] performance is especially poor and irritating. Vivian Blaine has a couple of minor scenes as a wealthy hostess, Keenan Wynn is Zoe's boss, and dj Casey Kasem plays a pathologist. [Dick Clark was co-producer.] There are some creepy scenes, but the suspense is not maintained and there's no real explanation for the Mangler's actions.

Verdict: This had possibilities that mostly go unrealized. **1/2.

JITTERBUGS

JITTERBUGS (1943). Director: Malcolm St. Clair.

Laurel and Hardy are on the road with their two-man Original Zoot Suit Band when they encounter Chester (Robert Bailey), a fellow who says his gas pill can turn water into gasoline. The three of them run into Susan (Vivian Blaine), whose mother was cheated out of ten thousand dollars by swindlers. Chester decides to use all of his con man experience to get the money back from the swindlers with the "help" of Laurel and Hardy. This amusing movie has Ollie pretending to be a Colonel of the Old South while Laurel is in disguise as Susan's wealthy aunt -- he's a scream as a dowager. Lee Patrick plays a con woman who makes a play for both boys. Blaine sings the snappy number "I gotta see for myself," but her other songs are forgettable.

Verdict: Lots of fun for L&H enthusiasts. ***.