THREE FOR THE SHOW

Betty Grable

THREE FOR THE SHOW (1955). Director: H. C. Potter.

Stage star Julie Lowndes (Betty Grable) is happily married to choreographer Vernon (Gower Champion), when her first husband, Marty (Jack Lemmon), supposedly killed in action, shows up out of the blue. Speaking to a befuddled Colonel Wharton (Paul Harvey) of the Air Force, she comes to the conclusion that she is legally married to both men, leading to a slightly risque menage a trois situation with the two husbands sharing a bedroom and her sharing them (chastely one assumes). Made in another time period, this might have had some amusing or eyebrow-raising sequences, but this is a fifties musical, and an awfully dull one at that. The performers, including Gower's real-life wife Marge Champion, are adept enough, and the Gowers' dance numbers are elegant and swell, but the other production numbers featuring Grable (and in one case, a male harem) are campy and awful. Grable [Give Me a Sailor] was supposedly 39 but looks older. Gower was 34 but also looks older; Marge was 36 but looks younger. Jack Lemmon [The China Syndrome] was the youngest at only 30 and looks it. Myron McCormick [Jigsaw] plays a producer who seems to have special feelings for Marge. The film was based on an old comedy, Too Many Husbands, that probably should not have been resuscitated. There's only one laugh in the whole movie. This was Jack Lemmon's third film; luckily he survived this stinker to go on to a brilliant career in both drama and comedy. Grable only did one more movie.

Verdict: It seems as if it will never end. *1/2.

HEY LET'S TWIST

HEY LET'S TWIST (1961). Director: Greg Garrison.

"I'm paralyzed with fascination."

Widower Papa Dee (Dino Di Luca), who loves to listen to Caruso, owns an Italian restaurant that is barely getting by. His sons Joey (Joey Dee) and Ricky (Teddy Randazzo), who play with a group called the Starlighters, decide to turn the restaurant into the Peppermint Lounge and offer milkshakes (!) with the twist. The seriously weird Zohra Lampert [The Mad Mad Tea Party Affair] plays columnist Sharon, who takes a shine to sexy Ricky, while ditsy Piper Patton (Jo Ann Campbell), who also lusts for Ricky, has to make do with Joey. This is the highly fictionalized story of Joey Dee and the Starlighters, and the Peppermint Lounge where they performed. The character of brother Ricky was made up for the film and to add a little sex appeal for the teenyboppers. Di Luca and Kay Armen as his likable lady friend Angie offer the best performances, but Lampert and Randazzo are also good. Randazzo was mostly a musician, and he had only one other acting credit in Rock Rock Rock! Dee [Two Tickets to Paris] is personable but not much else. He played himself in two movies, both directed by Greg Garrison, but had no other acting credits.

Verdict: Shake that booty! ** out of 4.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY (1944). Director: Robert Siodmak.

Now here's a weird one. Someone got the idea of taking a serious novel by Somerset Maugham (The Razor's Edge and many others) and casting Gene Kelly and, of all people, Deanna Durbin in the leads -- talk about epic miscasting. True, neither of these actors exactly disgrace themselves, it's just that you can imagine what a wholly different picture this would have been with different leads. But in any case, it wouldn't have been much good. Lt Mason (an effective Dean Harens) has just been jilted by his fiancee when he meets up with a singer named "Jackie" (Durbin), whose real name is Abigail but who changed it after her husband, Robert (Kelly) was convicted of murder. Most of Christmas Holiday consists of flashbacks as Jackie pours out her story [seemingly at the drop of a hat] to the kind lieutenant. Robert remains a shadowy character, however, and we never really learn the details of his crime nor anything about his victim. We do get to know his strange mother (Gale Sondergaard), who does the best she can with another underwritten role. Richard Whorf, who later became a director, plays a reporter named Simon, and Gladys George is cast as Valerie, who runs the club that Jackie sings at. Kelly does no singing or dancing, but Durbin gets to warble "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year" and "Always," the film's signature tune. There's an interesting segue from a Beethoven concert to a dance club, but Christmas Holiday has the gall to use Wagner's liebestod from "Tristan and Isolde" to try to add dramatic heft to this kitsch. It doesn't work, although, ironically, the best scene in the movie has Kelly and Durbin listening to the music and being, quite understandably, moved by it. Durbin did seven more films before retiring four years later. Harens did two more films and then had a long list of credits in television.

Verdict: With these leads the fare should be much lighter. **.