Romance y fantasía

Sonja Henie stars with Michael O'Shea and Marie McDonald in "It's a Pleasure," a 1945 film done for RKO.

Naturally the focus is on skating, and lots of it, as Sonja, playing Chris Linden, falls in love and marries a down and out hockey player named Don Martin (O'Shea). The two work for an ice show, run by Buzz (William Johnson). His wife Gale (McDonald) is madly in love with Don, and when he gets a chance to skate for an impresario and possibly leave the country, she sabotages him. The result brings problems for Don and Chris -- as well as Buzz and Gale.

Nothing much here on plot, but the film is in color and the skating shows are dazzling. Henie's skating seems old-fashioned now because she didn't have the double axels and salchows they have now. However, she was one heck of a spinner, a fast skater, a graceful dancer, and a sparkling presence on ice.

Marie McDonald is absolutely stunning and just made for the vivid color. My one quibble is the casting of the likable Michael O'Shea. He was cute, good at comedy, and must have had something - after all, he was married to Virginia Mayo -- but it was hard to see why both Henie and McDonald were drooling after him. The character had been banned from hockey after getting into a fight, plus he had a drinking problem. It would have been more believable if he'd been a more typical leading man, but a bad boy. Glenn Ford and William Holden come to mind.

Fun watching.

This skating soap opera stars Sonja Henie as a perky skater with a dog-like devotion to a bad-tempered hockey star. Henie's blandly unemotional performance is neither better nor worse than the hockey star's indifferent ruggedness.

The skating is somewhat entertaining, although Henie's main special effect is crazy fast spins, which while impressive, are overused. Henie also acquits herself nicely in a non-skating dance number.

The most interesting performance in the movie is Marie McDonald as a bored, sexy wife obsessed with the hockey player. Her aggressive flirting and strong personality make her fascinating if unlikeable. She makes the rest of the cast seem even blander.

Don (Michael O'Shea--Virginia Mayo's husband in real life) stars as an obnoxious hockey player who gets himself banned from the sport due to fighting and slugging a ref. He also is a heavy drinker and quite cocky--even following the ban. However, he lands on his feet after this and gets a job with a traveling ice show. Inexplicably, despite having NOTHING any sane woman would want, the star of the show (Sonja Henie) is in love with him and eventually they marry. For a while, he stays off the booze and makes something of himself. However, for some reason, a woman with the show (Marie McDonald) is determined to wreck the marriage and get him back on the bottle. What is poor Sonja to do?

For me, this film was pleasant enough BUT suffered from one serious problem--Don was just too unlikable and selfish. After a while, his wife's insistence on sticking with him felt less noble and more like an episode of "Maury" or "The Jerry Springer Show"! Had they softened Don's jerky personality and behavior a bit more, then it might have worked a lot better. For example, if he was just a drunk but a nice guy underneath it all, you might have understood his wife's defending him....a bit. As it was, it was just too difficult to care about him. Because of this the film loses a few points. Additionally, while Henie's ice skating was very popular in films of the day, today watching her in one musical skating number after another got to be pretty dull. The only thing I particularly liked about the film was watching the hockey game early in the film. Seeing hockey the way they played it in the 1940s was pretty interesting--especially with goalies who wore no face protection!! Not a terrible film but one that is, at best, a time-passer.

By the way, when the stars agree to marry, listen to the weird dialog that makes wife beating sound as healthy and natural as can be! Yikes!

Hockey star Don Martin (Michael O'Shea) punches a referee and gets banned from professional hockey. Skating star Chris Linden (Sonja Henie) has a crush on him and helps gets him a job in the ice skating show. Buzz runs the show and his bored wife Gail Fletcher (Marie McDonald) wants to play with Don.

O'Shea doesn't feel like a leading man type and Sonja Henie's acting skills have always been questionable. The pairing is better than I expected. They are two flaw pieces which fit well together. It's nothing spectacular but it works. The story has little else going for it. It has barely any drama. They try to throw in Gail, but she is ultimately no threat to the relationship. It would be better if she's just evil rather than in love with Don. Of course, Henie does some of her ice skating. In the end, I just got bored with this movie after thirty minutes or so.

Watching this 1945 made movie in 2002 gave me "warm fuzzys" all over. This was when Hollywood was careful not to offend folks with abusive words and over the top plots. `It's a Pleasure' was a pleasure to watch. It is funny, entertaining, a little suspenseful and had some drama. The scenery and costumes were beautiful. This "Miss Susie Sunshine" of a movie creates a wonderful fantasy world that I think we need more of these days. The coloring and quality of this movie made it hard to believe it was made in 1945. `It's a Pleasure' is a nice, romantic, pleasurable escape.