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Candy-colored, candy-coated musical comedy from Fox with lots of effervescence and wiseacre pizazz. June Haver plays globe-trotting musical starlet who buys her first (rather beautiful) home in Scarsdale and, despite some reservations ("Frankenstein slept here!"), she moves right in and throws a party; the widower next door quickly becomes the main attraction in her life, but his young son isn't so happy about having to compete with this female interloper ("I'd rather have a buddy than a female fuddy-duddy anytime," his dad lies to him). Surprisingly funny, lively, studio-set suburban shenanigans has more songs than "Tommy", yet the choreography is rather intricate and the cast is full of joshing good cheer. Haver's new beau Dan Dailey soft-shoes through with a big goofy grin; Cara Williams is June's tippling best friend who pairs off (rather unconvincingly) with tenor Dennis Day, who sings to the rafters (literally); Billy Gray is Dailey's son, who has an excellent dramatic scene at the police station. Notable for two animated sequences (courtesy UPA), as well as a lovely fantasy number where Dailey is forced to choose between his son and his new sweetheart. Not quite in the same class as MGM's musical entries from this era, but a lot of jovial fun. **1/2 from ****

As of this writing, the IMDb user rating for this unpretentious musical is an amazingly high 8.3 - higher than The Band Wagon also released in 1953. So what accounts for such a rating? Most of the songs are awful ("I'd rather have a pal than a gal, anytime" is an example), and the choreography is just so-so. But despite these deficiencies, The Girl Next Door is one of the most amiable entertainments from the '50s. The slight story is played with humor and warmth by the entire cast. The dialog is bright. The modest fashions and decor make this a fascinating time capsule - closer to early 50s suburbia than the highly stylized productions from MGM.

Although it's not about to supplant The Band Wagon from a critical standpoint, this film does weave a particular magic and has obviously won its way into a lot of hearts - mine included!

Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly reigned as the male masters of dance in movies through the mid-20th century. Theirs were the large-scale production numbers and solo creative routines that dazzled audiences in many very good to great musical films. But a number of other very talented "hoofers" did a good share of entertaining as well. Donald O'Connor, Danny Kaye, Jimmy Cagney, Mickey Rooney and Dan Dailey come to mind. Besides dancing, they had singing voices and could act. The one who could do the best job of the latter was Dan Dailey. This intrepid happy camper could turn from a comedic role to a serious one with seeming ease.

Dailey also had a persona about him that made audiences feel comfortable and cozy with his dance scenes. He seemed relaxed and natural in his movements. Usually those were with a romantic partner. In "The Girl Next Door," June Haver fits very nicely in that role. The Betty Grable look- alike had good dance and singing skills, so theirs was a very good match.

Other actors in this film gave top performances as well – most notably Dennis Day, Cara Williams and Billy Gray as Dailey's son. The movie has a good plot, and Dailey and Gray have a couple of very good and amusing father-son skits. While there are no hit parade numbers in this film, the songs are all quite good. Haver has one very dramatic solo dance role and Dailey has a dream sequence. Finally, two animated comic sequences round out the humor in the film. Taken together, these qualities earn "The Girl Next Door" a high score for entertainment and enjoyment.

Dan Dailey had a lot of strain and turmoil in his life. But he seemed to leave it at the stage door. He believed strongly in family life, yet he was married four times. He fought alcoholism early in his career, and his only son committed suicide in 1975. Dailey died three years later of anemia when he couldn't recover after a hip fracture from a fall. He was just 64. Dailey was well-liked by people on his movie sets, and he brought smiles and cheerfulness to rehearsals. His musicals especially, should still entertain people for decades to come.

Such an obscure '50s Fox musical that I'd never even heard of it (and I know my '50s musicals), and made very late in the cycle of modest entertainments starring the likes of Dan Dailey and June Haver, this one has a few aces up its sleeve. There's a surprising amount of sung exposition at the beginning, under the credits, and later on some very brief singing sequences in the middle of dialogue -- it's as if even standard Fox musicals wanted to be more like their Rodgers and Hammerstein cousins on Broadway. It shows how pervasive the whole musical-comedy mode was back then. Later there are a couple of animated sequences that delve psychologically into the characters' motivations, and of course a dream ballet, and an amusingly overblown production number with Haver, "Nowhere Guy." The story's no great shakes, the songs run from OK to pretty good, and Haver proves again that proficiency at singing and dancing is less vital than personality, which she lacks. Dailey is a likable romantic counterpart, and Cara Williams is an invaluable best-friend-making-tart-comments -- though it's hard to accept that she'd fall for the rabbity face and syrupy tenor of Dennis Day. The utterly '50s production design is fun, and the more thorough musicalizing than usual gives this otherwise standard effort a couple of bonus points. All in all, it's very watchable.

This obscure film was a treat for me, a classic film buff; it's a rare musical from Hollywood's golden age that's I've never seen nor even heard of. The Girl Next Door is not only very well made and entertaining, but in 1951 this was cutting edge both in story and in the way it's musical numbers are staged.

Plotwise, it's a mild domestic drama, coupled with a conventional romance. Innovative is that the story portrays a warm, friendship-based father-son relationship which functions very well without a mother or other woman being around. When the father falls for the professional singer-dancer woman next door, the son is resentful.

The dance numbers are not only well staged and performed, but refreshingly creative. The standout is a film-noirish number, shot with highly stylized camera angles, stark lighting, highly effective use of contrasting colors, and slinky jazz dance moves. The capper is that the number is supposed to be a nightclub performance with Dan Daily in the audience; mid-number, he imagines himself into the number, first as a shadow and then as the primary male dancer (a la "The Purple Rose of Cairo", decades later). The film's opening is remarkable for it's time; credits are superimposed (very unusual for the time) on the first of a three song extended musical number which immediately set's up the story and gives us a lot of information about June Haver's character.

Dan Daily is likable, charming, masculine, believable, as well as being a good enough dancer and singer. June Haver is sexy in a very wholesome way, has a great body, moves well, but is somewhat bland in the personality-acting department. Her singing is dubbed. The only weakness in the film are that Denis Day is barely mediocre as a comic second banana, though his singing is beautiful, if you like old fashioned Irish tenor vocalizing. Cara Williams is radiant and sassy in the typical role of wisecracking friend of the heroine, but she's given little screen time and the zingers she's given to say are bland. Otherwise the dialog is far above the norm for musicals of it's era.

The DVD includes 3 documentary featurettes; 2 are very informative and well done, one is about the film and the other about Dan Daily. The third is about Billy Gray (Bud of "Father Knows Best"), it's hampered by not having any footage from non-Fox films he made, nor from the classic TV show.