L'île aux plaisirs

Despite a slow start and trifling plot, "Coney Island" turns out to be One of Betty Grable's most sheerly exuberant musicals and another shimmering, glossily produced, exquisitely Technicolored Fox tuner set in the Gay 90s, directed with chic elegance by Walter Lang.

Betty is wonderful all the way and gave what she had as Kate Farley, the stage show entertainer/singer who is transformed by George Montgomery into a classy Broadway star with musical and vocal talents, despite the protests from Kate's manager, played by Cesar Romero. Charles Winninger, Phil Silvers and Hurst are the capably eccentric supporting players.

The songs and numbers are joyously, spectacularly staged, including the unforgettable "Cuddle Up a Little Closer", "Pretty Baby", "There's Danger in a Dance", "Beautiful Coney Island", "Put Your Arms Around Me", and "Lulu from Louisville."

Nothing like a 20th Century Fox musical for color and energy!

Coney Island, remade later as Wabash Avenue, stars Betty Grable.

Grable stars here with George Montgomery, Cesar Romero, Phil Silvers, and Charles Winninger. The story is one of rivalry and deceit and un-pc segments.

Grable looks gorgeous. She so vivacious and sparkly, it's no wonder she was so popular. The acting is good - I love Phil Silvers, he's always funny. Montgomery and Romero were so handsome, they made good rivals for Betty's affection.

The music was nothing to write home about, though the scenes when Betty was working for Hammerstein were lavish.

Enjoyable.

I have a statement: I again protest at Turner Classic Movie trying to rewrite history. Their books, the 50 Greatest Leading Men and the 50 Greatest Leading Ladies don't include actors who were pretty much exclusive to 20th Century Fox.

Betty Grable was in the top 10 box office for 10 years, and she's not included. Tyrone Power was the 21st most popular male in film history, and that includes Harrison Ford, Hanks, Cruise, etc. According to the Cogerson Book, the 50 Greatest Stars: Statistically Speaking, and he didn't make it either.

When TCM did a documentary on 1939, they quickly mentioned Jesse James was #4 box office that year - very quickly. After all, they don't own it. (I realize that the top box office lists aren't all the same).

Twentieth Century Fox stars were not people who did a little acting on the side. TCM, get with it.

CONEY ISLAND was such a successful Fox musical that seven years later it was turned into another starring vehicle for Grable called WABASH AVENUE. It's a breezy turn-of-the-century show biz tale about two Coney Island hucksters and the tricks they play on each other to win patrons at their establishments.

Betty is the brassy singer with the garish costumes and exaggerated singing/dancing style that Montgomery has to tone down by tying her to a prop so she can't move but has to deliver her ballad ("Cuddle Up A Little Closer") without gyrating all over the stage. Naturally, the love/hate relationship blooms into romance with Grable and Montgomery making a pleasing match as a team.

Lost of comedy relief from PHIL SILVERS and CHARLES WINNINGER, some nice song and dance numbers for Grable, and the whole backstage story is easy to take, the usual misunderstandings and schemes backfiring before the fadeout to a happy ending.

For BETTY GRABLE's fans, this one has to be rated one of her best.

Fortunately, the chorus only sing the names of the three that share top billing here! Thereafter, we meet the loveable rogue that is "Eddie" (George Montgomery) who just wants what he thinks is rightfully due to him from his erstwhile partner "Joe" (Cesar Romero). This pal is about to open a new venue in which he will see "Kate" (Betty Grable) star - and has no intention of sharing! Out of options, "Eddie" turns to his friend "Frankie" (Phil Silvers) to let him join his circus-like enterprise during which he and "Kate" start to publicly spar about who is wearing what. She has an hat that Carmen Miranda might have been proud of. Anyway, the punters quite like his antics so "Joe" muscles in leading to reprisals that ultimately leads "Joe" to believe that he is a murderer! "Eddie" agrees to keep schtum, but it is going to cost him. With "Eddie" now cheek by jowl with "Kate" and "Joe" out of the picture, could things be set fair? Of course, there are loads of twists and turns yet to come as this trio play cat and mouse with each other just waiting to see who can pounce! The story itself is all a bit old hat - we've seen the love triangle story loads of times before, and I'm afraid that Phil Silvers just never could make be laugh, but there is an amiable degree of chemistry between Grable and her two suitors and there are plenty of set-piece theatrical numbers for the million-dollar legs to showcase just what a charismatic star she was. It's a great example of Technicolor brilliance too, especially towards the end when the screen positively comes alive, and it is probably just the kind of wartime fillip the audiences would have lapped up. It's all fairly forgettable, but it's quite good fun.

Betty Grable is a nightclub singer-dancer in turn-of-the-century Coney Island whose boss/boyfriend (Cesar Romero) is tricked into hiring his childhood friend/nemesis (George Montgomery) as a show manager. Montgomery is intent on making flashy, hyperkinetic Grable sing and dance like a lady, which she resists, but the results put stars in both their eyes, and soon Montgomery is planning on opening his own nightclub--with Grable as the star attraction. Fox musical was so popular, the studio remade it--with Grable--just seven years later as "Wabash Avenue". She's terrific here, snapping off her lines with streetwise cynicism, her beauty mark usually in a different location. Fox overloads the film's musical moments with specialty numbers--a Plantation number, a Louisiana showboat number, a Christmas number, an Irish number, etc.--but what really makes Grable shine are her ballads delivered standing still (just like her character is told to do). Montgomery is rather like a riverboat cardsharp--slick and cunning, he never elicits our feelings--but he's preferable to Romero, who acts with his teeth. Phil Silvers is less offensive than usual in support, and the soundtrack has some gems including "Cuddle Up a Little Closer", "Pretty Baby" and the title song. **1/2 from ****