Le club des cigognes

Mistakenly thinking the old man is committing suicide, two-piece bathing-suited Betty Hutton (as Judy Peabody) jumps in and saves eccentrically wealthy Barry Fitzgerald (as Jerry "Pop" Bates) from drowning. He decides to reward Ms. Hutton, who is barely making ends meet as a hat-check girl at "The Stork Club" in New York City. Mr. Fitzgerald becomes Hutton's mysterious benefactor, giving her an all-expenses paid apartment and a luxurious line of credit.

Suddenly rich, Hutton decides to help poor Fitzgerald, unaware he is behind her wealth. Complicating matters, Hutton's boyfriend Don DeFore (as Danny Wilton) thinks she's become Fitzgerald's high-paid mistress.

This is light, sentimental comedy infused by the personalities of its stars. The film really jumps to life when Hutton sings "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" which entered the record charts just before the film's release, and stuck around through the spring of 1946, going to #1 for two weeks. The song, which features a great Hutton vocal and infectious chorus, was her biggest chart hit, beating down competing versions from Les Brown and Hoagy Carmichael (who wrote the music).

***** The Stork Club (12/19/45) Hal Walker ~ Betty Hutton, Barry Fitzgerald, Don DeFore, Robert Benchley

Why is this a movie for dieters? Because it is so lightweight! Try to control your hysterical laughter at my most amusing joke. But seriously, folks, I wanna tellya .....

For those movie viewers who like to think about what they're watching while they're watching it, this movie is not for you. For those movie viewers who want to simply forget about what ails the world and who have no better way to pass about 1¾ hours, this movie is for you. Oh! To halfway enjoy this movie, it also helps if you like old movies, now-dead movie stars and mostly forgettable music which has long since been forgotten.

The main beneficiary of this movie was none other than Sherman Billingsley. He was the owner and proprietor of New York City's famous Stork Club. Not only did he get to have a movie named for his popular nightclub, but he's also a main character in the movie. Talk about your free publicity! Unfortunately for Shermie, he did not get to play himself in the movie. That task fell to Bill Goodwin, George and Gracie's renowned radio announcer. But the real stars of this piece of fluff are the effervescent Betty Hutton and the movies' favorite persnickety Irishman, Barry Fitzgerald. The plot revolves around romantic mixups involving Betty, Barry and Bill -- the three B's? -- as well as Don DeFore and the inimitable humorist, Robert Benchley. It's the type of contrived plot that tests the credulity of even the most tolerant viewer, so you can imagine how the intolerant are likely to react.

For me, the movie's most disappointing aspect was its music. And that's the main reason I had opted to watch it! This movie employed some of the top songwriters of the 1940s (as well as of other decades) -- Hoagy Carmichael, Paul Francis Webster, Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans -- the best and most famous of the group employed. The movie was even co-written and co-produced by Buddy DeSylva, a pretty fair country songwriter in his own right from the 1920s and 1930s. Out of that entire group, the best and only worthwhile song they were able to come up with was Hoagy and Paul Francis' "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief." Although this song helped put Betty on the map and was quite popular in its day, when one thinks back to the memorable songs of that era, "D, L, I C" is not one that will pop readily into anyone's mind. And it stands out head and shoulders above all other songs in this movie!

One person who lost out by this movie's musical dearth was Andy Russell. Andy was one of the better crooners of the 1940s and, in my book, much underrated. He made his musical debut in this movie and that great roster of songwriters gave him NOTHING worthwhile to sing. It was the musical equivalent of, let's say, Lawrence Olivier making his movie debut with all of his dialogue being written by ..... ME!!!

So, any of you folks needing to shed a few pounds, you can't do better than to start with "The Stork Club." It's lightweight, low-calorie and, in 1¾ hours, will take two inches off that ole tum-tum. Guaranteed! If not, your money cheerfully refunded ..... in full!

I cannot believe how mean-spirited so many of the comments are on this delightful piece of froth. It is a Rom-Com, a fun way for a war-weary people to loosen up and forget about their troubles. Betty Hutton does yell. And how. Her sense of rhythm, quick gestures and dance moves are extremely well-honed, and she nails these songs with a precision and joie-de-vivre that is a lesson to anyone in show business. The story is implausible. Good! That's what makes it so fun and such good escapist value. Look at Rom-Coms today and they're not that much more plausible... The set design is fabulous, the gowns are gorgeous, the girls vivacious, and the band excellent. The songs aren't amongst the forty best tunes of the century, but they're memorable enough that I'm humming one of them right now. Can't say fairer than that.

Betty Hutton really puts her heart and soul into this film. Although she may come across as bonkers in a lot of her films, she is definitely a talented actress with a lot of energy and spirit. Here she takes pity on an old man by trying to get him a job. This is an endearing quality, and makes you connect with her character from the early stages. Eventually, she realises that this man is carrying a torch for a woman who left him. Although you may not necessarily connect with the man, you connect with the writing that has drawn the character. In other words, it is a good script which is sensitively played by Hutton. You see her eyes in conversation with her boyfriend whilst she is singing, and you can't help feeling for her on her journey through this film. Definitely one of her better performances with a good script to take you through the film.

About 20 years after first watching this on a VHS tape, I rewatched The Stork Club just now on YouTube. In this one, Betty Hutton saves Barry Fitzgerald from drowning. She thinks he's poor but he's actually rich and decides to give her an account initially without her knowledge. This eventually creates complications, most of which are pretty funny...except when her former soldier/current bandleader boyfriend Don Defore confronts her about them. The dialogue between him and Betty are deadly most of the time. Her with Fitzgerald, however, are often highlights. Ms. Hutton is much more subdued this time-compared to many of her other films I've seen-even during her performance of "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree"-at least after Barry initially criticizes her jive version-to good effect. There's much more to the plot but I'll now say I highly recommend The Stork Club if you're a die-hard Betty Hutton fan like I am!