Elle cherche un millionnaire

Jack Warner handed this script to Doris Day, but she begged out. It was too much like the other films she had made at Warners (she made "Lullaby of Broadway" that same year and "Tea For Two" right before that). Virgina Mayo, who was free, loved doing musicals, so she stepped in and Dennis Morgan's name went up one step. Doris, by this time was extremely popular, so she would have gotten billing over Morgan.

This was colorful (I saw it once) and Mayo looked incredible, as usual.

Day, after "Calamity Jane" got "picky" about parts. She also turned down "The Helen Morgan Story" with Paul Newman, "The Jazz Singer" with Danny Thomas and WB had planned "Miss America" for Doris and Virginia, a musical.

Dennis Morgan stars in this color (Technicolor !) thang with Virginia Mayo. Big Yawn. Lots of musical numbers that don't really have anything to do with the plot, but give the stars a platform. The only good thing about this film is that Sandor Sakall is in here, for comic relief. (he only worked a couple more years after this one... died in 1954.) The paper thin plot here is that the girls need to find money to help Uncle Felix (Sakall) in Vegas, so they bring rich guy "Ted" along (Gene Nelson). Mayo, Lucille Norman, and Virginia Gibson are "The Dillon Sisters". There's an operatic version of "With a Song in My Heart".... too bad they couldn't do a fun, contemporary version. I thought the windows were going to shatter. They really rely on Sakall to carry this thing, but the script, the acting, and the direction are so lame it just kind of bumbles along. Not one of the better projects from Warner Brothers. One entertaining number where the trumpet player doubles as the dance partner. Directed by David Butler.. started in silents. Moved to directing television a couple years after this one. According to IMDb, he had played both a northern soldier AND a southern soldier in Griffith's Birth of a Nation ! This one is okay, but there are so many better films to watch.

Painting The Clouds With Sunshine casts Virginia Mayo, Lucille Norman, and Virginia Gibson as a singing trio who disappointed in love go west to Las Vegas. That city was just starting to develop as the sin city capital of America although it was a decade or so until the Rat Pack really put it on the map. The clubs in Las Vegas, Reno, and other areas in the state were just starting to attract show business acts like you see the women portray here. Singer Dennis Morgan with a bad gambling addiction is also there and so is Gene Nelson who is a hoofer who has a terrible secret, he's a Back Bay Boston millionaire.

Terrible at least in the eyes of his cousin Tom Conway who wants to save him and the family reputation from Nelson's chosen career. Of course he falls for one of the women as well.

I saw elements here from films like Moon Over Miami and Goldiggers Of 1933 and even Donovan's Reef in Painting The Clouds With Sunshine. The musical numbers were nice, but nothing terribly new. The score was taken from a variety of composers, I'm sure the Brothers Warner owned the rights to them. The film is a remake of the first Goldigger films both of which may be lost.

Everybody here has done better work.

Warner Brothers' 1950s recycling of their old films and their old songs gave us this remake of Gold Diggers of 1933 (itself a remake of the lost Gold Diggers of Broadway).

Songs which appear within 'Painting the Clouds ...' include Tip Toe Through The Tulips, With a Song in My Heart, You're My Everything, and We're in the Money. About the best routines are those which accompany The Mambo Man, and The Birth of the Blues.

In the cast are Virginia Mayo, Lucille Norman, and Virginia Gibson, as a girl trio of singers and dancers looking for rich men with no ties and lots of spare cash. Dennis Morgan is a slightly dull singer, Gene Nelson a dancer with a secret, and Tom Conway is Nelson's well-to-do uncle (not older brother as in Gold Diggers of 1933, although Conway looks very like Warren William did in the earlier film). An unnecessary subplot gives the irritating Cuddles Sakall something to do.

A likeable musical which gives us nothing new but helps to pass the time.

It was discouraging to read the director's anti-his-movie comments. Granted it was not a big ole MGM spectacular, but I enjoyed "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine." The songs were oldies but goodies and delightful to hear, and it kept moving nicely. The 'girls-looking-for-millionaires' plot was - granted -- old hat, but the musical numbers were thoroughly enjoyable.

Special kudos to Gene Nelson who is as good as, or better than, some of his screen contemporaries. Was he really playing the trumpet while dancing? That number was pure joy.

Mayo and the sisters were lovely to look at, Dennis Morgan is, as usual, a pleasant talent.

WB tossed ole Cuddles in every third picture, it seems. The 'cute-mit-accent' stuff eventually wears thin.

Sorry, Mr. Butler, but I enjoyed your efforts on this one.