La cousine d'Amérique

This film wouldn't ever be listed as a major musical, but I found it likable. There are hackneyed elements to the story but it moves along well and good use is made of minor characters. The two stars obviously both have more than a few miles on the clock - Martin has a very lived-in face, and Vera-Ellen could use a botox injection, but they are both agreeable presences. These days (I'd like to think) their age would be acknowledged in a story line which gave them each a second-time around background, but not in those days. The 50's fashions look great on Vera-Ellen and the redhead opposition. The Paris and Edinburgh locations are milked to advantage. I enjoyed the touches of Britishness in the "lord" and the hotel staff. The dances are sometimes slight, but enjoyable. Altogether quite a lot to like, worth sticking with as a pleasant piece of escapism.

An independent feature made at the very, very end of the movie musical's golden age, and the desperation shows. Vera-Ellen, looking unhealthily slim and not dancing much, is a Vermont lass who inherits enough money to fly to Edinburgh, where she keeps running into Tony Martin and is wooed by impoverished lord Robert Flemyng. Martin, looking beefy and well past his leading-man prime, sings everywhere--at airport customs, in a Scottish dining car, at Vera's Vermont bungalow--and the songs, by Nicholas Brodzky and Paul Francis Webster, are neatly integrated enough but not what you'd call exciting. Nor is Henry Levin's direction, and even the Edinburgh location shooting looks rather skimpy. Wan storytelling, no-name supporting cast, so-so songs… No wonder it didn't do well.

Anyone who has seen ' White Christmas ', ' On the Town ' and especially ' Call Me Madam ' will know that Vera-Ellen was enchanting to watch. But in these films she had excellent support, and here sadly she is paired with Tony Martin, who is in no way her equal. Robert Flemyng who is also the third man in the film is not right either, his acting stilted and unconvincing. But it is after all Vera-Ellen's last screen performance and in many ways she is as much fun, and as gloriously watchable as in her previous films. The story is banal; Vera-Ellen inherits money and goes to Scotland and there has a good time for the first time in her life. Although somewhat dully directed the film holds and despite mediocre songs there is a certain joy of life and in my opinion she was a loss to the cinema. Her dancing is extraordinary in a ballet sequence ( more of a musical than ballet, but well choreographed and designed, ) and see it if you can. The UK has great Cinemascope and not pan and scan version on DVD.

The locations are finely filmed, and is worth seeing simply for her performance.

I really must come to the defence of "Let's Be Happy"; a near-forgotten little gem. My family and I enjoyed this film twice,on it's initial release,so I'll admit to a certain amount of nostalgia in my review. This was the last time Vera-Ellen appeared on screen;a pity,given her talent and charm. It's not difficult to share her enthusiasm as she travels to Scotland to enjoy her inheritance and while the plot may be considered tame by the many detractors,there is a naive appeal about the way it all unfolds. Robert Flemyng essays a certain Gaelic charm as he escorts the heroine on a guided tour of Scotland (nice location shots too). This was also the last time Tony Martin appeared on screen in a musical. The songs are pleasant and he is in good voice,particularly singing 'One Is A Lonely Number";a lovely,haunting ballad. Three other musicals released in N. Z. in 1957;"Silk Stockings", ''Funny Face" and "Les Girls",may now enjoy a 'cult' following,but,strange as it may seem, they all irritate me in ways that "Let's Be Happy" does not. I'm looking forward to replacing my poor quality video copy with the wide-screen DVD.

N. B. Since writing the above review, I have purchased the fully restored, wide-screen DVD which I will relish watching forever.

Let's Be Happy is a musical film shot in Scotland by a British film company and released in America under the Allied Artist banner. It also has two American stars, Tony Martin and Vera-Ellen and both made their final big screen appearance in this production. Musicals were certainly becoming rarer and rarer on the screen by 1957.

If people have followed my reviews on Tony Martin's films, one my criticisms is why he was never teamed with his wife Cyd Charisse in any movie. Cyd was under contract to MGM and Tony did occasional films there as well. Both would move on to the nightclub phase of their careers as their primary venue and they were one of the biggest acts on that circuit for many years. I think Let's Be Happy was created with both of them in mind, but apparently Cyd was otherwise occupied with work at MGM. She did do Silk Stockings that same year over at that much bigger studio. So Vera-Ellen was brought in instead.

The story is a slight one and the songs by Nicholas Brodszky and Paul Francis Webster are pretty forgettable, but they're done well as sang by Tony and danced to by Vera-Ellen. She's a Vermont farm girl who gets an inheritance from her grandfather of $5000.00 approximately, kept in a secret compartment because apparently grandfather did not trust banks. And as a good Scots girl, she decides to visit the old country.

She meets Tony on the plane and the two seem to hit it off. But along the way an impoverished title played by Robert Flemyng gets the idea that Vera-Ellen is really loaded and in the tradition of European nobility down on its luck, they woo the rich American.

Let's Be Happy does boast some really nice cinematography of Edinburgh, a city which definitely believes in keeping its ancient look up for the tourists. It's a pleasant enough 90+ minutes of entertainment, but I do so wish Tony Martin had done this with Cyd Charisse.