It's a Pleasure

Sonja Henie stars with Michael O'Shea and Marie McDonald in "It's a Pleasure," a 1945 film done for RKO.

Naturally the focus is on skating, and lots of it, as Sonja, playing Chris Linden, falls in love and marries a down and out hockey player named Don Martin (O'Shea). The two work for an ice show, run by Buzz (William Johnson). His wife Gale (McDonald) is madly in love with Don, and when he gets a chance to skate for an impresario and possibly leave the country, she sabotages him. The result brings problems for Don and Chris -- as well as Buzz and Gale.

Nothing much here on plot, but the film is in color and the skating shows are dazzling. Henie's skating seems old-fashioned now because she didn't have the double axels and salchows they have now. However, she was one heck of a spinner, a fast skater, a graceful dancer, and a sparkling presence on ice.

Marie McDonald is absolutely stunning and just made for the vivid color. My one quibble is the casting of the likable Michael O'Shea. He was cute, good at comedy, and must have had something - after all, he was married to Virginia Mayo -- but it was hard to see why both Henie and McDonald were drooling after him. The character had been banned from hockey after getting into a fight, plus he had a drinking problem. It would have been more believable if he'd been a more typical leading man, but a bad boy. Glenn Ford and William Holden come to mind.

Fun watching.

Hockey star Don Martin (Michael O'Shea) punches a referee and gets banned from professional hockey. Skating star Chris Linden (Sonja Henie) has a crush on him and helps gets him a job in the ice skating show. Buzz runs the show and his bored wife Gail Fletcher (Marie McDonald) wants to play with Don.

O'Shea doesn't feel like a leading man type and Sonja Henie's acting skills have always been questionable. The pairing is better than I expected. They are two flaw pieces which fit well together. It's nothing spectacular but it works. The story has little else going for it. It has barely any drama. They try to throw in Gail, but she is ultimately no threat to the relationship. It would be better if she's just evil rather than in love with Don. Of course, Henie does some of her ice skating. In the end, I just got bored with this movie after thirty minutes or so.

When her contract with 20th Century Fox was finished Sonja Henie went to the newly formed International Pictures for It's A Pleasure. The new company which would shortly merge with Universal Studios was the brain child of J. Arthur Rank and It's A Pleasure was given the same kind of lavish production that characterized Sonja's work with Darryl F. Zanuck at Fox.

Her leading man was Michael O'Shea and I will say this, he never embarrassed himself on the ice as James Stewart, Joan Crawford, and Lew Ayres did in Ice Follies of 1939. In fact while we do have some film of him as a hockey player, there is no footage of him or even a double working in the ice show later on and I suspect for good reason.

Which brings me to the plot, Sonja is a member of an ice show troupe that entertains at half times during hockey matches. O'Shea is a hard drinking, quick tempered hockey player who lights Sonja's fire and a few others as well. When he slugs a referee during a hockey brawl, he's banned from what I presume was the National Hockey League permanently.

But Sonja sells the idea to promoter Bill Johnson to use O'Shea as an attraction for the ice show. I really have to wonder whether someone like Gordie Howe or Andy Bathgate would ever have lent themselves to something like this. A good skater in hockey does not a figure skater make which underlies the essential silliness of the plot.

Johnson's wife Marie McDonald is also interested in O'Shea for her own reasons and therein lies the personal story.

Of course the whole thing is just an excuse to film some of Sonja Henie's elaborate routines on ice. As for Sonja, she was not a great actress by any stretch, but she did project a certain wholesomeness on screen which was the secret of her appeal. I would have to say that she was the greatest female athlete that made the best success transitioning to show business in history.

Although his role as the wronged husband is not really substantial and in fact he's something of a fool here, It's A Pleasure offers moviegoers one of the few filmed performances of Broadway star Bill Johnson. He had a far more substantial stage career and in fact reached his biggest success as a Tony Award nominee for the Rodgers&Hammerstein musical Pipe Dream which was his last role. He died way too young shortly after that musical closed on Broadway. Too bad he wasn't given a song here.

It's A Pleasure is also noted as the film debut of David Janssen who was all of 15 when he made his appearance as the referee of a boys hockey match. Those ears make him recognizable.

It's A Pleasure is an average film that will appeal primarily to figure skating and Sonja Henie fans.

Even in her lesser films, Sonja Henie was always watchable and there was a good deal to like about even her weaker outings. The bright spots were often her, the ice skating sequences and the music, while the weak link was often typically the story.

The story was one of the weak links in 'It's a Pleasure', it is very flimsy and becomes tedious when Henie is not on the ice. Worse, and the actual worst thing about 'It's a Pleasure', is the script, which is little more than a limp mess of clichés and dialogue that will make anybody groan with embarrassment. The direction is very stodgy when focused on the story and not when Henie is on the ice.

Henie dazzles in the ice skating sequences, which are incredible and the highlight of the film, but when off the ice she does display limitations as an actress here with material that is noticeably not as lightweight as her previous films. Michael O'Shea has a very annoying and selfish character who never properly grows or changes, and he fails to bring any charisma or likability to him, dully lacklustre doesn't cut it. The chemistry between him and Henie is barely there, and it's for that reason as well as the character himself as to why Henie's character's decision making towards him was hard to swallow.

On the other hand, 'It's a Pleasure' is beautifully filmed in rich Technicolor and sumptuously designed costumes and sets wise. The music is outstanding with a healthy dose of Johann Strauss, Henie's ice skating routines are dazzlingly choreographed and superlatively danced and it was interesting seeing a taster of what playing hockey back then was like.

Marie McDonald is also a lively presence and gives by far the best performance on the acting front.

All in all, a mixed bag, a pleasure on the ice, not a pleasure off it. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This skating soap opera stars Sonja Henie as a perky skater with a dog-like devotion to a bad-tempered hockey star. Henie's blandly unemotional performance is neither better nor worse than the hockey star's indifferent ruggedness.

The skating is somewhat entertaining, although Henie's main special effect is crazy fast spins, which while impressive, are overused. Henie also acquits herself nicely in a non-skating dance number.

The most interesting performance in the movie is Marie McDonald as a bored, sexy wife obsessed with the hockey player. Her aggressive flirting and strong personality make her fascinating if unlikeable. She makes the rest of the cast seem even blander.