Deliziosamente pericolosa

IMDB says that this is a remake of Mad about Music featuring Deanna Durbin. That surely must be an error. This film, Delightfully Dangerous rather has an identical premise to Two Sisters from Boston featuring Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson & Peter Lawford. If so, pretty incredible given that these films were made within a year of each other. Rather, The Toy Tiger with Jeff Chandler, Laraine Day & Tim Hovey is a very charming remake of Mad about Music. Incredible how many 1930s films were remade in the 1940s.

Pleasant enough film, if slightly exasperating at times. Musical sequences bit too long, in my opinion.

This light musical is solid if nothing special, with a story, characters, and production that are all about average overall. The cast is probably the strongest part if it, with a young Jane Powell in the lead role.

The story concerns two sisters and their dreams of a career in show business. As the younger of the two, Powell's character wants to be a singer, and Powell is given several opportunities to perform. As her sister, Constance Moore has a simpler role, but she fulfills it adequately. Ralph Bellamy probably gives the best performance, and he is well-cast as a well-meaning, slightly befuddled Broadway producer. Arthur Treacher also pitches in playing Bellamy's butler.

Most of the rest of it is rather plain, although there are no real flaws. The story is purely lightweight, but it has enough to keep you watching, and the characters are just believable enough to make you care about them.

Jane Powell thinks her sister, Constance Moore, is starring on Broadway. Producer Ralph Bellamy confirms this to her classmates at her posh school. When she goes to New York to visit, she discovers the truth: Miss Moore is starring in burlesque. Meanwhile, Bellamy is unable to cast his new show, a swing version of Strauss as arranged by Morton Gould.

Except for the burlesque connection -- alas, the camera cuts away before we get to see the good stuff -- this looks a lot like a Deanna Durbin musical from the late 1930s, with Miss Powell standing in for Miss Durbin. Miss Powell gets to sing a number of songs in a variety of styles, and Miss Moore cuts loose a couple of time, especially with the big finale, which is a lot of fun; the staging suggests R. Strauss' DIE FLEDERMAUS more than Johann Strauss, but that's fine. Miss Powell shortly went to MGM, where she played this sort of role for several years; Miss Moore appeared in several movies for a couple more years, often in a specialty number; and Bellamy made one more movie that year, then was not seen on the big screen for a decade.

It's the type of story that was often done better for Miss Durbin, and clearly didn't serve anyone's career. Director Arthur Lubin stages the musical numbers pretty stodgily; even if they are set in a theater stage or where Morton Gould's orchestra is playing, there's little sense of the visual fantasy that most movie musicals provided.

I thought this was a lot of fun. Great old film. Solid performances by all.

Plug Powell's bouncy effervescence into a generator and the sky would light up. At times she's a little much, but as an aspiring teenage singer, she really lights up the screen. Now, if she can just get the vocal career she wants and turn sister Moore from a burlesque queen into a legitimate stage performer, she'll be happy. Meanwhile, big-time stage producer Bellamy gets to stand around and look handsomely important. All together, they make an engaging threesome.

For sure, director Lubin keeps things moving, while the choreographed musical numbers are imaginative eye-catchers. Too bad the songs are forgettable even with the renowned Morton Gould conducting. Note the fringe presence of all the lively servicemen as the big war winds down in the production year of 1944. And for those interested in ladies' fashions of the time, there's plenty, especially with the stately Moore modeling. Then too, is that the great W. C. Fields doing a quick grab-by in the rolling record scene. It passes quickly, but see what you think.

Anyway, it's a fast moving, if not particularly memorable musical, that showcases a teenage Powell clearly on her way up the movie ladder.