L'uomo che vorrei

Betty Hutton runs a bookstore with no customers and has written a novel which no one will publish. She's enamored of her brother-in-law, Patric Knowles, and very annoyed by know-it-all sports reporter McDonald Carey. She also is prone to go into trances in which she imagines herself doing something great or noble.

It's based on a play by Elmer Rice, but I can't tell if it's a bad play or director Mitchell Leisen was trying to sabotage Miss Hutton's career. Her character is unfocused enough as it is, but she plays it with bad make-up and a flat, nasal voice. It's a character which, in a well-run comedy, would receive a kick in the pants and get on with things. Instead, thanks to a screenplay by Arthur Sheekman, no such thing happens. It just wanders through several scenes in which she and Carey snap at each other, making sure we thoroughly dislike each, hoping they will get together so they can make each other thoroughly miserable.

Miss Hutton was 27 when she made this, pretty far from the young jitterbugger she had portrayed eight years earlier. Apparently the jitterbug had fallen out of favor, and Paramount was trying to make a new star persona for her. With vehicles like this, the public had no interest in cooperating.

This story is boring. Georgina (Betty Hutton) keeps day-dreaming. The only cast members that are any good are Virginia Field who plays Hutton's sister and Walter Abel who plays her father. Abel delivers his lines comically and is at the opposite end of the acting spectrum to Hutton who drifts through the film in an annoying manner. Her speech pattern is very whiny and irritating. She has a couple of funny moments but it's just not good enough considering she is on screen for so long. There is an interesting section with a singing teacher that provides some top tips for those of you who want to learn to sing. I remembered a few of them from my days as a choir boy! Unfortunately, I can't say anything better than this film is dull.

A Betty Hutton fan for virtually her entire career, I haven't seen this since it was first issued & wonder why it's been neglected. Granted, she didn't sing much (if at all), but it's an interesting vehicle for her comic talents. She plays a female Walter Mitty who imagines herself in numerous extreme situations. I can remember only Sadie Thompson in a seedy South Sea saloon, & Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly, lip-synching someone else's rendition of "Un Bel Di."

Hutton's best work, both musically & dramatically, has also been neglected by VHS & DVD. Somebody Loves Me, based on the lives of vaudevillians Blossom Seeley & her husband, played by Ralph Meeker. Billie Byrd also had a choice wise-cracking role.

This was an interesting Betty Hutton vehicle since she's not her usual boisterous self here. In fact, while she does a lot of talking, she also does a lot of dreaming as shown in some sequences which have a different tone than the more reality-based ones. While there are some funny lines, I don't find myself guffawing like I usually do when watching other Hutton movies. This plays more like those weepies starring Bette Davis or some of the other popular female drama stars of the time doing movies. Ms. Hutton does a number as a drunk nightclub performer in one dream sequence and possibly lip-syncs as an opera diva in another. In summary, Dream Girl is one of the more fascinating of the Betty Hutton movies.

I like it, because it's one of those simple, harmless, cozy old movies that the b&w movie age was so adept at. But, as those movies go, it's one of the lesser of its kind.

Despite this movie not really hitting the spot with me, I must admit that I do identify with it on a personal level. The lead character, played by Betty Hutton, is basically me in another form! But I digress...

If you've seen the Ginger Rogers movie, "Tom, Dick, and Harry," you'll recognize this as a sort of wannabe of that. Except, it doesn't hold a candle to it. And if you like the movie "What A Way to Go" - this is in that same vein as well. Different, but similar. And if you haven't seen either of those, but left this movie unsatisfied, check them out!

It's a testament to how good these old movies actually are, that even the lousy ones are OK. This is one of those.

On another note, Betty Hutton is pretty impressive with how annoying she can be in the way. She changes her voice and stuff. In other movies I've seen, she's absolutely adorable. But in this one, she has the most grating affectation! That's showbiz! And oddly enough, it makes me wanna watch more of her.

This movie is strange for another reason too - as it opens, one is never sure what era it takes place in. In fact, that was one of the reasons I stuck with it to the end, just to see if I would get a definitive answer.

An odd little film.

One stand out piece of trivia about it, though, is that Lucille Ball starred in the stage production that this movie was based on. I believe she was filling in for another actress. But it was Lucy that made this movie stand out to me. And I just know she would've done the role justice!

This movie reminds me of another favorite movie star of mine as well, Deanna Durbin - because at some point in the film, a song from the opera "Madame Butterfly" is feature featured, reaffirming my love of opera.

Yes, an odd little film. One that's not half bad though.