Tre piccole parole

This was a wonderful, feel-good movie with tons of songs, many of them appealing. There also were some great dancing scenes, no surprise there since Fred Astaire is one of the stars. Astaire and Vera-Ellen paired up well for those numbers.

This is one of the few films, even in the musicals, in which all the characters were nice people. In other words, there were no villains, no nasty people, which is refreshing to see now and then. It is supposedly the true-life account of songwriters Bert Kalmar (Astaire) and Harry Ruby (Red Skelton). Ruby is good at writing tunes, but not with lyrics. Kalmar supplies the lyrics and dance. Skelton also shows he had a decent singing voice.

The only unhappy moments in the movie are the squabbles between the two leading men, but that's not overdone and sometimes it's humorous. Skelton's character is the nicer of the two.

The leading ladies are wholesome-looking beautiful women. Vera-Ellen is a Shirley Jones-type pretty blonde with a great dancer's body. She's enjoyable to watch. Arlene Dahl, who was stunning, is the other leading female but her role was minor, unfortunately.

The movie is a good mixture of song, dance, comedy and drama and is an underrated film in that it that doesn't get a lot of publicity. Astaire was quoted as saying this was his favorite film. I agree. It's my favorite of his, too.

Although Astaire was a bit past his prime in the dancing area, this is by far the best acting performance he gave (Towering Inferno Oscar nod included). His Bert Kalmar is complex, restless, at times testy, and very much a real person compared to the standard Astaire character. Whether the circumstances depicted in the movie were fact or fiction, he is really a character with a distinct persona, as opposed to Fred Astaire essentially playing himself as in most other his other films.

After seeing all the overstuffed musical biographies which pay homage to Kern, Rodgers, Hart, Gershwin, and the like, this one is a breath of fresh air as it is much simpler and more basic in its construction. Its two main leads (Fred Astaire and Red Skelton) do not take the material over-the-top; instead they underplay, and in Skelton's case, he is so subdued that he reveals a wonderful, sensitive, acting talent. The musical numbers, of course ("Who's Sorry Now?" "Nevertheless," "Sunny Tennessee," "I Wanna Be Loved By You," "Three Little Words"), speak for themselves. And Astaire and Vera-Ellen are perfection on the dance floor- and no less than *three* times: in the tuxedoed duet "Where Did You Get That Girl?"; a tongue-in-cheek homage to dance domesticity- "Mr. & Mrs. Hoofer;" and the best moment- a tender, romantic adagio in an elaborate stateroom, "Thinking of You." There is also fine support from gorgeous redhead Arlene Dahl and spirited brunette Gloria DeHaven. And, of course, there is Debbie Reynolds (a full year before 'Singing In The Rain') performing as Helen Kane- with singing voice provided by Kane herself!!

... because the whole thing goes down so easy.

It's an odd combination - Red Skelton and Fred Astaire. It was the only time that they ever played opposite one another. They were both in a couple of the big MGM ensemble musicals of the era - "Ziegfeld Follies" comes to mind - but they didn't do anything together in them. That's too bad, because their styles seem to bring out the best in each other as far as acting goes. Fred becomes more of a comic. Red becomes subdued.

This is the very fictionalized biopic of songwriting team Bert Kalmar (Fred Astaire) and Harry Ruby (Red Skelton). In the film, Kalmar is a dancer who is a part time playwright and magician. One night when Kalmar is performing his magic act, Ruby, a stagehand, manages to accidentally destroy everything single-handedly, causing Kalmar to get laughed off the stage. This is the "meet cute" phase. When Kalmar injures his knee and must lay off dancing for two years, he becomes a full-time songwriter and ends up reluctantly partnered with Ruby, who he still blames for ruining his act that one time. Of course, reluctance turns to friendship and great success. There are squabbles along the way and Kalmar and his wife (Vera Ellen of the tiny waistline) step in to discretely disrupt Ruby's bad romantic choices.

The squabbles are short lived and on the surface, for there really are no villains in this film, not even a buffoonish one like Singin' In the Rain's Lena Lamont. It's just the great balance of comedy, music, and heart that many of MGM's other musicals wanted to be but just could not quite accomplish. This one has aged very well, and I'd recommend it.

This is what MGM did best. Musicals. Ah, they were all so wonderful, and THREE LITTLE WORDS in one of them. A nice, quiet muscial with great songs and dance numbers. Don't know how much of this is real biographical, but it's well done and interesting. Nice work from Astaire and Skelton as Kilmer and Ruby. The leading ladies are quite wonderful with Arlene Dahl at her dreamiest, though she doesn't have much to work with here. Because of story implications, Astaire doesn't dance after the first half, but until then he's sensational as always with Vera Ellen doing some fine hoofing as well. This was Debbie Reynolds 3rd film, having a bit in JUNE BRIDE and a small roll in DAUGHTER OF ROSIE O'GRADY. No Decalogue here and her voice is dubbed, but she makes an impression. For a nice, cozy evening, cuddle up with this DVD version of THREE LITTLE WORDS.