Ricca, giovane e bella

One of Jane Powell's best musicals for MGM is Rich, Young and Pretty and Ms. Powell winds up all three and married to boot.

She and father Wendell Corey and housekeeper Una Merkel are in Paris where Wendell is on business for the United Nations where he works.

But he wasn't always a high powered diplomat. After the first World War he took a French bride, Danielle Darrieux, back to Texas. Texas didn't agree with Danielle and she left Wendell and her infant daughter. Wendell has told Jane her mother had passed away.

Of course all this deception by Corey leaves room for more deception by Danielle upon Jane's arrival in Paris. With a little subterfuge Darrieux and Powell meet. And Powell's also got eyes for a young French official, Vic Damone and she's forgetting about the boy she's seeing back home.

The story line of Rich, Young, and Pretty gets a little too cute, but there are some talented players here to smooth out the rough spots. And Nicholas Brodzsky and Sammy Cahn wrote some nice songs. One of them, Wonder Why, was nominated for Best Song, but lost to In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening. Still Wonder Why is a very pretty ballad, sung by both Damone and Powell.

My favorite song however is Paris, a city that certainly has inspired some of our best songwriters. Here it's done by Fernando Lamas and sung well.

Fans of this talented cast will want to see their stars perform even though the story is a bit silly.

I read a review that stated that this movie was filmed before Royal Wedding, but this isn't so. Royal Wedding, starring Fred Astaire, was filmed before this movie and it was Royal Wedding which made Jane Powell no longer a teenage movie star but a full blown adult performer! Her movie Three Weeks With Love with Ricardo Montalban was a tell tale sign that it was time for Jane Powell to throw away her teenager costumes once and for all and become an adult. She, Debbie Reynolds, and Natalie Wood were just three of the very few who made it from teenage performer to adult performers in the movies.

So, after Royal Wedding, Jane Powell was slated for Rich, Young, and Pretty, but there was a problem; she found out that she was pregnant, so much of the shooting had to be done as quickly as possible with many of scenes filmed waist up. Danielle Darrieux had made her film debut in the U.S. in "The Rage of Paris" and hated the movie so much that there was nothing that could stop her from returning to Paris, but the script, her role, and the fact that she got to sing and dance in a Technicolor musical was enough to entice her back for Rich, Young, and Pretty! Good thing too! She was great!

This was Vic Damone's first movie for Hollowood, and as my Mom said, "Everyone was swooning over Vic's Cow-eyes! What can one say about Una Merckle? Una is Una. She played servant in the Jeannette McDonald version of The Merry Widow and repeated the same role in the Lana Turner version, which was the best of the two, and repeated the servant role in Rich, Young, and Pretty, with a pretty, good, feisty performance especially in the end.

As far as the songs are forgettable? This will sum up this movie and my review. Because of lack of space, I could give you word for word of all the songs in the movie, and I'm going to prove it:

"They say that Paris is charming and light hearted, over and over again. They said in Paris no star shines as brightly, as Paris again, and again. They say her bonnets are lyrical sonnets. They've said it with word and with pen. They say that Paris makes April complete. They say that Taxi's makes songs in her streets. Although these things they repeat and repeat, but I like to think instead: That Paris is sort of the things that left, unsaid!"

The songs are forgettable and not memorable? I don't think so!

No need to recap the plot, which at the beginning resembles that of Giant (1956). Musicals generally live or die by the quality of the music. By that standard, this one is pretty much a snoozer following a string of forgettably bland numbers, which at least don't annoy.

The movie itself stands as a clear instance of lead performers outshining the material— mainly, the always sparkling Jane Powell and a fabulous Danielle Darrieux. Even the seemingly miscast Corey, so usually dour, manages an agreeable father. While in a tacked-on role, a hunky Fernando Lamas is clearly on his way up. One can sympathize, however, with boyish crooner Damone in his first film-- his self-consciousness almost flies off the screen.

I expect critics are right about the problems caused by Powell's pregnancy. The production has a less polished, more constrained look than the usual high MGM standard. This could well be due to a hurry-up schedule and Powell's growing girth. Whatever the reason, the movie's a chance to catch the ravishing French actress Darrieux in one of her few American roles. Otherwise, it's pretty forgettable.

This lovely, little-known MGM musical from 1951 stands above most others of its genre by utilizing a strong, often (unintentionally) disturbing and moving storyline as a background for its delightful musical numbers and melodic score.

Jane Powell is fresh as the first day of spring, and in fine voice. Vic Damone's equally engaging as her romantic interest. But the real surprise is the depth and vivacity of the "adult" performers -- Wendell Corey, Fernando Lamas (whose resonant baritone voice is fully utilized) and the delicious Danielle Darrieux in one of her few American movies. She provides charm, elegance and alluring sex-appeal as a woman who abandoned her daughter (Powell) shortly after her birth, divorced her husband (Corey), returned to her native France, and resumed her career as a Parisian nightclub performer, currently in love with her cabaret co-star Lamas. Corey unwittingly takes his daughter to Paris for a vacation, having no idea she will eventually discover the identity of her supposedly "deceased" mother.

The sad undercurrents of the plot are glossed over by a lush Technicolored production and one riveting song after another. The riveting finale is staged and photographed and sung to vivid perfection.

A delicious diversion, with a glorious cast doing full justice to its entrancing score and poignant screenplay. Simply a pity that the delectable, saucy Ms. Darrieux was never teamed with Fred Astaire, though Ms. Powell was one year later in the knockout "Royal Wedding".

There are a few good songs in this movie, but most are as forgettable as the characters. Wendell Corey is not convincing as a Texan and looks hungover during the movie. He also cannot sing and does a terrible version of 'Deep in the Heart of Texas'. The characters are all shallow and Jane barely cares that Danielle deserted her as a child.

I did like Hans Conried as a pushy waiter and the Four Freshmen have a nice musical number. Worth a look if you like any of the stars or you are a big fan of the genre.