Feira de Ilusões

The third film version of 'State Fair' (and the second musical version) is only partly successful, although it is nowhere near as bad as reviews of the time would have you believe.

Margy Frake this time round is played by newcomer Pamela Tiffin, who is rather colourless (and has her voice dubbed as Jeanne Crain did 17 years earlier). Her squire at the fair this time round is called Jerry and works for that new-fangled media, the 'tube' or TV. He's played by Bobby Darin who looks far too old to be chasing Tiffin - perhaps that is why a couple of references were added in this version about her age.

Pat Boone, in one of his few film appearances, is really rather good as Wayne Frake, who is now a racing driver, and of course he does his own songs and rather well. As the show singer Emily, Ann-Margret is embarrassing and too trashy; I always find her a bit OTT, as she is here.

The Frake parents, Tom Ewell and Alice Faye are charming and both have songs created for this version which were not in the '45 film, including a charming duet when they are out on the midway.

The new songs, written by Rodgers alone as Hammerstein had died by the time the film was created, are a mixed bunch. 'Never Say No To A Man' is just plain odd, although is a nice number for Faye's voice. 'Sweet Hog of Mine' fits perfectly, although some of the others feel like padding. Now the Sate Fair has relocated to Texas, we have a new song to replace 'All I Owe Ioway', this time it is 'The Little Things In Texas I Love'.

Although watchable, the relationship between Jerry and Margy in particular does not have the easy romance we saw in previous versions; while Emily does not gain the audience sympathy her character should.

A misfire, then, but a fascinating companion piece to the earlier version and it is useful to see them released together on DVD.

I think this 62' remake of STATE FAIR doesn't deserve the bad rap it's been getting and has in the past. While it is not a great musical, it certainly has its credits. Yes, the original is better, but let's give credit where credit is due for this re-make. First of all it was great to see Alice Faye back on screen. She did a more than admirable job, as did Tom Ewell as Abel. They are definitely on par with the orginials. Pat Boone is quite wonderful as Wayne, better that Dick Haymes. Bobby Darin was his usual egotistical self which fits the character well, although I like Dana Andrews a bit more. The real standout is Ann-Margret. Not only is her one splashy number great, but she really shows her acting chops, especially in her final scene with Pat Boone. You can certainly see why she became a huge star and has been working for over 40 years and still is. Sorry to see her in her drunken frumpy roles, however. The only real disappointment is Pamela Tiffin. She looks the role but is unlovable as Margy. She looks and acts a bit snooty. Jeanne Crain was terrific in the original. The new songs that were added were good to great. The story changes were also interesting, although it looks like bits and pieces might have landed on the cutting room floor. Interesting that in both versions of the film, the parents never meet or have scenes with the kids boy/girlfriends. Now that this movie is on DVD, it should be a must seeing for all fans of STATE FAIR. Stero sound, wide screen a real fair as opposed to the orginals matte studio sets. A nice commentary by Mr. Boone as well.

I saw this film in the theater as a nine-year old and loved it. I saw the film again the other night on DVD and what do you know? I still loved it. The silliest criticism that I saw about this film concerned the location filming at a real Texas State Fair. This criticism offered the theory that the people at Fox couldn't afford to build proper sets for the film due to the financial drain of "Cleopatra", so they had to settle for cheaper location filming! The location filming and the wide-screen sweep of the fairgrounds are what add to the appeal of this film. Also, not one review that I read commented on the exciting auto racing sequences which were certainly well-staged. The five additional songs written by Richard Rodgers were lovely and in the tradition of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The performances were uniformly good, especially Ann-Margaret, whose first movie filmed this was. ("Pocket Full of Miracles" was released first but filmed second.)

I see the reviews, I see the number ratings, I don't understand.

In my opinion this is an excellent movie. I'm not a movie critic, I don't have a degree in film arts or even drama. I'm just a retired high school math teacher. That said, I find so many things about this film to be so positive and endearing.

Pat Boone is great, Ann Margaret is beautiful and the the rest of the actors were so enjoyable. The songs and music are outstanding and best of all you can understand every word of every song. Yep, you guessed it, I'm an old guy, I'm 63 and I had the pleasure of seeing this film on its first run in the theater in Nashville, Tennessee. I loved it then and I loved it tonight after watching it for the first time in 40 years on the new DVD widescreen Cinemascope release. I still have the LP vinyl 33 1/3 RPM original movie soundtrack. Love it too.

Some critics seem to feel that everything is too polite, too sweet, too clean to be realistic, but I'll tell you, that's the way it was where I grew up 40 years ago. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did tonight. 10/10

I know this film received less than favorable reviews at the time of its release, but I have always enjoyed it and watch it at least once or twice a year....there is something about the hominess and wonderful music that draw me to it in this day of mostly special effects in movies.

It is a tired old story and as others have stated, it has been filmed several times before, although, I think the array of young stars and their talents are well displayed and it was nice to see a couple of "old timers" like Tom Ewell and Alice Faye liven up the proceedings, which concern a family's adventure at the Texas State Fair; when I do compare it to the 1945 version, both seem very appropriate for the time they were filmed; Vivian Blaine made a wonderful Emily, as Ann-Margret does in the 1962 version, and both are "knockouts." Ann-Margret holds a special place in my heart, as she is originally from the Chicago area, and went to high-school with a good friend of the family; he told us that all eyes would turn when she entered a classroom, as she was such an imposing radiant figure and this was at seventeen or eighteen years of age....