FRAJM

For decades vaudeville was America's popular entertainment. This documentary looks at the history of the form, the source of its success, the variety of acts that toured that various circuits, and the lives of the performers, who ranged from the high-browed to the truly bizarre. It also examines the reasons for the death of vaudeville. We are treated to interviews with survivors of the period (Billy Barty, Rose Marie, the Nicholas Brothers, Billy Short, and others) and with wonderful film clips and stills. The films of the very young Nicholas Brothers alone is worth it. I highly recommend _Vaudeville_.

_Mystic Pizza_ would be remembered, if for no other reason, as the film that first made us pay attention to Julia Roberts. It also showcases the early talents of several other actors who later rose to some success and fame in the movies: Lili Taylor and Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio among them. Others in the cast have perhaps deserved better in their careers than they achieved, especially Annabeth Gish, but here they shine fresh and alive.Actually, the entire ensemble cast, including the minor parts, is excellent -- natural, unaffected, convincing performances.

The story concentrates on three young women on the cusp of new lives -- marriage, college, responsibility -- and tracks them through that special summer between the childhood and adulthood. I think it was more unusual in 1988 to show female friendships and a female point of view than has perhaps become ten years later. The women are smart and individualized, surprising and interesting as people.

The men are less so. D'Onofrio has the most fully realized male character, the young fisherman who wants commitment, who wants to be more to his girl than just a sexual aid. The other two men, one a preppie in rebellion and the other a middle-aged married man looking for something he left behind, are mostly just occasions for the women to find some new grounding and growth.

I am also very fond of this film for its insistence on finding one's way in the world by first finding out what is right thing to do, the right way to live.

This was Esther Williams's first starring vehicle and the beginning of that strange if charming subgenre, the swimming musical. She is lovely and has a certain presence; her film persona, a kind of wet precursor of Doris Day's virgins, is already set here. The water ballets that begin and end the film are well done and lavish but not as campy as they later became. The finale of fountains of water and flame is memorable.

The film, however, belongs to Red Skelton, who gets top billing. He does a classic bit that I've seen numerous times from him over the years, miming a woman getting up in the morning and getting dressed. He also has a long ballet sequence of his own, complete with pink tutu, that is one of the best things I've ever seen him do.

The rest of the cast, especially long-suffering Basil Rathbone (what were the casting people thinking?), were either wasted or forgettable, a Colombian baritone Carlos Ramirez, who has the presence of haddock, being one of the latter. The story rather lies there and smells, too.

Music, provided by Harry James, Xavier Cugat, Helen Forrest, and others, ought to have been a lot better, too. The songs are not execrable, simply forgettable given the talents available.

This is not a film for someone who is not a true believer of the genre, but it has its moments for those of us who are.