Debbie, Debbie...
This is a version of the very long running (1,500+ performances) Broadway comedy by Jean Kerr, wife of New York Times theater critic Walter Kerr and author of the novel, Please Don't Eat The Daisies.
It would have been a much better film if Debbie Reynolds been given better (or any) direction.
Debbie was sometimes not adept at playing it real, there was sometimes a sense that she was making an effort. But at her best, she was spontaneous and delightful - especially in her earlier efforts like Singin' In The Rain, Athena, Give A Girl A Break, I Love Melvin, etc.
Take a look at Debbie in Susan Slept Here (written and directed by Frank Tashlin) if you don't think she could be real, believable, touching, funny, and everything else she is supposed to be here, and isn't. There's a reason she became a bigger star than many of the MGM girls she originally appeared in support of - and guys, for that matter. Even when she isn't too good (as in this film) it's obvious that she has star power. Imagine a film starring the other four leads and no Debbie.
The trouble here is that, rather than relying on her own vocal inflections, and her proved ability to deliver comic dialogue, she gives an imitation of Barbara Bel Geddes (the original star of the Broadway show)! I don't know whose idea this was, but it wasn't a good one.
It's a decent romantic comedy that has a lot of pretty good jokes about the contemporary fads and foibles of the day. The action really doesn't leave the apartment set. The set and costumes are in deliberately neutral tones, like they were designed to be shot in black and white. (The brightest colors are in the title sequence.) Like Debbie's performance, the stylized color scheme serves to distance us from the story, since it encourages us not to forget we're watching something unreal. The whole thing is shot at some distance from the actors - though this seems to have been Mervyn LeRoy's later style, in general. This also hampers involvement.
The performances of Barry Nelson and Michael Rennie - the original Broadway stars - as well as Hiram Sherman, who took over on Broadway from John Cromwell, the actor and director ("Since You Went Away"), are quite good, and Diane MacBain is charming.
It would have been a much better film if Debbie Reynolds been given better (or any) direction.
Debbie was sometimes not adept at playing it real, there was sometimes a sense that she was making an effort. But at her best, she was spontaneous and delightful - especially in her earlier efforts like Singin' In The Rain, Athena, Give A Girl A Break, I Love Melvin, etc.
Take a look at Debbie in Susan Slept Here (written and directed by Frank Tashlin) if you don't think she could be real, believable, touching, funny, and everything else she is supposed to be here, and isn't. There's a reason she became a bigger star than many of the MGM girls she originally appeared in support of - and guys, for that matter. Even when she isn't too good (as in this film) it's obvious that she has star power. Imagine a film starring the other four leads and no Debbie.
The trouble here is that, rather than relying on her own vocal inflections, and her proved ability to deliver comic dialogue, she gives an imitation of Barbara Bel Geddes (the original star of the Broadway show)! I don't know whose idea this was, but it wasn't a good one.
It's a decent romantic comedy that has a lot of pretty good jokes about the contemporary fads and foibles of the day. The action really doesn't leave the apartment set. The set and costumes are in deliberately neutral tones, like they were designed to be shot in black and white. (The brightest colors are in the title sequence.) Like Debbie's performance, the stylized color scheme serves to distance us from the story, since it encourages us not to forget we're watching something unreal. The whole thing is shot at some distance from the actors - though this seems to have been Mervyn LeRoy's later style, in general. This also hampers involvement.
The performances of Barry Nelson and Michael Rennie - the original Broadway stars - as well as Hiram Sherman, who took over on Broadway from John Cromwell, the actor and director ("Since You Went Away"), are quite good, and Diane MacBain is charming.
- jhkp
- Oct 27, 2012