Délicieusement dangereuse

15-year-old Sherry Williams (Jane Powell) attends a private all-girls music school. She's very proud of her older sister Josephine (Constance Moore) whom Sherry believes is a very famous concert singer. Sherry heads to the city to track down her sister, only to learn that she's actually a burlesque queen known as "Bubbles Barton". Sherry's image of her sister is shattered, and Josephine and friend Arthur Hale (Ralph Bellamy) try to smooth things over. Also featuring Arthur Treacher, Louise Beavers, Ruth Tobey, and Morton Gould & His Orchestra.

This was the second film appearance for teen singing star Powell, and her first in a fictional role (she'd played herself in 1944's Song of the Open Road). She's cute and has screen presence, but she's also a bit rough, acting-wise, overdoing several scenes. But perhaps that was intended, as she's an emotional teenager. The songs are passable, if unmemorable. The burlesque setting, and some of the racy dialogue, shows that the production code boundaries were being pushed against, if ever so gently.

This light musical is solid if nothing special, with a story, characters, and production that are all about average overall. The cast is probably the strongest part if it, with a young Jane Powell in the lead role.

The story concerns two sisters and their dreams of a career in show business. As the younger of the two, Powell's character wants to be a singer, and Powell is given several opportunities to perform. As her sister, Constance Moore has a simpler role, but she fulfills it adequately. Ralph Bellamy probably gives the best performance, and he is well-cast as a well-meaning, slightly befuddled Broadway producer. Arthur Treacher also pitches in playing Bellamy's butler.

Most of the rest of it is rather plain, although there are no real flaws. The story is purely lightweight, but it has enough to keep you watching, and the characters are just believable enough to make you care about them.

I thought this was a lot of fun. Great old film. Solid performances by all.

The very talented Jane Powell was a delightful and enjoyable actress, especially in her string of musicals from the mid-1940s to late 1950s. But, this was just her second film, and a loan-out from MGM with much lesser quality material than MGM would provide for her. She doesn't have the wonderful musicians, top actors, writers and material here that were just around the corner for her at MGM. Those would make her star shine brightly in some wonder musical comedies and romance films.

There isn't even much music or comedy here. The best is the school's annual production in which a number of skits - song and dance routines are performed in a carnival setting. The performers appear as mannequins who come to life to sing and dance when a carnival patron shoots the bulls-eye for their skit. It's an original sort of arrangement that is quite good. But the rest of the film has very little music and just a couple brief scenes with slight comedy Arthur Treacher and Louse Beavers provide most of the comedy as Jeffers and Hannah.

There is one little aside for Ralph Bellamy fans. This is one film in which Bellamy gets a girl. In most films with Cary Grant and a host of leading men in which he plays second fiddle, Bellamy always loses out to the more handsome hero.

Of all of the musical comedies and romance films that Jane Powell made, only one was a real dud - "Athena" in 1954. This film is the only other one that isn't at least very good. And she made some great ones.

Plug Powell's bouncy effervescence into a generator and the sky would light up. At times she's a little much, but as an aspiring teenage singer, she really lights up the screen. Now, if she can just get the vocal career she wants and turn sister Moore from a burlesque queen into a legitimate stage performer, she'll be happy. Meanwhile, big-time stage producer Bellamy gets to stand around and look handsomely important. All together, they make an engaging threesome.

For sure, director Lubin keeps things moving, while the choreographed musical numbers are imaginative eye-catchers. Too bad the songs are forgettable even with the renowned Morton Gould conducting. Note the fringe presence of all the lively servicemen as the big war winds down in the production year of 1944. And for those interested in ladies' fashions of the time, there's plenty, especially with the stately Moore modeling. Then too, is that the great W. C. Fields doing a quick grab-by in the rolling record scene. It passes quickly, but see what you think.

Anyway, it's a fast moving, if not particularly memorable musical, that showcases a teenage Powell clearly on her way up the movie ladder.