La fille et le garçon

Warner Brothers did for Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson something that Paramount until the Road To Bali never did for Bing and Bob. The Time, The Place And The Girl was done in some really nice technicolor and they gave the musical numbers by Arthur Schwartz and Leo Robin full production numbers. They could do this because a great deal of the film has a nightclub setting.

A nightclub setting that Morgan and Carson own and are trying to open. But they are next door to S.Z. Sakall and Florence Bates and their townhouse. Sakall is a symphony conductor and their granddaughter Martha Vickers is studying grand opera. Funny we hear no operatic notes from her.

What to do but send the old lady killer Morgan into action. But he really falls for Vickers. I think you can figure the rest out.

The musical numbers are not as elaborate as Busby Berkeley stuff in the Thirties, but are more elaborate than Road films numbers which only had the Crosby/Hope personalities to put them across and they certainly didn't do a bad job.

One interesting bit of casting is that of Donald Woods as Sakall's business manager who plays it like Edward Everett Horton and threatens to close the whole club down and ruin Morgan and Carson. A change of pace for Woods who was never quite a leading man, but was a chameleon like actor who fit into many characters without a bit of personality usually. Here he borrows Horton's.

Dennis's light tenor and Carson's antics are always entertaining.

A very funny movie. Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson are two guys who want to put on a musical, but they need a backer. Also hindering their plans is an orchestra conductor (S.Z. Sakall) who lives next door and doesn't like their "noise". Morgan simply has the conductor's daughter (Martha Vickers) - who is also an opera singer - fall in love with him. Then everyone gets along fine. Lots of good one-liners - Sakall gets a lot of the laughs. One of my favorite actresses, Janis Paige, also appears, as one of the show's stars (and Carson's girlfriend, if I remember correctly). There's one number that Morgan sings in blackface and there's a big production number with all the dancing girls dressed as cows that has just got to be seen to be believed! The only time I was bored was during the tap dancing - I have trouble watching that. Keep your ears clear for the best line, spoken by Vickers to Morgan - "I don't want the best, I want you!". I could say something similar to this film.

The beautiful "Oh, But I Do," is the Arthur Schwartz theme song of this Warners entry, with "Calico" and "Rainy Night in Rio" completing the tuneful bill.

These fine numbers are given full production numbers to their credit, which are colorful and pleasing.

There's nothing wrong with the casting either, headed by the lovable Dennis Morgan and versatile Jack Carson.

If only the scripting were better. It's really quite stock writing, with formula lines and situations--nothing special.

Don't know about you, but having "blackface numbers" pop up from nowhere for laughs is increasingly irksome in these period pieces.

All in all, a slight pastiche in the WB stock company folio.

A boilerplate Warners mid-'40s musical, but a triumph for the Great American Songbook, this backstager has some gorgeous Arthur Schwartz melodies married to Leo Robin lyrics wittier than anything in the script. The Oscar-nominated "Oh, But I Do" is one of Schwartz' loveliest melodies ever, and the little-known "A Thousand Dreams" isn't far behind. There's "A Gal in Calico," which once it gets in your head simply won't leave (it's been in mine for days) and "A Rainy Night in Rio," part of the South American craze then hitting the Hit Parade. There's "A Solid Citizen of the Solid South," done in grimace-inspiring blackface, but actually a pretty good number if you can get past that. All are "diegetic" numbers, meaning they're part of the stage entertainment in the film rather than related to plot or character, and they're backed by luscious Warners orchestrations, which were brassier and jazzier than what the arrangers turned out at Paramount or 20th or MGM. To get to these goodies you have to sit through a lot of inconsequential backstage plot, not to mention the tiresome jowl-shaking of S.Z. Sakall and the badly dated comedy of Jack Carson. But there's Martha Vickers, pretty and appealing, and Janis Paige, always reliable for sex appeal and a tart way with a good line. And Dennis Morgan, a Warners staple in the '40s, who had more presence and testosterone than most of the singing-capon tenors movie musicals of the day typically turned out. Carson and Morgan were sort of Warners' Hope and Crosby and were teamed many times. This is one of their more tolerable efforts, thanks almost exclusively to the efforts of Messrs. Schwartz and Robin.

While THE TIME, THE PLACE AND THE GIRL never rises above being a pleasant little "let's put on a show" musical, it does feature a few sprightly song numbers that are easy on the eyes and ears--and all of the performances are genial and appealing.

Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson are ideal as show biz guys willing to put something over on Martha Vickers in order to get backing for their enterprise. Vickers comes across as even more appealing than she was in THE BIG SLEEP as the nymphomaniacal daughter. And for good measure, there's the always vivacious Janis Paige doing her standard musical comedy thing with finesse. Donald Woods does a standout job as the stuffy tutor of musical pupil Vickers.

Comic relief from Florence Bates and S.Z. Sakall is a big help--especially since the script itself is none too witty. But what really makes the film a special delight are the handsome production values which went into this formula musical and two outstanding songs that are given first-rate treatment: A GIRL FROM CALICO and A RAINY NIGHT IN RIO.

If you like backstage musicals, you'll enjoy this minor delight.