Casanova Junior

I have never seen the TV show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis", so you should keep this in mind when you read this review. I haven't a whole lot of preconceptions about the movie but I also wasn't particularly interested in the concept to actually watch the show the 106,284 times it was shown years ago on Nickelodeon and other cable channels. Why I actually decided to watch this when it came on Turner Classic Movies is beyond me--though I am glad that I did.

While it is undeniable that this movie is complete fluff, it is nevertheless enjoyable fluff. There's lots of singing and dancing and romancing and comedy--a formula very similar to the Doris Day/Gordon MacRae films BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON and ON MOONLIGHT BAY (though these two Warner Brothers films were set in an earlier time period). It's all very light and very likable--even if it turns out that Dobie is a dirty little cheater (see the film to find out what I am talking about).

Of particular interest, by the way, is the earnest and likable style of Bobby Van. It's too bad that he came to Hollywood near the end of the musical craze and that his life was so tragically shortened. He was talented and all I'd previously seen him in were insipid 1970s game shows.

My reviews often seem to be "in defense of" reviews after a group of reviews pan a movie, without really considering the genre. It is like reviewing a opera as bad when the standard being applied it a hip hop concert. Or something like that.

This movie is silly and lightweight. Folks break out singing and dancing all over the place, cuz it is an MGM musical. (I do ding it for being in black and white.)

The leads are Bobby Van and Debby Reynolds. They sing, they dance, they act as silly as can be. It is fun, it is very 50's. All is resolved in the end. It is cute. And you get to see Bob Fosse in his early days blowing everyone off of the screen with his dancing.

Great character actors abound, playing up their characters to the top, in a way that current film makers would never allow. I'm not saying I want to see lots of this kind of fluff, but as fluff it is pretty good. And the fantasy part makes me want to go back to the midwest and do college again. Well perhaps that is overstated.

Watch this to see the fun dance numbers and take a look at the Hollywood take on college in the 50's. It is a bit of an anthropological statement dressed up with some fun music. Sex,,,,Nope ya won't see that; but you do see the obsessional way that 18 year olds fall in love. And a movie that can capture that (as I remember it rather than with the rather bad parts of it) has its good moments.

Everyone is cute, everyone is white, everyone is straight (even though they sing and dance and write poetry an awful lot). If that is not you, ya got to take a bigger step or suspension of belief to become involved in the movie. The heavies are not that heavy, bad behavior is overlooked as youthful indiscretions. Looking at this view of idealized life and how it has changed in 50 years is interesting in itself. This is also one of the last of MGM's musicals. Bobby Van really did not adapt to the changing times, or at least studios did not see his potential for non-singing and dancing roles. That is a shame. Debby Reynolds is still working after the death of the musical, and Bob Fosse went stellar in spite of the death of the musical. They just kept making them for him (still do and he has been dead for about 15 years!). A good later nighter.

Previous to watching this film my frame of reference for Dobie Gillis was the television series that starred Dwayne Hickman in the early Sixties. So I was curious somewhat to see The Affairs Of Dobie Gillis from where the television series sprung.

Other than Dobie you will not find a single character that came from TV show. And instead of high school the girl crazy Dobie who simply views his time at college as a romp with the opposite sex finds himself attracted to THE girl in the person of Debbie Reynolds.

Life throws many roadblocks at the young couple, her parents, his teachers, but they do overcome of course.

Bobby Van plays Dobie Gillis and he gets a few numbers to show off his singing and more important his dancing. Playing his best friend at the very start of his distinguished career is Bob Fosse and the two are quite the team. Fosse and Van came at the end of the musical cycle, but Fosse went on to Broadway as the most distinguished choreographer of his time. Barbara Ruick is also in the cast and she did way too few films, her best known being Carousel playing Carrie Pipperidge.

The Affairs Of Dobie Gillis is a mildly entertaining film that probably is best known as it turned out, a TV Pilot.

This comedy/musical is a rather silly but quite entertaining college romance. The dialogue and situations is extremely dated, having come out in the early '50s, but if you enjoy films from that period you'll probably like this one. Some of the situations made me laugh out loud which is more than I can say for many films of today. The characters from this film were later used in the television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

Being based on short stories that are still of much great enjoyment now and having people as talented as Debbie Reynolds, Bob Fosse, Hans Conreid and Bobby Van, 'The Affairs of Dobie Gillis' had all the makings of being good-natured fun and being very difficult to dislike.

'The Affairs of Dobie Gillis' is not necessarily a great film by all means, with a very thin, often meandering and at times non-existent story that feels like several comic situations/stories cobbled together and not much else. While most of the film is very entertaining and achieves what it set out to do very well indeed, there is always going to be the criticisms that some of the situations are unbelievably silly and that it's dated, so suspension of disbelief is needed.

Fosse doesn't look so comfortable in his role in the acting department and his personality doesn't shine as much as when he is dancing.

However, 'The Affairs of Dobie Gillis' is very nicely designed and quaintly photographed. The music fits very well and is more than listenable on its own as well, the standout song being the heart-melting "All I Do is Dream of You". When it comes to the choreography and dancing, Fosse in particular scintillates in a routine that brims with energy, clever choreographic flourishes and extraordinary dance technique.

Regarding the script, it is here very light and bubbly, never trying to do more or be more complicated than needed. A good deal of it is silly too, but has such a good nature and has its heart in the right place that it is hard to be too hard on it. The film moves quickly and never feels dull, because the energy of the cast and the pleasant atmosphere moves things along so well.

Despite having mixed feelings on Fosse (loved the dancing, didn't look at ease in the acting), the rest of the acting fares well. Van is at his most likeably earnest, while Reynolds is spunky and charming and Barbara Ruick is suitably peppy. In support, an amusing Hans Conreid, firm Charles Lane and tyrannical Hanley Stafford stand out in particular. The direction is more than competent throughout, having the right lightness of touch.

On the whole, not a great film but an enjoyably good-natured and easily watchable one. 7/10 Bethany Cox