Tout le plaisir est pour moi

It was only a matter of time before a movie musical would be made with an "Enoch Arden" plot. This 1955 Columbia musical was it. Although the film writing credits list a W. Somerset Maugham play, that play itself was a version of the 1864 poem, "Enoch Arden," by Alfred Lord Tennyson. If not an exact take-off, the play was surely inspired by Tennyson's poem, which Maugham would certain have read and known as a British citizen.

The only similarity with Maugham's "Home and Beauty" (written in 1915 and staged in 1919), is that the male character had been reported missing in action (MIA) in the Korean War (then called a conflict). And, there is a short sequence when the two males connive and turn their backs on the woman. Otherwise, "Three for the Show" clearly is a modern comedy musical rendition of the "Enoch Arden" story. And it is most obviously inspired by the 1940 comedy-romance movies that were made, more than anything else.

So, anyway, this is a very good film. Although the story seems a little hokier in this modern setting of the Broadway stage. The two male friends were a writing team that had written a number of successful plays. But, when Marty Stewart is listed as missing by the War Department during the Korean War, wife Gwen Howard after a couple years marries Vernon Lowndes who had been Hudson's partner. Jack Lemmon as Stewart and Betty Grable as Julie Lowndes, provide much of the comedy.

But this film has a tremendous value beyond the comedy and the plot. That is its musical parts, especially the dance numbers and routines. Marge and Gower Champion had danced in several films that showed their talents in one or two numbers. But those supporting roles could hardly begin to show the range and beauty of their dancing. This film does that. It's their best and a wonderfully entertaining musical that showcases great dancing. I think that this single film of the Champions rates with the many outstanding dance musicals of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. For that reason alone, this is a real keeper.

On a production note, "Three for the Show" was made by Columbia Pictures. Musicals were still somewhat popular in 1955, though beginning to fade in numbers. Since its founding in 1918, Columbia had reached the second tier of movie studies, right under the big five during Hollywood's golden era (MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, RKO and United Artists). But by the 1950s, Columbia had moved up and was then one of the Big Six, along with Universal - with those two studios replacing UA. By the end of the 20th century, with the demise of MGM and RKO, Disney had grown to be the largest movie company, with Columbia and Universal close behind. Warner Brothers and Fox rounded out the Big Five into the early 21st century.

Betty Grable was 39 when she made this film, her last to be released, and her constant references to herself as a girl seem peculiar. Even more disturbing is the way she imitates the singing style of Marilyn Monroe in her numbers. She had just made "How To Marry a Millionaire" with Monroe and had commented that she felt she was handing her crown on to Monroe. But to see the great star Grable trying to be Monroe is a little sad.

The film itself is a mess of a thing - some good dance numbers featuring Marge and Gower Champion (Marge's fantasy sequence is very fine) and some good songs ("I've Got a Crush On You", "Someone to Watch Over Me")sit uncomfortably with the plot and the director never seems sure which style he is aiming for. It looks like an attempt to cover the breezy free style of the Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen musicals, with characters bursting into song all over the place and elaborate dance dream sequences. But the result is a confusion of styles and a plodding pace.

The plot concerns married Grable discovering her presumed dead first husband is still alive. She must then choose between new husband Gower Champion and old husband Jack Lemmon (who also happen to be a show writing team). This potentially serious situation, that probably occurred a lot after the war, is treated completely flippantly - and with Gower's real life wife hanging around it's not hard to guess how things will turn out. Lemmon is good, but looks uncomfortable singing and dancing. See this for the numbers - but make sure you see it in Cinemascope.

If you have managed to somehow miss this musical, watching it 60+ years after it was released is a revelation. Betty Grable's appeal makes sense to me at last, in this her last major film at the age of 39. The plot in a nutshell: A successful performer has been widowed by World War II. She marries her late husband's songwriting partner, played by Gower Champion, but the new marriage becomes a racy ménage a trois when her first husband, played by Jack Lemmon, shows up alive and eager to claim his conjugal rights. Grable plays her cards right, through a series of dreamy song and dance sequences with music by George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Hoagy Carmichael. The extraordinary dance team of Marge and Gower Champion has never looked better, nor have "Someone to Watch Over Me," "Just One of Those Things," and "I've Got a Crush on You" ever sounded better. Some critics say Grable imitated Marilyn Monroe; I prefer to think that her performance was a gesture of handing over the "Hollywood's hottest blonde" crown to Monroe and quitting while she was ahead, which she definitely was in this film. Favorite line from Grable: I've got what most women want-a lover and a husband and they're both legal!"

Musical version of 1940's "Too Many Husbands", via W. Somerset Maugham's play "Home and Beauty" (which the author said he wrote as a lark), has widowed--and remarried--Broadway star in a marital quandary: her first husband's death overseas was misreported by the US Air Force (he was actually marooned on an island), and now she has two husbands...and both marriages legal! Betty Grable toys with the possibilities--she even fantasizes a musical number with dozens of suitors housed in cages, climaxing with she and her two husbands under the sheets smoking a hookah! But, this being 1955, we instead have Betty ordering both her husbands out of her boudoir come bedtime. The plot predicament, not surprisingly, doesn't come to much, but in the interim we have some bright moments, not the least of which is Grable's Marilyn Monroe-like delivery in the final number, "How Come You Do Me Like You Do" (which sounds a lot like MM's "Lazy" with a design resembling her "Heat Wave"). Director H. C. Potter opens the picture with a berserk pantomime number danced to "Someone To Watch Over Me" (in harlequin costumes!), but he gets good performances from both Grable and Jack Lemmon (who also sings a little and dances a bit). As the second couple, Marge and Gower Champion dance nicely together but don't have much pizzazz, much like the rest of "Three For the Show". A pleasant marquee-filler but hardly a headliner. **1/2 from ****

This is a remake of TOO MANY HUSBANDS, which had starred Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray, and Melvyn Douglas. Here, we get a tepid musical with Betty Grable and Jack Lemmon and Gower Champion as the male leads. The plot has been dismissed in favor of some musical numbers oddly built around decades-old Gershwin songs. Marge Champion and Myron McCormick co-star.

Lemmon has been proclaimed dead in the war (which war?) so Grable marries Champion. Lemmon returns, and the guys battle over the hefty star while Marge look on is distress. In the original film, the ending is ambiguous with both guys still in Arthur's life. Here, she pairs off with Lemmon. Bleh.

Gower Champion might have been a good dancer and director but he's a zero as a romantic lead. So is Lemmon. Marge Champion (a terrific beard) looks like Bea Benaderet in corsets. The MGM darlings (the Champions) were a total bust in films. Grable was long past her prime and even though she's only 39 here, looks OLD and FAT.