Le bal du printemps

I was genuinely surprised by how charming and delightful this movie is. It's the movie previous to "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" but that one is not quite up to this. In this film, Doris' boyfriend goes off to WWI and in the next one he comes back, though that's not the major plot. Derived from Booth Tarkington's family stories about a prankish little boy yet modified as a Doris Day vehicle, every scene juggles different elements of character and motive, and much of it is just plain funny. You know how romantic musicals have certain conventions and complications that are supposed to be amusing but are just routine? Well, this actually made me laugh out loud several times. There's one sequence about the father's "drinking problem" that reminded me of a great episode of the "Dobie Gillis" TV show and must have inspired it. About as intelligent and fun as americana gets; they even have a sassy WHITE maid to avoid the racial stereotype.

Though it doesn't match the captivating staging of Vincente Minnelli's Meet Me in St Louis as a nostalgic period musical, both this charmer and its sequel By the Light of the Silvery Moon, based on Booth Tarkington's delightful Penrod stories, are very much in the same mold as the Minnelli classic; both films provide ideal vehicles for the multi-talented Doris Day, seen here at her most fetchingly tomboyish with her frequent on-screen partner at the time, Gordon MacRae. Their combined vocal talents bring genuine class to the turn of the (last) century tunes, providing a veritable cornucopia of some of the era's most recognizable standards. The pair create an easy chemistry mercifully free of the self-conscious projection so prevalent in many contemporary "feel-good" movies. Billy Gray, as Day's younger brother in his pre-Father Knows Best days was a likable and unspoiled child performer, who brought terrific comic timing in the delivery of his misplaced energies. Mary Wickes as the no-nonsense maid who acts as a kind of chorus to the action, is another notable scene-stealer, in a film which like so many of the early Doris Day musicals leaves this viewer with a warm glow.

This is the first of two movies about the same characters. Doris Day and Gordon MacRae play young sweethearts in this turn of the century inspired by the stories of Booth Tarkington. The story is told from her point of view and her home life with her mother, father and bratty brother are central to the film. Of the family members, the most memorable is Billy Gray ("Bud" from FATHER KNOWS BEST), as he is a terrible little brat that is a lot like Dennis the Menace and the Problem Child all rolled up into one. In particular, the portion of the film where he tells a HUGE lie to his school teacher is a riot!

The romance between the two is sweet, but in trouble because Gordon plays such a stubborn and overly opinionated "modern" man who doesn't believe in old fashioned conventions like marriage! Well, being a Hollywood film, and a very sweet one at that, you KNOW how the film will end. However, the journey there is so pleasant and so well constructed that you really don't mind at all! It's a delight for all.

I just happened across this one Sunday morning on Turner Classic Movies, and I loved it. What a cast: Doris, Gordon, Billy Gray (of "Father Knows Best"), Ellen Corby (Grandma of "The Waltons"), Mary Wicks (from the "Sister Act" movies) and others who made this a total trip down memory lane. I can hardly wait for the second movie, "By the Light of the Silvery Bay" (1953) to come on!

This is a collection of warm, human and often humorous Booth Tarkington stories, strung together, of a perceived or recalled pre-WWI America. It had all happened half a century before this mid-20th Century production. It was, perhaps, the last clarion call of the sweet, sentimental ballad of the turn of the last Century as Rock and Roll was starting to impact as the popular music of the West.

The production values of this film are strictly 1950s studio. It was shot on tri-exposure Technicolor with the lighting a bit flat but, all in all, a loving tribute to the era complete with many of the top song hits of the time, some that are still celebrated today, in the 21st Century.