weezeralfalfa
The, at least, equally entertaining sequel to the story of the Winfield family, in "On Moonlight Bay". Most of the major characters are played by the same people who previously played them. However, Russell Arms replaces Jack Smith, as the character Hubert, now called Chester. Leon Ames reprises his role as family father, begun in the rather similar MGM hit: "Meet Me in St. Louis". The story takes place in Milburn , Indiana, as WWI is ending. Rosemary Decamp is the mother, while Doris Day and Gordon McRae are the sometimes lovey dove song birds, who become reunited upon Gordon's release from the army, with the end of the war. Their marriage plans, however, are still controversial, as the story develops. The songs are generally more memorable and more frequent than those in the prior "On Moonlight Bay". Also, Doris stars in a memorable musical skit. Billy Gray is the 12y.o. scene-stealing brat brother of (supposedly) 18y.o. Doris. Mary Wickes again is the family maid and cook, and introduces the family members at the beginning. Poor Chester is the nerdy, if pleasant, longtime wannabe boyfriend for Doris. Probably from a rich family, he is father Ames' choice. Despite being a good piano player, and decent singer, and song writer, Doris generally finds him boring and often too stuffy. But, with the on again, off again, nature of the Doris + Gordon romance, he never gives up hope......At the film's beginning, Doris, with grease-smeared face, is under the family car fixing something: an indication of the tomboy side of her personality. In "Calamity Jane", released the same year, she was an even more extreme example of a tomboy, finally learning to be feminine at times, in order to please her boyfriend, as in the present film. Later, Doris has to fix Gordon's car, stalled in the boonies, as he has no idea what is wrong. .....The family Thanksgiving turkey, thanks to Billy Gray's meddling, creates an embarrassing situation at Thanksgiving dinner......Miss Renee LaRue, wants to rent a theater owned by the bank that father Ames works for. A written communication between them is hijacked by delivery boy Billy Gray. He creates a complex of imaginary scandals that dominates the last half of the film, and is only resolved in the ending. An addition, he has become obsessed with Sherlock Holmes-style detective work. At one point, Miss LaRue is fingered as his imaginary Dangerous Dora, with hilarious results......A family outing in a horse-pulled sleigh, to celebrate the 20th wedding anniversary of the parents, turns up a few surprises, as they end up at a favored skating pond, with the film's ending in sight. .......Songs with lyrics sung include: "I'll Forget You", "Just One Girl", King Chanticleer", "If You Were the only Girl in the World", "On Moonlight Bay", "Ain't We Got Fun", and "Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee", the latter supposedly composed by Chester, who plays and sings it.......I don't want to reveal any more details. Just see it if you can., Presently, it comes with "On Moonlight Bay, in a 2 DVD packet. Gordon and Doris went on to star in several more pictures together, including "Tea for Two".
SimonJack
"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" is the natural follow-up to the 1951 film, "On Moonlight Bay." Warner Brothers must have known early that it had a hit on their hands with the first film, to have it end the way it did – begging for a sequel. And, thankfully, the whole troop from the first film could be cast again to pick up where life with the Winfield's left off. This second film has some more interesting situations that lend to the humor. The first involves thanksgiving dinner and private-eye Wesley's pet turkey, Gregory. The second involves a French actress, Renee LaRue (played by Maria Palmer), who's coming to town to put on a stage show. Another is a hilarious scene at the ice skating pond toward the end. Listen carefully for the announcer at the pond – that's the voice of Merv Griffin. Then there's the wedding of Marjorie (Doris Day) and Bill (Gordon MacRae) that one or the other of them puts off and then on again. That happens a few times in the movie. As in the first film, the cast is superb – each actor does a wonderful job. I think Leon Ames did a banner job in the personality changes of his role. And, I agree with other reviews that have noted Billy Gray's portrayal as Wesley. I like the way the script created situations of interest for him, and how he portrayed them. It brings back memories of how I too liked to play detective and private eye as a boy, and found other things of interest. Movies don't show those kinds of things anymore, but I see my grandkids with similar interests and pursuits. I suppose the hands-on, self-exploration interests of kids growing up – especially boys, is giving way today to the electronic information age and games of fantasy. Again, Doris Day and Gordon MacRae have some wonderful songs. They made four musicals together, and they were as perfectly matched as any couple of singers over the years. One other very good pairing for singing with Doris was Howard Keel in "Calamity Jane," the same year that this film was made.MacRae went on to star in more musicals, including two lavish Rodgers and Hammerstein films, "Oklahoma" in 1955 and "Carousel" in 1956. As musicals declined after the 1950s, MacRae did occasional movies and TV appearances. I saw and heard him sing the national anthem before a Midwest college football game in the early 1980s. Gordon MacRae died at age 64 of cancer of the mouth and jaw. This is another wonderful movie for the whole family. Life, culture, manners, pursuits and interests were quite different in those days. Most people didn't have housekeeper cooks though. But everyone could dream. And we today can enjoy the humor, romance and fun of those times long ago, that we get a taste of in "Silvery Moon."For a comic parting, here's an exchange in one scene about the turkey. George Winfield: "For the last time, that turkey does not belong in this house." Wesley: "Well, if he's good enough to be 'on' the table, he's good enough to walk around it."
Paul Terry
I saw this again recently on British TV. It's a great film, with plenty of nostalgia, nice period atmosphere, and the lovely Doris Day. One slight oddity, though: her boy-friend returns from World War 1 in time for Thanksgiving (23rd November?), and says the Germans surrendered the day his unit got to Paris (11th November), so he must have got on a boat back to the States & been demobilised pretty quick to be home in less than 2 weeks (unless it took a year for that to happen!). Nonetheless, I recommend this very much to anyone interested in the Golden Age of American film musicals, the decade from 1945 to 1955, and the wonderful stars who beguiled us with their gentle escapism.
