mark.waltz That's the premise of this Frank Capra musical where war corespondent Bing Crosby has remained in Europe to try and find homes for a series of orphans, taking two back to the United States with him in hopes of melting former fiancée Jane Wyman's heart after she frustratingly agrees to marry her wealthy boss (Franchot Tone) after constantly being kept under wraps by Bing. She even sends him a recording of her demands, appearing in Bing's memory standing on the record while talking. Audiences who only know Wyman from her dramatic performances and TV's "Falcon Crest" will be delighted here to find out that she's a very talented singer, dancer and comedienne, not content with simply dramatic emoting, as she showed by immediately moving into these comedy's and musicals after winning her Oscar for "Johnny Belinda".An above average musical score highlights the songs, with some of Bing's Paramount pals joining in for the airplane set "Christopho' Columbo", including trumpet playing Louis Armstrong, "Road to..." co-star Dorothy Lamour, wailing Jerry Colonna and funny lady Cass Daley. The theme song, though, is the Oscar Winning "In the Cool, Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening", which seems to warm Wyman up every time she hears it. Rising child soprano Anna Maria Alberghetti sings an operatic song in a touching moment as a war orphan who happens to be blind. James Barton and Connie Gilchrist are very funny as Wyman's less than high society parents, Robert Keith seen as Bing's frustrated boss, and Alexis Smith rather wasted as Tone's dowdy cousin who obviously has heavy feelings for him. A ton of veteran Hollywood character actors pop in and out very fast, some of their bit roles more amusing than others. Jacques Gencel and Beverly Washburn steal every scene (and your heart) as the two war orphans who do nothing but fight with each other, but obviously could bear to be separated from each other. While the plot line might seem a trifle bit saccharine, the writing helps minimize any potential tooth decay you might get from the stickiness of the plot.

arieliondotcom I'd never heard of this movie before seeing it on cable and was pleasantly surprised. Oh, I would have been even happier if it had been in color (the cover on the IMDb page is in color so I'm guessing there is a colorized version out there). And I was disappointed to see Jane Wyman instead of Jane Wyatt whom I was expecting when I heard the intro. But this is a fun film with cute songs well crooned and some seriously funny lines, some of which you can tell are ad libs from Crosby ("Golf, a good old man's game..." and "I'm just a wee boy..."). You'll also see where Martin Short stole his idea for the role of the wedding arranger in the more recent versions of Father of the Bride. Hilarious.It's Frank Capra, and he is an acquired taste. So like certain seasoning, you need to avoid this movie if you don't like schmaltz. But I think if you can get past that and the fact that it should be in color for a movie made this late, you'll find genuine laughs, some whistle-worthy tunes and a pleasant distraction that brings a smile or two. And that's a pleasant surprise.

Irie212 It's a lightweight comedy, but this film has unforgettable moments. Plotwise, it's postwar Capra claptrap complete with French orphans-- but also some dazzling camera work and a few did-I-just-see-that? surrealistic touches. The first is a hologram of sorts: Bing's in France listening to an audio letter from fiancée, Jane Wyman-- a Dear John recordio-gram. As it's playing, Wyman materializes on the spinning record, Princess Leia-like. So I should have been prepared for anything, but when Der Bingle is on the plane back to America, he (of course) starts singing to the orphans. The tune is "Misto Cristofo Columbo"-- and suddenly Louis Armstrong walks into the airline cabin, complete with trumpet and hankie-- well, talk about ferblunjet! Then up pops the bottom of the Hollywood barrel: Dorothy Lamour, Frank Fontaine and Phil Harris, all singing.When the plane, and the plot, land in Boston, Bing has to win Jane back from Franchot Tone, which he does via a Pygmalion subplot involving Alexis Smith and men's pajamas. Hubba hubba. Best of all though is one of film's great tracking shots (nothing compared to "I Am Cuba," but still), a song-and-dance number through an office building to "In the cool cool cool of the evening." If only they'd brought Satchmo back for the big double-wedding ending.

bkoganbing Frank Capra in his autobiography called Bing Crosby, "the master of the cultured ad-lib." A lot of time Crosby would drop several ad-libs into a script and Capra kept them in. According to Capra they were betterthan what the screenwriter had written. Of course partnering with Bob Hope in several films and thousands of radio, television, and live shows Bing had to be quick on the uptake.Capra wanted to do another of his populist films like Mr. Deeds etc., in the three picture deal he signed with Paramount. But after doing Riding High and doing it well with Bing Crosby, he wanted to do one of his type film. The Paramount brass said no, but since he was unhappy at Paramount they agreed to drop their last picture commitment on his contract for one more Crosby film. Just make a good one.Capra was as good as his word. This film is entertainment plus and a lot of that has to do with the chemistry between Bing and Jane Wyman. Most of Crosby's leading ladies were nice women who just melted with the Crosby charm. Not so here. Ms. Wyman gives as good with the wisecracks as Crosby does and is no pushover. What she is here is a fiancé who's grown tired of waiting for her man who's out gallivanting all over the world as per his job as correspondent. When he finally does come back he has two French orphans in tow. But Jane's decided to marry millionaire Franchot Tone. Bing has to get her back or those kids will be deported. That's where the fun starts.By now Paramount was giving Crosby vehicles some respectable budgets and that included letting Frank Capra hire a lot of his favorite supporting players. Those folks make a Capra film an enjoyable experience.Franchot Tone does nicely as millionaire rival and critics were astounded at Alexis Smith who turned out to have a real flair for comedy. Funny parts she wasn't getting at Warner Brothers. She plays a "kissing" cousin of Franchot Tone and figures prominently in Bing's machinations.They were also astounded at Jane Wyman who nobody realized could sing. Why they were is beyond me since she did start in musical choruses. The song In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer won an Oscar for best song and became one of Bing's million selling records, dueted with Jane Wyman on screen and on vinyl.The rest of the score is by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans who were under contract to Paramount and for some reason or other never wrote another Crosby film score. Probably because Paramount didn't assign them because many years later they scored and arranged a whole album of duets with Bing and Rosemary Clooney called That Traveling Two Beat Time. And Bing did pretty good with a song written for his friend Bob Hope by them called Silver Bells.One of the Livingston-Evans songs was a patented philosophical number called Your Own Little House. A nice song on record, on screen it's a great impromptu style number that so many of Crosby's seemed to be. Sung with a group of kids who are French war orphans, Bing does some gentle kidding of fellow entertainers Jimmy Durante and Maurice Chevalier.This is one of Bing's best and great entertainment.