weezeralfalfa
Too often, Betty Hutton had to carry her, mostly B, films by herself(If anyone could, she could!). This film is a prime example. She should have often been teamed with a major comedic and/or musical film performer, as part of a team such as MGM's Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, or Universal's Don O'Connor and Peggy Ryan. Bob Hope, who was also contracted with Paramount, would seem the perfect partner for her. They only did one earlier film together. I realize that Bob was spending much time on tour with troops during this time. Why didn't Betty replace Dorothy Lamour in some of 'The Road Series'? Barry Fitzgerald may have been a recognizable supporting dramatic actor, but he's deadly dull, for the most part, in his leading role in this film. Perhaps "Cuddles" Sakal, as an older gentleman benefactor for Betty, could have breathed some life into this role.Latino Andy Russel is supposed to provide a little musical diversion and support for Betty in his first(of only a few) Hollywood film appearance. I suppose he was chosen because of his recent hit "Besame Mucho" and presumably cheap price. He only had a little screen time, mostly devoted to the ballad "Love Me" and backing up Betty in the weepy ballad "If I Had a Dozen Hearts". Unfortunately, he had no charisma and no chemistry with Betty. The former ballad is actually a decent, if not very imaginative, love song, and his crooning-style performance was OK, if not overpowering. The latter ballad didn't come off well. But, Betty's encore, as she and boyfriend Danny (Don Defore) are making up in the finale, sounds much better.Think I can see why this B&W film did well at the box office(especially for women) at the time. Courtesy of Barry's character: "Pop" Bates, Betty and her fellow impoverished hatchecking girlfriend(Gwen) get to buy all sorts of expensive things, a luxury apartment, and even get to order a chauffeur around. To a war-weary public, denied new consumer goods for some years, this was a fantasy come true. Betty, however, has to pay the price that her marine boyfriend, Danny, shows up and, naturally, assumes that she must be sponging off some sugar daddy, and wonders why she is living with 'Pop', thus wants to dump her. Meanwhile, Betty thinks her benefactor probably is her employer, Mr. Billingsley, while 'Pop' pretends he is a dirt poor panhandler. Eventually, Betty learns that 'Pop' is her true benefactor, while Danny finally gets confirmation that 'Pop' is rewarding Betty for saving his life. But Danny doesn't tell Betty right away that he has changed his attitude. So, she concocts a complicated nonsensical story about her grandfather and 'Pop's father and a gold mine(hilarious), which he pretends to fall for. Meanwhile, Betty is at work trying to arrange a reconciliation of "Pop" and his estranged wife. The finale, with Betty singing at the Stork Club, while Danny, as the orchestra conductor, is whispering sarcastic comments in her ear about her concocted story, is quite amusing!Actually, Don Defore(as Danny) is quite adequate, if lacking charisma, for what he is asked to do. Ditto for cute Iris Adrian, as Betty's girl friend. Iris rather looked like a shorter brunette version of Betty, and plays an Eve Arden-like woman, with a sharp tongue. Although she didn't look it, she was a decade older than Betty, and would appear in many more films than Betty, beginning at the dawn of talkies, usually as a chlorine, low class gold digger or gangster moll, later as a friend of the lead, mostly in B films.Betty has a couple more songs, none being an elaborate production. At 'Pop's request, she does a soulful rendition of the old chestnut "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree": a top hit in 1905, when 'Pop' was courting his future wife. It reemerges near the finale when Betty is trying to reconcile Pop and his wife. Her spirited novelty song "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief", with male quartette backup, was the hit of the film and enjoyed a life as a top pop single, although it's not my favorite in this film. Actually, she seems more like typically Betty Grable in this performance than the classic inimitable zany frenetic Betty Hutton showcased in the lively number "I'm a Square in the Social Circle". Her number "Daddy O" was cut from the film, but later recorded by Dinah Shore.For Betty Hutton fans(which includes me), this is a worthwhile film to check out, despite the major problem of the casting of Barry. The story is mostly fun, if implausible. The songs are decent,and a variety of types, if not obvious 'keepers'. Betty is cute and winsome. There are currently a surprising variety of DVD releases of this film available. I got the one that includes "The Perils of Pauline": one of Betty's best regarded films. It's not the greatest quality B&W, but adequate to get the gist of the film.
tommythek
Why is this a movie for dieters? Because it is so lightweight! Try to control your hysterical laughter at my most amusing joke. But seriously, folks, I wanna tellya .....For those movie viewers who like to think about what they're watching while they're watching it, this movie is not for you. For those movie viewers who want to simply forget about what ails the world and who have no better way to pass about 1¾ hours, this movie is for you. Oh! To halfway enjoy this movie, it also helps if you like old movies, now-dead movie stars and mostly forgettable music which has long since been forgotten.The main beneficiary of this movie was none other than Sherman Billingsley. He was the owner and proprietor of New York City's famous Stork Club. Not only did he get to have a movie named for his popular nightclub, but he's also a main character in the movie. Talk about your free publicity! Unfortunately for Shermie, he did not get to play himself in the movie. That task fell to Bill Goodwin, George and Gracie's renowned radio announcer. But the real stars of this piece of fluff are the effervescent Betty Hutton and the movies' favorite persnickety Irishman, Barry Fitzgerald. The plot revolves around romantic mixups involving Betty, Barry and Bill -- the three B's? -- as well as Don DeFore and the inimitable humorist, Robert Benchley. It's the type of contrived plot that tests the credulity of even the most tolerant viewer, so you can imagine how the intolerant are likely to react.For me, the movie's most disappointing aspect was its music. And that's the main reason I had opted to watch it! This movie employed some of the top songwriters of the 1940s (as well as of other decades) -- Hoagy Carmichael, Paul Francis Webster, Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans -- the best and most famous of the group employed. The movie was even co-written and co-produced by Buddy DeSylva, a pretty fair country songwriter in his own right from the 1920s and 1930s. Out of that entire group, the best and only worthwhile song they were able to come up with was Hoagy and Paul Francis' "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief." Although this song helped put Betty on the map and was quite popular in its day, when one thinks back to the memorable songs of that era, "D, L, I C" is not one that will pop readily into anyone's mind. And it stands out head and shoulders above all other songs in this movie!One person who lost out by this movie's musical dearth was Andy Russell. Andy was one of the better crooners of the 1940s and, in my book, much underrated. He made his musical debut in this movie and that great roster of songwriters gave him NOTHING worthwhile to sing. It was the musical equivalent of, let's say, Lawrence Olivier making his movie debut with all of his dialogue being written by ..... ME!!!So, any of you folks needing to shed a few pounds, you can't do better than to start with "The Stork Club." It's lightweight, low-calorie and, in 1¾ hours, will take two inches off that ole tum-tum. Guaranteed! If not, your money cheerfully refunded ..... in full!
