Interesteg What makes it different from others?

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

jacobs-greenwood Directed by Charles Walters with a screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green that was based on a play by Lew Brown, Lawrence Schwab, Frank Mandel, Buddy DeSylva and Ray Henderson, this remake of the 1930 college Musical features the Academy Award nominated Song "Pass That Peace Pipe" and a cast that includes: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Patricia Marshall, Joan McCracken, Ray McDonald, Mel Torme, Robert Strickland, Donald MacBride, Tom Dugan, Clinton Sundberg, Loren Tindall, and Connie Gilchrist (among others). It's 1927 and the guys are called Sheiks and the gals are called Flappers.Set on the Tait campus, the story involves college football (action), dating and other romantic plights among several different students like hard working (class) librarian and teacher's aide Connie Lane (Allyson), football captain Tommy Marlowe (Lawford), perky Babe Doolittle (McCracken) who's interested in weakling Bobby Turner (McDonald) though she's being pursued by jealous football star Beef (Tindall), who vows to kill anyone that comes near his sweetheart, and others like Danny (Tormé, whose character sings and dances without otherwise being involved in the plot). The drama starts when a new girl, Pat McClellan (Marshall) joins the sorority. She's a gold digger that speaks (fakes) a bit of French; naturally, her first interest is Peter Van Dyne III (Strickland), who's worth millions, in lieu of playboy Tommy, who makes all the other girls swoon but initially puts off Pat. To entice her, Tommy learns a bit of the foreign language from Connie, who quickly falls for him, and the feeling is somewhat mutual.But Tommy's French doesn't impress Pat, who's only interested in Peter's money, until Connie's best friend Babe, unaware of the new romance and wanting Tommy to be happy so that he'll do well in the pending big game, tells Pat that the football captain is son of a Pickle magnate. Once Tommy's within Pat's clutches, his performance on the gridiron and in the classroom suffers to a point of concern for his frantic Coach Johnson (MacBride), the trainer Pooch (Dugan), and the rest of the students who fear that Dean Griswold (Morris Ankrum) will keep Tommy from playing in the next big game. Ironically it's the French professor Burton Kennyon (Sundberg), for whom the love abandoned Connie works, that gives Tommy his only failing grade. She's then asked to tutor him for the good of the team, which she does reluctantly especially because Tommy and Pat are to be engaged after the game, that is until Connie and Cora (the sorority's housekeeper) conspire to turn gold digging Pat onto now injured Beef, which has the added benefit of freeing Babe to be with Bobby.Of course, Tommy and Connie are the rage, a stirring dance number (the climactic prom) ends the picture.

dougdoepke Lively MGM musical, the sort of escapism that big-budget studio did best. The emphasis here is on wholesome, especially McCracken (Babe) and Allyson (Connie), neither of whom is glamorized in typical Hollywood style. In fact, McCracken reminds me of a slightly chubby Debbie Reynolds, in the type role Debbie would soon get.This celebration of college life is supposedly set in the 1920's, but the girls' fashions are definitely 40's-type skirts and sweaters. And what a colorful celebration it is. Those massed dance numbers amount to real eye candy, and what a show-stopper that malt shop number is, so expertly choreographed and performed.Frankly, when I think musical, Peter Lawford doesn't spring to mind, although he does better here than I would expect. His sleek good looks don't quite fit the wholesome mode, but never mind since he was quite a heart-throb in those days. Can't help noting that both the talented McCracken and Ray McDonald (Bobby) died young, while Patricia Marshall (Pat) appears to have left the business shortly after this production. Perhaps the lack of "star power" is one reason the film is not better known.Nonetheless, really distinguishing the musical score is that great song and profound truth about the best things in life being free. But most of all, there's the post-war exuberance that simply bubbles over throughout the 90-minutes of song and dance. And like a bite of cotton candy at a carnival, the world seems like a much better place afterward.

evanston_dad Dopey as can be, and entirely winning.This musical comedy stars June Allyson and Peter Lawford as a dowdy librarian and star football player, respectively, at an insanely happy college where everyone sings and dances all the time and all the students look like they're in their forties. There's some plot, but it doesn't much matter, because it's just used to string together a bunch of catchy songs. The most well known of those is of course "The Best Things in Life Are Free," but a wonderful and totally politically incorrect song called "Pass That Peace Pipe" received a Best Original Song Oscar nomination, while the one I remember most was the only other one written expressly for the film, a little ditty sung by Allyson and Lawford when she's teaching him how to speak French.Good fun.Grade: B+

ccthemovieman-1 You have to be kidding! People actually like this film and think is the music is great? They must be deaf! June Allyson and Peter Lawford are two of the worst singers you will ever hear on screen. Really! Hey, they're fine actors, but singers? No way. Dancers? Not really.The worst of the numbers are in the beginning of the film, which immediately make you wonder what you are in for the rest of the way. Generally speaking, "what you are in for" is a pretty corny movie, really dated, and sub-par song and dance numbers.Allyson's old-fashioned wholesomeness is appealing, and the college atmosphere was refreshingly the same (contrast that to today where they invite dictators who want to destroy us to speak)......but that's about it. This is not a good musical and not really fitting into a story about the 1920s. It doesn't quite have the '20s "feel."I hate to say this a for a nice film, but to be truthful: this movie is "bad news",,,,,,at least for your ears.