The Betty Grable Collection, Vol. 1 [4 Discs]

Editorial Reviews

One of the earlier films to deal with the still-new world of television, My Blue Heaven is a middling little musical that gets by largely on the strength of its appealing cast. The basic story has promise, but in execution it emerges as an uneasy blend of standard sitcom situations and unconvincing melodrama. The dialogue is largely uninspired and most viewers will be way ahead of the characters in guessing what will happen next. A wonderful score would have helped, but the normally dependable composer Harold Arlen and the not-always-dependable lyricist Ralph Blane have come up with songs that are serviceable but little more. The title tune, an old standard written by others, is the best song in the batch; "Live Hard, Work Hard, Love Hard" is catchy and "Friendly Islands" is appropriately tropical. The rest are average. The songs are well mounted and, more importantly, performed quite well. Betty Grable and Dan Dailey do fine with the script, given that they're called upon to do and say ridiculous things, but they really shine when given the chance to sing and dance. Mitzi Gaynor is pert and perky in her film debut, Una Merkel her usual amusing self, and David Wayne and Jane Wyatt do very well indeed, even though their parts are no better written than anyone else's. Henry Koster's direction keeps things moving, which is all to the good. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi Down Argentine Way may not get anywhere near a list of great movie musicals, but it's good silly fun for viewers looking for an unchallenging way to spend an hour and a half. While the plot won't win any awards, it has a few nice touches which surprise in a gentle way, and the horse breeding and racing background makes for a nice change of pace. Betty Grable is her usual pleasing self, although playing someone with a bit more sophistication than usual. She's in fine voice and top dancing form, and though neither she nor Don Ameche are taxed by their roles, they bring a relaxed commitment to them that is effective. The supporting cast is very lively, especially the droll Charlotte Greenwood, the effervescent Nicholas Brothers and the one-of-a-kind Carmen Miranda, seen here in a much more subdued visual setting which allows her talent to come through free of the later entertaining but campy trappings. The Harry Warren-Mack Gordon score is breezy and tuneful, the vocal arrangements are enchanting, and the photography is quite beautiful; the colors are captured and displayed magnificently. Grable would follow Argentine with a change-of-pace performance in I Wake Up Screaming. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi As is par for the course, there's no more fact in the biopic The Dolly Sisters than can be squeezed into a thimble. This is probably of less concern to modern audiences, who will be totally unfamiliar with the titular siblings, than it might have been to audiences in 1945, for whom memories of the performers would have been somewhat fresher. If one dispenses with factual considerations, Dolly is a mighty entertaining little tunefest. Admittedly, there's precious little that's fresh or original in the story that the authors have concocted, but it does contain a decent number of dramatic elements that work quite well, and while the romantic entanglements are nothing new, they do keep the viewer's attention. What makes Dolly more than serviceable, naturally, are the numbers, which are plentiful and enjoyable, and its invaluable stars. Betty Grable is a delight, operating at the peak of her charismatic powers here. She sings winningly, dances engagingly and of course shows off those wonderful gams, but it's the total package that counts with Grable; she simply has that "something" that defies definition. She's well matched by June Haver, definitely a lesser talent and a lesser light, but here turning in some of her finest work, perhaps inspired by (or in competition with) Grable. John Payne also comes off well; not the world's greatest performer, he does click with Grable, and their duet on the marvelous "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" is a winner. Throw in S.Z. Sakall for cuddly comedy, brisk direction from Irving Cummings and a lavish production shot in truly glorious Technicolor, and the result is a slight but utterly charming little confection. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi With a war in Europe casting evermore threatening shadows, American movie audiences were happy to take a breather and watch Betty Grable and Carole Landis in Technicolor, probably the best way to escape both the global worries and the heat in that uneasy summer of 1941. A more sober modern viewer, however, may demand a little more of their entertainment than the spectacle of Landis removing her dowdy secretarial glasses to become, well, Carole Landis; and although Florida's Cypress Gardens never looked more breathtaking, the plot about a couple of blondes attempting to trap vacationing millionaires has been done better elsewhere. Happily, Moon Over Miami also features a couple of good songs by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, plus the comedy of Jack Haley and Charlotte Greenwood. The latter, especially, remains some kind of flexible marvel, all legs, arms, and wisecracks. Itself a musical version of Loretta Young's Three Blind Mice (1938), Moon Over Miami was remade as Three Little Girls in Blue (1946) with the equally flaxen-haired June Haver replacing Betty Grable. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi