Let 76 trombones lead the big parade! It’s The Music Man, the screen version of one of Broadway’s all-time blockbusters. Starring Robert Preston as the slick salesman and Shirley Jones as the not-quite-gullible librarian.
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The story of Top Hat centers on wealthy Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), on holiday in London and Venice. She assumes that American entertainer Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire) is the husband of her friend Madge (Helen Broderick) — who’s actually the wife of Jerry’s business manager Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton)
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In The Gay Divorcee, Mimi Glossop (Ginger Rogers) is looking for a way out of her unhappy marriage. So, her busybody aunt (Alice Brady) hires a professional correspondent to pose as her niece’s lover. When Mimi meets American dancer Guy Holden (Fred Astaire), she thinks he’s the faux beau, and she confuses his genuine interest for part of the act.
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In Person is the story of Miss Carol Corliss, a beautiful movie star so insecure about her fame, that she goes around in disguise. She later meets a rugged outdoors man who is unaffected by her star status. And pursued by her frequent co-star, who likes her. But doesn’t respect her acting ability.
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Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron sing and dance to the music of George and Ira Gershwin in An American in Paris. When ex-GI Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) remains in Paris to pursue life as an artist, he is discovered by a wealthy patroness interested in more than his art. But Mulligan falls in love with a French shop girl (Caron). And she is engaged to his friend.
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In the Good Old Summertime is the story of two clerks in a turn of the 20th century Chicago sheet-music store. They’re intensely antagonistic toward each other at work. But unknown to them, they’re getting very chummy as pen pals. It’s a musical remake of The Shop Around the Corner.
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Spoiled heiress Connie Casey (Lucille Ball) goes off to college. Unknown to her, her father secretly sends along four Ivy League football stars as her bodyguards. In no time, they turn tiny Pottawatomie U into a gridiron powerhouse! Fast-paced and funny, Too Many Girls is celebrated for its George Abbott-produced Broadway roots, its buoyant Rodgers and Hart score, and the movie debuts of three talents from the original stage version: Eddie Bracken, Van Johnson and Desi Arnaz. It’s also where Desi met the film’s leading lady, Lucille Ball.
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In Dancing Lady, a musical star is torn between a millionaire playboy and her stage manager.
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Annie Get Your Gun stars Betty Hutton as backwoods sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Plucked out of obscurity by Buffalo Bill (Louis Calhern), the rough-edged Annie is groomed for a leading role in Bill’s world famous Wild West show. However, Annie has a rival in the form of rifleman Frank Butler (Howard Keel), a man she soon falls in love with.
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A fun musical, that frequently had me asking, “When is Lucy coming back on screen?” Please understand, that even without Lucy on screen, it’s a fun musical farce. There are several nice musical numbers and some Wonderful music by the Harry James band. I was absolutely transfixed by their rendition of Flight of the Bumblebees. But there’s a definite decrease in the comedy, and in the pace of the film, when Lucille Ball is off-screen. With a few notable examples.