You don't get a more sure fire musical concept than a millionaire who wants to pretend to be a normal person - Norman Krasna used it countless times, and this was a remake of a French movie, The Man who Seeks the Truth.
Eddie Bracken isn't terribly believable as a millionaire though you can buy him as someone who is worried people only love him for his money. He enlists in the navy and his family insist he's accompanied by Sonny Tufts.
Tufts' name became a joke in later years but he has an amiable, easy going presence and a surprising amount of talent - he plays a musical instrument, and sings a number on a piano and does a good job - it's not cringe inducing at all.
The problem is with his character. I think the writers made a mistake turning his character so dumb - he thinks that the girl Bracken is wooing is good girl Marjorie Reynolds instead of who is actually is, gold digger Veronica Lake. Then later on he blabs to Bracken's family about what's happened, and then he tries to pinch Lake off Bracken, which isn't very nice.
The movie was Lake's first in a number of months as she got over the death of her child and end of her marriage. After the debacle of The Hour Before Dawn she's been carefully protected - not given too much action, not having to carry a movie, being cast in a role which is the variation of the one she played in I Wanted Wings - to wit, a gold digging night club cigarette girl (though Lake doesn't sing). Her character supposedly ripped off Tufts back in the day and to be honest the film would've been better off had she remained a threat - but then it turns out, gee, she only ripped off Tufts because she thought he was married and wanted to send money back to his kid (the real villain was some band leader we never see).
So the movie lacks a baddie. It also lacks decent conflict. Bracken falls for Lake who knows he is rich all along (why the deception then?) and wants his money. But she's not really bad, she's only bad because she was mistaken by Tufts - something that could be cleared up by a quick chat (as it is they drag it out until the end of the film before she believes it). Why didn't they have Bracken fall in love with a girl who loves him because she is poor and wouldn't like him being rich?
They have Marjorie Reynolds, who is rich but likes to sing, which is kind of interesting, but they barely give her any scenes. You think she's going to romance Tufts but she doesn't; she's not mates with Lake, which would have given the film some emotional pull; she doesn't get many song numbers; she meets Bracken and they fall in love very unconvincingly. You never really see why Reynolds would like Bracken and vice versa other than they're both rich which might be true to real life but isn't dramatically interesting.
The movie also lacks star power. There are four star roles - Bracken, Lake, Tufts and Reynolds - but no one is an A lister. No Bob Hope, or Betty Hutton, or Bing Crosby or Dorothy Lamour. Lake could be fantastic but also wooden and musicals weren't her natural milieu. Bracken needed stronger material. Reynolds simply wasn't a star.
But the real problem here is the script. The plot kicks off with a deception but that's never used because Lake knows Bracken is rich. Reynolds worries about people loving her for her money too but we never see anyone after her. There's no friendship between Bracken and Tufts and Lake and Reynolds. There's no sense of fun. No complications. They throw in another deception with Bracken pretending to be deaf but that isn't followed up either.
There is technicolor and some decent numbers. It's bright and colourful. But the "book" fails and as a result so does the movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment