1955 - THE TENDER TRAP, really outdated rom-com

 Frank Sinatra is a New York press agent who dates a bevy of babes, a real lady killer.  Debbie Reynolds is a would be actress who as it turns out is only interested in getting married (her Mrs. degree) and having kids in the suburbs.  Frank falls for Debbie, Debbie falls for Frank but will Frank settle down and become that hubby in the suburbs that Debbie wants?

The film was apparently adapted from a three character play that was staged on a single set.  For the film version the play was "opened up" to include locations around New York City.  However a careful look at the film shows that this movie filmed in CinemaScope was shot on the MGM back lot, not an NYC location anywhere in this film. 

The supporting cast features Celeste Holm as an over the hill spinster. Apparently in this film spinster means she's in her 30's.  David Wayne is Sinatra's old buddy who has run away from his wife in Indianapolis or some god awful Midwestern city.  Wayne wants to become a playboy dude like Frankie.

 

Also showing up in a very small part is "Gavin Elster" the chief bad guy from Vertigo played by the actor Tom Helmore

If the plot of this movie wasn't so asinine it would almost be really offensive instead of just offensive.  The age difference between perky Debbie and Lothario Frank has to be close to a 20 year difference.  In fact Debbie Reynolds kind of comes off as not having all her oars in the water with her marriage obsession.

What's good about this film?  Well the theme song by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen isn't to bad and Sinatra had a big hit with it.

The film was written by ace screenwriter Julius Epstein, the running time is 111 minutes.  

1951 - THREE GUYS NAMED MIKE, the enjoyable blandness of nothing films

This is a nothing of a romantic comedy.  Jane Wyman is the aspiring stewardess working for American Airlines.  She is very perky and a regular little chatterbox.  Jane is always in trouble with management because of her mild but wacky airplane shenanigans.  She meets up with three nice guys who want to marry her.  They are all named Mike, hence the title. 

Charles Walters was the director and it looks like he phoned this one in.  Walters may not have been the greatest stylist in the world but he did direct some successful films for MGM like, Good News, Lili, Easter Parade and High Society.  However you would be hard pressed to find anything that resembles a cinematic flourish in Three Guys Named Mike.  This is strictly a point the camera in the direction of the actors and shoot movie.

The real auteur of this film is the writer Sidney Sheldon.  Sheldon had a long career as a provider of light weight comedies.  Sheldon is probably best know as the writer and creator of the I Dream of Jeannie television series.  Towards the end of his career he pumped out semi racy novels like The Other Side of Midnight and Bloodline.

 Three Guys Named Mike is a Sidney Sheldon story all they way.  You know where it's going from the moment it starts till it's final scene but you still sit there watching to see how the damn thing is going to get to where it's going because it's so comforting in it's predictability kind of like every episode of I Dream of Jeannie.

90 minutes.

1948 - EASTER PARADE, the top moneymaking film of 1948

 A real ordeal to sit through and an Academy Award winning film ( best screenplay).

This was the big film of 1948, the top grossing picture of the year.  Fred Astaire stepped in to replace Gene Kelly after Kelly broke his leg.  Judy Garland was at the peak of her popularity.  Irving Berlin was hired to write some new songs for the film and the picture was filmed in Technicolor.  There were complaints about the age difference between Astaire and Garland, the least of the problems with Easter Parade. 

The whole film, sickeningly bland. As they say, no one watches musicals for the plot but this love story was even more vacuous than usual for this genre. Astaire and Garland play a dance team who fall in and out and in and out of love.  Fred's old partner Ann Miller dumped him to be a big star in the Ziegfeld Follies, you get the picture. 

There are some good Irving Berlin songs in this film.  Still, you also have to sit through the music and lyrics of classics like, "Snookey Ookums, The Ragtime Violin, When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam,"  and "The Girl on the Magazine Cover" and the songs just keep coming at you. 

The color photography is really garish even for a color film from this period.  A blazing purple couch,  glowing flowers and red lipstick.  Towards the end there is a fashion show where they really pump up the ugly color look of the film.  

One scene in a restaurant where a waiter tosses an imaginary salad for Judy Garland and her date has to be seen to be believed, its not even remotely funny and it just never ends.

Judy Garland's OK but what saves this film is Fred Astaire's smooth dancing. 

The whole film is an interesting look at what people in 1948 considered to be wonderful entertainment, audiences just kept coming back to see Easter Parade again and again.  Rent That's Entertainment and watch the excerpts from Easter Parade to save time or just skip the whole thing.

107 minutes.