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Mother Wore Tights
Twentieth Century Fox poured a lot of money into 1947's Mother Wore Tights,a nostalgic and slightly syrupy musical comedy about a vaudeville family that starts off promisingly, but gets less and less interesting, despite its introduction of a charming screen team so strong that they made three more films together.
The film stars Dan Dailey as a vaudeville hoofer named Frank who falls for Myrtle (Betty Grable), one of his chorus girls. He plucks her from the chorus line and they become their own double act and fall in love in the process. They get married and when Myrtle gets pregnant, she decides to retire from the stage. After the birth of their second daughter, Frank convinces Myrtle to return to the stage where they thrive until they decide that being with their daughters is more important than show business.
Lamar Trotti's screenplay, based on a book by Miriam Young, that initially tries to tell Frank and Myrtle's story through the eyes of their elder daughter, Iris, but doesn't really grab the viewer's attention until Frank and Myrtle start experiencing success as a vaudeville team. The first half of the story is a lot of fun thanks to some wonderful musical numbers, but the second half of the film where Frank and Myrtle decide to give up show business and travel to different vacation spots with their daughters, is almost snore-inducing.
It's sad because Fox really struck golf with the pairing of Dailey and Grable, who, with a little more attention from the studio, might have given Astaire and Rogers a run for their money. I've always felt Dailey was severely underrated as a musical comedy performer and he really gets a chance to shine here. His dancing style is very special...he has the lighter than air touch of Astaire combined with that glorious spontaneous style of Donald O'Connor, where he never looks like he's counting, he looks like he's making up the dance as he goes along. And yes, we get more than ample opportunity to check out the million dollar legs of Betty Grable, which are generously on display here.
Musical highlights include "Daddy You've Been a Mother to Me", "Berlington Bertie from Bow", "You Do", and "We're a Couple of Broadway Brothers." For some reason daughter Iris, played by Mona Freeman is allowed to sing two verses of "Silent Night", a number which brings the film to a dead halt (Freeman's singing is dubbed by Imogene Lynn).
Fox and director Walter Lang put a lot of care into production values, including lavish set direction and costumes. Dailey and Grable are so magic together that they would reunite for Call Me Mister, When My Baby Smiles at Me, and My Blue Heaven. Their musical numbers here are a lot of fun; unfortunately, when Frank and Myrtle leave the vaudeville stage, so does a lot of the film's appeal.
Twentieth Century Fox poured a lot of money into 1947's Mother Wore Tights,a nostalgic and slightly syrupy musical comedy about a vaudeville family that starts off promisingly, but gets less and less interesting, despite its introduction of a charming screen team so strong that they made three more films together.
The film stars Dan Dailey as a vaudeville hoofer named Frank who falls for Myrtle (Betty Grable), one of his chorus girls. He plucks her from the chorus line and they become their own double act and fall in love in the process. They get married and when Myrtle gets pregnant, she decides to retire from the stage. After the birth of their second daughter, Frank convinces Myrtle to return to the stage where they thrive until they decide that being with their daughters is more important than show business.
Lamar Trotti's screenplay, based on a book by Miriam Young, that initially tries to tell Frank and Myrtle's story through the eyes of their elder daughter, Iris, but doesn't really grab the viewer's attention until Frank and Myrtle start experiencing success as a vaudeville team. The first half of the story is a lot of fun thanks to some wonderful musical numbers, but the second half of the film where Frank and Myrtle decide to give up show business and travel to different vacation spots with their daughters, is almost snore-inducing.
It's sad because Fox really struck golf with the pairing of Dailey and Grable, who, with a little more attention from the studio, might have given Astaire and Rogers a run for their money. I've always felt Dailey was severely underrated as a musical comedy performer and he really gets a chance to shine here. His dancing style is very special...he has the lighter than air touch of Astaire combined with that glorious spontaneous style of Donald O'Connor, where he never looks like he's counting, he looks like he's making up the dance as he goes along. And yes, we get more than ample opportunity to check out the million dollar legs of Betty Grable, which are generously on display here.
Musical highlights include "Daddy You've Been a Mother to Me", "Berlington Bertie from Bow", "You Do", and "We're a Couple of Broadway Brothers." For some reason daughter Iris, played by Mona Freeman is allowed to sing two verses of "Silent Night", a number which brings the film to a dead halt (Freeman's singing is dubbed by Imogene Lynn).
Fox and director Walter Lang put a lot of care into production values, including lavish set direction and costumes. Dailey and Grable are so magic together that they would reunite for Call Me Mister, When My Baby Smiles at Me, and My Blue Heaven. Their musical numbers here are a lot of fun; unfortunately, when Frank and Myrtle leave the vaudeville stage, so does a lot of the film's appeal.