This movie has several huge dance numbers - not just big, but huge. Huge, elaborate sets, with dozens and dozens of people in beautiful costumes.
But the numbers are uninspired. Eleanor Powell's famous Rosalie number, where she dances on drums and then through hoops of what looks like plastic, must have taken endless rehearsals and astounding energy. But it just isn't interesting.
And neither are the Cole Porter songs. The title song is ok. In the Still of the NIght starts off great but loses steam after the first line. The rest of the numbers are totally forgettable.
And the script is strictly from hunger. Some very fine actors wasted on lines and situations that go nowhere. Frank Morgan, a great actor, looks downright embarrassed when he has to appear with that ugly dummy.
I cannot understand why MGM poured so much money into what was so clearly a dud.
In all fairness, however, it was one of the top box office hits of 1937, far outearning pictures that we today regard as classics. How it did that I can't say.
Watch it at your own risk.
But the numbers are uninspired. Eleanor Powell's famous Rosalie number, where she dances on drums and then through hoops of what looks like plastic, must have taken endless rehearsals and astounding energy. But it just isn't interesting.
And neither are the Cole Porter songs. The title song is ok. In the Still of the NIght starts off great but loses steam after the first line. The rest of the numbers are totally forgettable.
And the script is strictly from hunger. Some very fine actors wasted on lines and situations that go nowhere. Frank Morgan, a great actor, looks downright embarrassed when he has to appear with that ugly dummy.
I cannot understand why MGM poured so much money into what was so clearly a dud.
In all fairness, however, it was one of the top box office hits of 1937, far outearning pictures that we today regard as classics. How it did that I can't say.
Watch it at your own risk.