Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Monday, March 21, 2016

Musicals In Leo's Shadow


Three Sailors and A Girl (1953) Revamps Another Old Property

Stretch Those L.A. Screens!
Correct me if I'm wrong in assuming that Warner Bros. never compiled musical highlights. Metro and Fox did, MGM to best effect with 70's and later That's Entertainments. Industry and fans conceded to theirs being always ahead in terms of melody-making. 20th's effort was a copy, made for television, and hosted by Fred Astaire, whose only association with Fox had been Daddy Long Legs. WB could have assembled a feature on basis of Busby Berkeley's work alone (there were a few shorts), 60-70's cult for which put him top among "camp" names. Little such stardust attached to later WB musicals, however, the 40's weighed by series (Dennis Morgan-Jack Carson) mimicking elsewhere ongoers (Hope-Crosby) that registered better. On-lot talent lacked aptitude for musicals, this almost central joke of wartime revue Thank Your Lucky Stars, where stars that sang invited us to laugh at their breaking habit to do so.


Warners would get serious about song/dance with discovery/development of Doris Day. To her progress would come assist of Gordon McRae and Gene Nelson. Three Sailors and A Girl, minus Day, was strictly road company beside MGM's On The Town, which it emulated to a degree, as did Universal with sailor-suited Tony Curtis observing So This Is Paris (no it wasn't, being backlot lensed), plus All Ashore's (Columbia) cut-rate nautical trio, headed by Mickey Rooney. These were strictly ersatz beside Metro, at least comparatively so. By themselves, it was possible to get by, as did Three Sailors and A Girl, released in late 1953 and stretched for suddenly widened screens unbecoming to head-to-toe performance by a dancing cast. What thrill derived from Gene Nelson tapping where his feet were cropped? MGM had inarguable lead in the race for musical primacy, but a number of theirs lost money thanks to so much poured on (The Bandwagon for instance, a 1953 release). Three Sailors and A Girl, along with similar others, could profit more by spending less.


Likely largest tab for Three Sailors and A Girl, as least in cast terms, was borrow of Jane Powell from MGM. She's not flattered by the switch; makeup, hair, costuming all cruder applied than loving care dealt by Leo. Co-stars might have wished they could return with her to Culver, Gordon McRae not getting chance at a really top musical until Oklahoma, done independently a couple years later. Gene Nelson would languish as well at Warners, a third wheel, if that, or mere dancing specialty. He doesn't get the girl, any girl, in Three Sailors and A Girl, being little better served than comic support "Fat" Jack Leonard, third among titular gobs. What Warner did have was Ray Heindorf as Music Director, his credit a most meaningful in all musicals the company did after the war. Roy Del Ruth, megging book portions, might have been David Butler or Gordon Douglas for all of difference it made.


Basis yarn had whiskers, The Butter and Egg Man dating back to 20's and inherited by WB among properties that came with acquisition of First National, latter having announced Butter/Egg for Harry Langdon in long-ago silent era. The property, originating on Broadway, was adapted to movies at least thrice before Three Sailors and A Girl, each time shifted slightly to cloud sameness. 50's Warner went back in files for not a few of musicals ... No, No, Nanette redone for Doris Day, Brother Rat back as About Face. Formula thus weighs heavy on the lot, these coming to life only when participants sing/dance. Comedy is less well-served, Leonard left to trade on girth with no shading beyond. Same for Sam Levene as a producer who crooks the trio out of savings, a part made unsympathetic where it needn't be. Three Sailors and A Girl gives impression of being done on a stopwatch with all of corners cut, but offers window to Warners on 50's retrench setting. Big help is TCM running it HD, again a tip-over from no-watch to giving Three Sailors and A Girl a go.

6 Comments:

Blogger Dave K said...

Whoa, haven't seen this one in decades! Remember staying up late for it on TV in the sixties, expressly to see insult comedian Jack E. Leonard. Was horrified that the younger version of Fat Jack was playing a nice guy! Today, I'd be more interested in checking out Gene Nelson's gig. You're spot on about WB not letting him ever be the leading man. Must have been his Howdy Doody-ish looks and voice, the very features that made him such a terrific average-Joe-fall-guy in that nasty little noir CRIME WAVE. No wonder he headed for the director's chair!

9:49 AM  
Blogger b piper said...

"No wonder he headed for the director's chair!" To helm a handful of Elvis movies and the notorious John Agar sci-fi thriller HAND OF DEATH!

12:33 PM  
Blogger CanadianKen said...

Love what you said about MacRae and Nelson wishing they could follow Powell back to Metro after this clunker was wrapped up. Love all three performers - but Warner Brothers didn't have a clue how to showcase them properly. The score for "The Desert Song" was glorious - and I once saw a terrific stage version so the property had across the board potential. Warners filmed (and fumbled) it three times, lastly with MacRae in '53. They imported another MGM soprano for the project (Kathryn Grayson). And naturally she and MacRae sang beautifully. But they had to do it trapped in a quagmire of a script. For heaven’s sake, the studio had Doris Day in the 50's, one of the greatest musical comedy stars ever, and only once during that decade did they get it together to present her in a vehicle worthy of her talent. That would be "Calamity Jane". As for "Three Sailors and a Girl", well I'll never understand how they managed to mishandle Gene Nelson's career so badly. A gifted artist who surely would have fared better at MGM. As it happened, he - like MacRae - would get his best screen exposure elsewhere (and in the same film, "Oklahoma!) A final point. Jane Powell was one of the best things that ever happened to movie musicals. And the honchos at Warner Brothers deserve a swift retroactive kick in the backside for forcing her to sing that god-awful song “Kiss Me Till I Scream”.

1:07 PM  
Blogger Michael said...

The only Warner Bros. musical number compilation I can think of was The Busby Berkeley Disc on laserdisc, which saved them having to spend a fortune on dialogue scenes by putting all the Berkeley highlights on a single disc.

12:49 PM  
Blogger Barry Rivadue said...

Correct about Jane Powell. What a doll!

7:25 PM  
Blogger Mick A Design said...

When the BB Disc made it to DVD, it dropped a certain musical number from WONDER BAR...

7:50 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024