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I Love Melvin
Fresh off their triumph in the classic musical Singin the Rain, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds were reunited for an insignificant piece of MGM fluff called I Love Melvin that did nothing to tarnish the image of the Gene Kelly classic.
O'Connor plays Melvin Hooper, a photographer's assistant at LOOK magazine who uses his press pass to appear as he has a lot more juice at the magazine than he actually has and during his first scene at the magazine, it's revealed that no one on the editorial staff even knows who he is. Melvin meets Judy Schneider (Reynolds), a bouncy New York chorus girl who has adopted the stage name Judy LeRoy and is appearing in a Broadway show called "Quarterback Kelly" where she plays a human football. Melvin is immediately smitten with Judy and begins an elaborate ruse to make Judy believe he can get her on the cover of the magazine.
The recent passing of Debbie Reynolds prompted a re-watch of this film, which was near the bottom of my list of worst musicals ever made and I think I placed it pretty accurately on that list. It's certainly not the worst musical ever made but the dated screenplay by George Wells and Ruth Brooks Flippen made this film pretty rough going. The whole idea of Judy being willing to give up her role in a Broadway show because she thinks she's going to be on the cover of a magazine is just as silly as the LOOK editorial staff revealing that they would NEVER put a woman on the cover.
The film features some entertaining and elaborate musical numbers. The opening number "A Lady Loves" finds Debbie being danced around tuxedo-clad dancers who disguise the fact that Debbie is being danced around. The "meet cute" duet that introduces the two leads to each other "We Have Never Met" is kind of cute. O'Connor actually gets to do a number on roller skates and an elaborate production number called "I Wanna Wonder" which was supposed to enchant us the way "Make em Laugh" did, but it just goes on too long. Donald and Debbie also have a cute dance duet called "Where did you Learn to Dance."
MGM did pour a little money into this production. Some scenes appeared to be actually filmed in Manhattan and the accustomed MGM gloss is apparent and Richard Anderson, Allyn Joslyn, Una Merkel, and Jim Backus offer solid support in thankless roles, but it's mostly for naught. But Donald O'Connor is always worth watching and he alone makes this one worth a look.
Fresh off their triumph in the classic musical Singin the Rain, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds were reunited for an insignificant piece of MGM fluff called I Love Melvin that did nothing to tarnish the image of the Gene Kelly classic.
O'Connor plays Melvin Hooper, a photographer's assistant at LOOK magazine who uses his press pass to appear as he has a lot more juice at the magazine than he actually has and during his first scene at the magazine, it's revealed that no one on the editorial staff even knows who he is. Melvin meets Judy Schneider (Reynolds), a bouncy New York chorus girl who has adopted the stage name Judy LeRoy and is appearing in a Broadway show called "Quarterback Kelly" where she plays a human football. Melvin is immediately smitten with Judy and begins an elaborate ruse to make Judy believe he can get her on the cover of the magazine.
The recent passing of Debbie Reynolds prompted a re-watch of this film, which was near the bottom of my list of worst musicals ever made and I think I placed it pretty accurately on that list. It's certainly not the worst musical ever made but the dated screenplay by George Wells and Ruth Brooks Flippen made this film pretty rough going. The whole idea of Judy being willing to give up her role in a Broadway show because she thinks she's going to be on the cover of a magazine is just as silly as the LOOK editorial staff revealing that they would NEVER put a woman on the cover.
The film features some entertaining and elaborate musical numbers. The opening number "A Lady Loves" finds Debbie being danced around tuxedo-clad dancers who disguise the fact that Debbie is being danced around. The "meet cute" duet that introduces the two leads to each other "We Have Never Met" is kind of cute. O'Connor actually gets to do a number on roller skates and an elaborate production number called "I Wanna Wonder" which was supposed to enchant us the way "Make em Laugh" did, but it just goes on too long. Donald and Debbie also have a cute dance duet called "Where did you Learn to Dance."
MGM did pour a little money into this production. Some scenes appeared to be actually filmed in Manhattan and the accustomed MGM gloss is apparent and Richard Anderson, Allyn Joslyn, Una Merkel, and Jim Backus offer solid support in thankless roles, but it's mostly for naught. But Donald O'Connor is always worth watching and he alone makes this one worth a look.