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Lovely to Look At
One of MGM's nearly forgotten gems, 1952's Lovely to Look At is a splashy and sophisticated musical romp that provides just about everything that lovers of MGM musicals have come to expect from the famed Dream Factory.
Al (Red Skelton), Tony (Howard Keel), and Jerry (Gower Champion) are trying to raise money to produce a Broadway show when they learn that Al's Aunt Roberta has passed away and has left him half ownership of an elegant fashion house in Paris, so the three fly to Paris to sell their half of the shop so they can use it to invest in their show.
Upon arriving in Gay Paree, Al is instantly smitten with Stephanie (Kathryn Grayson) the adopted daughter of Aunt Roberta who now runs the shop with her sister, Clarisse (Marge Champion). Though Al falls for Stephanie, she only has eyes for Tony, who, upon learning that Roberta's is having financial troubles, decides to save the shop by producing an elaborate fashion show/stage musical. Throw into the mix Tony's girlfriend Bubbles (Ann Miller) who follows our boys to Paris and you have all the ingredients for an MGM musical feast.
If this story sounds familiar, it's because this musical is a re-thinking of the Broadway musical Roberta, which originally came to the screen in 1935 with Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers. Of course, the screenplay by George Wells and Harry Ruby tweaks the original story by having our leading men be Broadway producers in order for MGM to tailor the film to their stable of talent, a lot of whom had worked together before this film and would work with each other after this one.
This would be the second of three films that Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson made together, who once again prove that their screen and vocal chemistry was no accident. Their characters in this film are a little more sophisticated than I expected and both actors, Grayson in particular, get to stretch themselves as performers. Grayson even does a drunk scene, something I've never seen from her and she actually pulls it off and even if she didn't, whenever these two open their mouths to sing together, you forget anything wrong that's going on.
The other big sell is the iconic Jerome Kern score which includes Miller's solo "I'll Be Hard to Handle", Grayson's "Yesterdays", Keel and Grayson's fantasy rendition of the title tune and we get two different takes on perhaps the most famous song in the score, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"...there's a sultry vocal version by Grayson and a beautiful pas de deux danced by Marge and Gower Champion, a gifted dancing pair who could have been the next Astaire and Rogers.
Red Skelton proved to be a charming leading man and is only allowed a brief moment near the beginning of the final act to show glimpses of the future TV clown he would become. Ann Miller's role was kind of thankless though it was a nice change of pace to see her playing a character who wasn't dumb as a box of rocks. Must also give a shout out to classic movie costumer Adrian for the stunning fashions featured in the elaborate musical finale. Grayson, Keel, Miller, and Kurt Kazner would all reunite in Kiss Me Kate and if you liked that movie, you'll like this one too.
One of MGM's nearly forgotten gems, 1952's Lovely to Look At is a splashy and sophisticated musical romp that provides just about everything that lovers of MGM musicals have come to expect from the famed Dream Factory.
Al (Red Skelton), Tony (Howard Keel), and Jerry (Gower Champion) are trying to raise money to produce a Broadway show when they learn that Al's Aunt Roberta has passed away and has left him half ownership of an elegant fashion house in Paris, so the three fly to Paris to sell their half of the shop so they can use it to invest in their show.
Upon arriving in Gay Paree, Al is instantly smitten with Stephanie (Kathryn Grayson) the adopted daughter of Aunt Roberta who now runs the shop with her sister, Clarisse (Marge Champion). Though Al falls for Stephanie, she only has eyes for Tony, who, upon learning that Roberta's is having financial troubles, decides to save the shop by producing an elaborate fashion show/stage musical. Throw into the mix Tony's girlfriend Bubbles (Ann Miller) who follows our boys to Paris and you have all the ingredients for an MGM musical feast.
If this story sounds familiar, it's because this musical is a re-thinking of the Broadway musical Roberta, which originally came to the screen in 1935 with Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers. Of course, the screenplay by George Wells and Harry Ruby tweaks the original story by having our leading men be Broadway producers in order for MGM to tailor the film to their stable of talent, a lot of whom had worked together before this film and would work with each other after this one.
This would be the second of three films that Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson made together, who once again prove that their screen and vocal chemistry was no accident. Their characters in this film are a little more sophisticated than I expected and both actors, Grayson in particular, get to stretch themselves as performers. Grayson even does a drunk scene, something I've never seen from her and she actually pulls it off and even if she didn't, whenever these two open their mouths to sing together, you forget anything wrong that's going on.
The other big sell is the iconic Jerome Kern score which includes Miller's solo "I'll Be Hard to Handle", Grayson's "Yesterdays", Keel and Grayson's fantasy rendition of the title tune and we get two different takes on perhaps the most famous song in the score, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"...there's a sultry vocal version by Grayson and a beautiful pas de deux danced by Marge and Gower Champion, a gifted dancing pair who could have been the next Astaire and Rogers.
Red Skelton proved to be a charming leading man and is only allowed a brief moment near the beginning of the final act to show glimpses of the future TV clown he would become. Ann Miller's role was kind of thankless though it was a nice change of pace to see her playing a character who wasn't dumb as a box of rocks. Must also give a shout out to classic movie costumer Adrian for the stunning fashions featured in the elaborate musical finale. Grayson, Keel, Miller, and Kurt Kazner would all reunite in Kiss Me Kate and if you liked that movie, you'll like this one too.