Up in Central Park

"Up in Central Park" is set in New York City in the 19th century. Boss Tweed (Vincent Price) and his political machine (Tammany Hall) have been in charge of the city for years...and cheating, graft and voting irregularities will keep him in power. At the time of the election, an Irish man and his daughter, Rosie (Deanna Durbin), arrive in the city...and are paid to vote the Tammany Hall candidates even though they aren't citizens. Tweed himself takes a special interest in them...mostly because he finds Rosie to be gorgeous. She, in turn, is smitten with him...unaware or perhaps unwilling to accept the man's evil reputation might just be true. A reporter (Dick Haymes) is fighting Tammany Hall and he tries to get Rosie to see the light...but getting her attitude to change will be a tall order, as around her he's the perfect gentleman. What's going to come of naive Rosie and Boss Tweed?

This is an enjoyable film but not without its problems. The first one I noticed was that although Rosie's dad has a thick Irish accent, Rosie sounds like a native-born American! She didn't even attempts a trace of the Irish accent...and it made little sense. The second was that even for a Durbin film the musical numbers were dull and too high brow...especially the ballet sequence. Third, and worst of all, the ending was very abrupt and unsatisfying. On the positive side, Vincent Price was great as the slimy Tweed and the story mildly interesting. But to me, the negatives slightly outweigh the positives.