The Girl Most Likely

JANE POWELL seems to be enjoying herself in this cheerful little mixture of music and romance. However, the film itself never succeeds in looking much more than a low-budget musical with fake RKO sets that belong in a B-movie rather than a color musical. Despite this, there are pleasant performances by Jane Powell, Cliff Robertson, Tommy Noonan, Keith Andes and Kaye Ballard that compensate for a story that's been told before as "Tom, Dick and Harry" with Ginger Rogers back in 1941 (in B&W and without music).

Jane is just as pert and pretty as Ginger Rogers in the role of a girl who can't decide which man puts her on cloud nine until she finally wakes up at the last moment on the basis of the right kiss. It's all strictly fluff meant to entertain and in its own way it succeeds beautifully, thanks to Powell's effortless charm.

She's also in good voice but is given a number of songs by Blaine and Martin that have no lasting appeal. She delivers them all in a lilting and rich vocal style. Cliff Robertson was obviously a bit ill at ease in his musical sequences but provides a hunky presence as one of her smitten suitors. Tommy Noonan provides most of the comedy relief and Keith Andes has a role he can do virtually nothing with.

There's a rather imaginative American Indian song-and-dance routine that is sure to offend some of the politically correct crowd who can't accept the sort of stereotyping that was done in films of the 1950s. A similar number from ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (and one of the highlights of the MGM film) was cut from the latest Broadway version to placate the PC protesters.

It's the last theatrical film directed by Mitchell Leisen who was then near the end of his distinguished career directing a variety of films. This has got to be one of his lesser efforts but it has a certain charm as the last gasp of the musical era. RKO was virtually at a shutdown by the time the film was completed and it was released two years after being made on the lower half of a double bill.

This is one of the last 50s style musical comedies and the final film to present Jane Powell as a singing star. She is supported by Keith Andes, who can truly sing, and comedy by Tommy Noonan and Kaye Ballard. Cliff Robertson's singing is dubbed by Hal Derwin. The songs are only serviceable, even though they are written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, who gave us "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "Best Foot Forward". The best musical number, however, is the title tune, actually written by Nelson Riddle, with a vocal by the Hi-Los. Riddle's arrangements, which never seem to date, keep the music interesting. As for the plot, there isn't much of one. As for the comedy, both Noonan and Ballard were better served elsewhere. The choreography, however, is spectacular; this is Gower Champion's first attempt to stage dances for performers other than himself and wife Marge. From here, Champion went to Broadway and became a legend.

This movie features mostly people not known for their singing or their dancing... singing and dancing. The story is pretty weak and the musical numbers and dances are uninspired to put it mildly. Some of the principals were fortunate enough to be in much better films than this; how they ended up here I don't know but it's just a lame effort. The sets and color are nice enough and there are some interesting period touches for the 1950's, but overall, it's not a movie you'll finish watching (if you DO finish it) and want to see it ever again.

I saw this one at a theater in Westwood, California during its initial release and hadn't remembered much about it except for the lilting title song performed by the Hi-Lo's (the very best of the male singing quartets of that era) and the lively "Balboa" dance number with a flotilla of dancers splashing through the water's edge on a partially flooded soundstage setting.

Turner Classic Movies showed it earlier today and, oh my!, what a tremendous waste of the various talents involved. Almost everyone in the cast, except for Cliff Robertson, whom I've always found to be close to terminally bland, is criminally underused. The Newport/Balboa Island setting for most of the action isn't capitalized on, except for the title sequence. The production numbers are almost all sub-par, not coming close to the norm in Jane Powell's M-G-M extravaganzas. The treatment of Mexican nationals and American Indians is typical of 1950s all-white heedlessness. And the script is about as silly as they come by any standard, with Jane's final choice of her three suitors (cued by that "Pink Cloud Feeling") being the fadeout disappointment.

Gower Champion's ability to get a troupe of talented dancers into showing some real razzle-dazzle is best showcased in the "Balboa" number and Nelson Riddle's arrangements almost redeem the surprisingly lackluster songs by the usually reliable Ralph Martin and Hugh Blane (who weren't responsible for the listenable title song). All in all, if RKO Radio Pictures weren't already moribund, this one was sure to provide the final nail in its coffin.

Is regrettably viewing it through a 21st century lens. It was not made in the 2000s. It was made in the 1950s, and should be judged accordingly. For its time, it was witty, clever, whimsical, and sharp, with inspired choreography by Gower Champion and direction by screwball comedy master Mitchell Leisen. The cast is giving it their all. Una Merkel, Jane Powell, Cliff Robertson and supporting cast go a long way toward overcoming the modest budget and not-entirely-original story. It's a romantic-comedy-musical that's fun and full of life. How on earth anyone could expect it to conform to a politically correct standard of the 2020s is beyond comprehension. Yes, Howard Hughes had run RKO into the ground by the time this film was made, and it shows around the edges. But if you let yourself be swept into the fifties fantasy suspension of disbelief, there are riches galore and enjoyment on a grand scale to be had. I love this movie.