Butterfly americana

I've recently seen several Dan Dailey movies and while they are rather pleasant viewing, they also suffer from a certain sameness...way too much sameness. In at least four of his films (a few of which ALSO feature him with Betty Grable), he plays a song and dance man who is a terrible husband and whose wife is sick and tired of it. And, in all of them, by the time the film ends, he hasn't changed that much and yet there's some happily ever after. It is complete formula...and because of that, there's really no need to see them all.

The story begins just after V-J Day. Shep (Dan Dailey) is looking for his wife, Kay, as they were separated by the war...with him serving in the Army and her as well, but with a unit entertaining the troops. But she does NOT want Shep to follow her as their marriage is in shambles and she is planning on divorcing him. Oddly, however, she has never finalized the divorce...which only encourages Shep to keep pursuing her...which he does throughout the film.

This is pretty much the usual Twentieth Century-Fox production. The songs are mostly forgettable (though I liked the one set on a train) and the formula is something every audience knows by heart. So, if you've never seen one, you'll probably like this movie a lot more than I did. I just felt it was a case of 'been there...done that'.

By the way, the film did a lousy job showing what was supposed to be Tokyo circa September, 1945. The town was mostly leveled...burned to the ground by American bombers. But here, it looks just fine. The story also is supposedly set in Kyoto...which was spared the bombings and the film get this part right.

For someone who has seen too many such Dailey films...4. For someone not tired of the formula...6.