Where Do We Go from Here?

The idea behind "Where Do We Go from Here?" is an excellent one. Too bad the movie stinks....and it does indeed stink!

Bill Morgan (Fred MacMurray) is upset that he keeps getting rejected for military duty in WWII. He wants to do his part and get girls. So, when he discovers a magical vase and releases the genie, he asks to be able to fight in the war....but the dopey genie keeps sending him to the wrong wars and the film takes a trip through history.

Fred MacMurray is oddly cast in this film. This is because it's a musical and his singing talents are fair at best. His voice is thin but not unpleasant...but not the sort of guy you'd expect in the lead in a musical. Additionally, the comedy is limp and, combined with the songs, wears thin very, very quickly. Not fun to watch in the least.

By the way, trust me on this but the Columbus section repeats a lot of myths...such as that Columbus was trying to prove the world was round. Folks in 1492 KNEW the world was round...they just didn't want to head west because they had no idea what was there! The things you learn when you are a history teacher!

Fred MacMurray plays a guy who wants to do his patriotic duty and join the Army but he's 4F so they won't take him. To make matters worse, the girl he loves (June Haver) only dates soldiers. One night Fred frees a genie from a lamp and the genie grants him wishes in return. He wishes to be in the Army but the genie misunderstands and sends him back in time to join the Army of George Washington. From there, Fred bounces around in time to earlier points in American history where he sails with Columbus, buys Manhattan from Anthony Quinn, and hangs around with Dutch settlers who talk like Yoda.

Well this was an interesting little gem I'd never heard of. It's a pleasant Technicolor musical comedy with songs by Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill. Fred MacMurray is amiable and easygoing. Joan Leslie is lovable as the girl best friend that is, of course, perfect for Fred but he doesn't see it yet. June Haver does fine in a role that would be easy to hate in a more serious movie. Fred and June met while making this and were later married. The songs are cute but nothing terribly impressive. Wait until you see MacMurray dance. Don't quit your day job, Fred! The Christopher Columbus operetta is probably the highlight. Enjoyable wartime fantasy that's very light and charming. Fun but never quite as good as it seems like it could be. Still, if you're a fan of the stars or old-school musicals you should like it.

Look at the number of actors on the IMDB cast list who had their scenes deleted (Roy Rogers, yet!), and you'll smell trouble: It's not typical for a big, expensive Technicolor wartime musical like this one to clock in under 80 minutes. Sure enough, it's a disjointed, haphazard musical fantasy, though full of talented people behind the scenes, notably Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill. The songwriters bring a little pep to the story of a 4-F wannabe soldier who finds a magic lamp inhabited by an inept genie, who keeps putting him into the wrong century. The historic events visited feel terribly random -- the American Revolution, Columbus' voyage, Puritan New England -- and make one curious about what sequences were omitted. It's a cute idea -- the screenwriters, Morrie Ryskind and Sig Herzig, were Broadway veterans, and one suspects they originally conceived this as a stage musical -- but it's spun out with little real wit, and an aggressively uninteresting supporting cast fails to mine the minimal humor in the script. MacMurray, normally not a song-and-dance man, reveals a pleasant baritone but hasn't much to play, and he looks distinctly uncharmed by either of his leading ladies, though he did in fact marry June Haver. There's one celebrated sequence, a 10-minute mini-opera-bouffe called "The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria," where Bill (MacMurray) convinces Columbus' crew not to mutiny, since America needs to be discovered. (A wonderful couplet describing America's bounty was disallowed by the censors: "The girls are delightful/ Their sweaters are quite full.") Suddenly the whimsy takes off, and the singing's splendid, and the film feels as bizarre and pixilated as "The Wizard of Oz." It doesn't last, though, and then it's back to 20th Century Fox's back lot and more halfhearted jests about history and patriotism.

A try at something different, certainly, in an age where Hollywood musicals were mainly backstagers, and it has its moments. But mostly it's a missed opportunity. If the missing footage ever turns up, it might be worth looking at.

Wartime patriotism and escapism blend together in this amiable, but unspectacular musical. MacMurray is a towering, ostensibly-hearty man who is graded 4-F by the government and thus cannot enter the Armed Forces during WWII. He wants nothing more than to join up and beat the "Japs" (with the possible exception of wooing Leslie.) One evening, while helping an old woman with some scrap metal, he resurrects a genie who, in gratitude, grants him several wishes. His primary wish, to be in the service, sends him reeling back in time to the Revolutionary War, where he is serving under George Washington! This sort of thing continues as he finds himself on Columbus's flagship, on the island of Manhattan back when it was Indian territory and in Puritanical times. (Interestingly, the Civil War is left out.) In all the time frames, he sees various incarnations of the two ladies (Leslie and Haver) he has flirtations with in 1945. Finally, the genie assists him back to the 20th century where he hopes to somehow enlist in the Army. MacMurray is a friendly, easy-going presence and has a nice enough, if not amazing, singing voice. The ladies are attractive and sing well, but are not particularly distinctive. The best singing in the film comes from the rich-toned Ramirez who threatens mutiny on Columbus in a mini-operetta. The humor is light and simple-minded. The film never aspires to be anything other than morale-building froth, which is what the country needed at the time. Though most of the music is pretty enough and the costumes and sets are colorful, there isn't really anything overly memorable or striking about the film. Apart from the Columbus section, the only really zippy part is a number in a canteen with all the branches of service and Leslie daringly dancing on barstools. Still, it's an easy, appealing movie that has variety, if nothing else. MacMurray infiltrates a German beer hall (which is presented as rather charming in spite of the fact that the US was at war with Germany at the time!) and imitates Adolph Hitler at one point. Quinn shows up as a "Me Indian Chief" sort of Native American character (while Leslie dons what had to be an eye-opening, for 1945, two-piece costume.) The film has some fairly innovative opening credits and some fairly decent (for the time) special effects. Coincidentally, MacMurray later married Haver in real-life (after her short-lived stint in the convent) though here he is more after Leslie. Ironically, Haver and MacMurray adopted twins while Leslie had a set of her own naturally.

One note: The first poster seems to have mistaken "uncredited" for "scenes deleted". While a section featuring Roy Rogers and Gabby Hayes was cut, that was basically it. Most of the performers listed after were just actors whose names failed to appear in the credits. They didn't have particular sequences that were cut.

This is a delightful fantasy operetta romp through American history, with a score by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Ira Gershwin.

Bill Morgan (Fred MacMurray) wants to join the Army but is ruled 4F. Instead, he is put in charge of local scrap recycling. He breaks a lamp, and frees a genie. Morgan tell the genie he wants to get into the Army--but doesn't mention which century he wants. Morgan's girlfriends Sally (Joan Leslie) and Lucilla (June Haver) accompany him through the centuries.

The fine score carries the film through and past its sillier moments. Leslie has the best song - "If Love Remains". The Christopher Columbus segment is done as an opera with MacMurray breaking up the grand opera with a patter song in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan. Haver is the liveliest of the three, as a born con woman, throughout the centuries. Watch for Anthony Quinn and read the traffic signs--no matter what century they're in.