Athena (1954)

Powerful

good film but with many flaws

Disapointment

Admirable film.

Two out of seven modern-day sisters, each named after a Greek Goddess and living with their vegetarian, health-conscious grandparents (no word on what happened to their actual mother and father!), find romance as destined by the stars. Numerologist Jane Powell quickly lays her lips upon stuffy lawyer Edmund Purdom, while pony-tailed Debbie Reynolds is matched with spiritless crooner Vic Damone. Opening predicament with Damone being sued by his agent is quickly dropped, as are Purdom's plans to run for Congress (!). Instead, the two men get involved in the lives of their lovely ladies--as well as with grandpa Louis Calhern, who is in the midst of training musclemen for the Mr. Universe contest. No memorable songs, but the presentation is colorful, airy, and pleasant. The hot-headed characters keep running off half-cocked, while the script becomes more and more illogical. Still, the energy displayed is infectious and the supporting cast is solid. **1/2 from ****

On a visit some weeks ago to my local Hollywood Video store, I noticed this title available among the VHS tapes in the Musicals section. Since I knew it had not been produced in CinemaScope (and therefore wouldn't suffer from the dread "formatting") and being a Jane Powell fan from 'way back, I rented it. It is certainly an odd concoction for a very conservative major studio of the mid-Fifties era; studio bound; directed by the pedestrian Richard Thorpe; packed with a cast selected to appeal, presumably, to the the younger members of its potential audience; and not as overflowing with musical numbers as I had hoped.Jane is as pretty as ever, in overlit but warmly rich Eastmancolor, chirrupping in her matchless colortura; Debbie Reynolds lends her usual lively support; Vic Damone, despite his eminently listenable baritone, once again demonstrates why he never became a top boxoffice draw; and Edmund Purdom is perfectly cast as an unlikely stuffed-shirt suitor to Jane's way-out-there Athena. One can only imagine the chasm of misunderstandings that would bedevil their future marital bliss. With the elegant Louis Calhern as an unlikely patriarch, health and fitness obsessed, and the lovable Evelyn Varden as his woozy mate, convinced that astrology is the key to happiness. Add a passel of pre-steroid Muscle Beach denizens, including the handsome Steve Reeves and Ed Fury, before their emigration to Italy to appear in all those Hercules epics, and you've got a brew that's not really indigestible but doesn't really coalesce as its makers may have hoped.

Unlike MGM's expensive, classic musicals of the 1950s, the modest, light-hearted but equally delicious "Athena" has been all-but-forgotten. A shame, because this lilting, lively melodious lark is not only a wryly amusing satire on an eccentric family of health-food nutritionists/numerologists, but, most importantly, a dazzling showcase for some of the most tuneful musical numbers to grace any film of its era. The score, by Ralph Martin and Hugh Blane (of "Meet Me in St. Louis" fame), offers such treats as Jane Powell singing the poignant, haunting ballad "Love Can Change the Stars" (which should have become a popular hit); Powell, Debbie Reynolds and their 5 sisters performing a breathtakingly energetic, knockout song-and-dance production number "I Never Felt Better"; and Ms. Powell (never more bewitchingly alluring) setting off vocal fireworks with her superb rendition of Donizetti's "Chacun Le Sait" from the operetta "Daughter of the Regiment." The plot, wherein Powell & Ms. Reynolds defie their nutritionist fanatic grandfather's (a delightful Louis Calhern) dictums by falling in love with, respectively, Edmund Purdom and Vic Damone (two carnivores with the wrong "signs") is decades ahead of its time in its wise, gentle and good-humored satire of life-styles and fads (culminating in a body-builder contest where one of Calhern's proteges is Steve Reeves, who would a mere 4 years later attain international screen stardom as "Hercules"). Amusing as it is, the plot rightfully takes second-place to the wondrous cast of MGM's most gifted young musical talents of the day--in their full vocal and dancing glory captured in glistening pasteled Technicolor. (Sadly, they were all soon to be given their walking papers when Television became the new national rage, and the first of the terrified studio's contract players to be dismissed were the stars of its taken-for-granted musicals. Indeed, Powell, Reynolds and Damone would co-star in only one more MGM songfest, "Hit the Deck"--as warm, charming, and tuneful as "Athena"--as well as a boxoffice disappointment.) Meanwhile, tune in "Athena" the next time TCM shows it--and don't be surprised if, weeks later, you find yourself humming, whistling or singing Ms. Powell's glorious delivery of what is perhaps this delectable movie's most rousing, catchy tune--the zesty, jubilant "Vocalize"!

What! burgers, fries, steaks, chops aren't healthy? You must be some kind of freak! After we just kicked Jap ass in WWII, how dare you suggest that Japanese interior design may be superior to good old American--what are you some kind of commie?It's all here: free love, numerology, astrology, organic diets, and most subversive--exercise! Well, the hippies abandoned the exercise and took up with drugs, and the music was a lot better--but these guys were the first.Jane Powell is marvelous as the woman who is way ahead of her time as being all to free with her body with the man she is "destined" to be with.Jane Powell and a young Debbie Reynolds in short shorts are a real delight in this one, although it is all to brief.