Delightfully Dangerous (1945)

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Poor plot, dire music, amateurish dancing, but surprisingly likable overall! The screenplay is quite witty and the acting in the minor parts is excellent. Better directed and photographed than most musicals of this type the time passes quite nicely. Watch for amusing cameos by stalwarts Arthur Treacher and Louise Beavers. There are a number of glaring inconsistencies and holes in the plot. Morton Gould, surely the least charismatic band leader ever to star in and write the music for a musical, plays just the sort of dull symphonic schmaltz that is apparently holding back the prospects of Arthur Hale's new production, while Josephine's shocking burlesque act shows a great deal less leg than her interminable number in a legitimate play at the end of the film.

It's a treat to see the majestic, golden-haired, golden-voiced Constance Moore, but what a shame she is in something so cheap and lame. From the first shots we know this movie isn't going to bother with coherence. We see an orchestra leader conducting a symphony, then Jane Powell in her boarding-school bedroom. She falls asleep and we see her dream of joining the orchestra at Carnegie Hall and singing with them. Huh? Who is she? Why should we care about her? Why show us a character's DREAM before showing us anything about who they ARE? The whole thing is slipshod like that. Moore is supposed to be the love interest for Ralph Bellamy, but we never see them do anything but argue. Then, near the end, they are reconciled, but nothing more romantic happens. No love words, no kiss. Then, right at the end, Moore whispers to Powell that Bellamy has asked her to marry him and she will say yes! It's as if the movie makers suddenly woke up and realised, uh-oh, we forgot the love stuff! The movie also has its distasteful aspects--the 15-year-old character (Powell's real age at the time) puts her hair up, wears lots of makeup and a sexy dress to show that she can pass for eighteen and be in a Broadway show. As a result, dozens of soldiers and sailors flock to her eagerly, and she encourages them. It gives the viewer an uncomfortable feeling that she is being taken advantage of.There is also the weird elevation to star status of the mediocrity Morton Gould. He is the conductor at the beginning, playing Carnegie Hall, and throughout the film we are told, ooh, they are putting on an original Morton Gould show, ooh, that's Morton Gould!, ooh, Morton Gould wants me for his radio show! Gould himself, as we see from his appearance in the movie, is as dull as his unmemorable music.And the burlesque! The typical embarrassment of Hays-code burlesque theatre, with men roaring and stamping at girls who wear more clothes than real girls of the time did at the beach. The little sister burns with shame at seeing Moore display a leg (horrors!) to the audience, but in the Broadway show at the end, in which they both star, Moore is wearing a costume that shows BOTH her legs! Ridiculous.It is very nice to see such likable performers as Arthur Treacher and Louise Beavers (there is a sweet moment when he stops making ice-cream sundaes for Powell and instead makes one for himself and one for Beavers, and they dig in). But both have been much, much funnier with better material.

This is only Jane Powell's second movie and she can more than hold her own. She plays the little sister of Constance Moore, who is a big star in New York. Ralph Bellamy plays a Broadway producer and really gives a great performance. Jane wants to follow her big sister to New York and she won't let her go. Jane talks with Ralph about her sister and he tells everyone what a big star she is on Broadway. Jane goes to New York to see her anyway. She is crushed when her sister is the star of a burlesque show. She runs into Ralph and he calms her down and calls for her sister. He explains to the sister why he lied to Jane about her. Jane is noticed and hired to do a show until they find out what her sister does. Jane finds out Ralph needs talent for his show and she secretly records her sister. He hears it and hires her. She does a great job and Jane also gets to sing in the play. This was a nice movie with a good pace to it. The three leads were perfectly cast and I recommend watching this film. The DVD releases are cheaply produced, but it's still worth watching.

In the '30s and '50s the Hollywood musical did mostly Broadway-style material, but during the WW2 period there was a craze for the vaudeville era: "For Me and My Gal", "Lady of Burlesque", "Ziegfeld Girl", and many more. These musicals were always best when they cast real ex-vaudevillians (Judy Garland) or Broadway dancers (Barbara Stanwyck). This one doesn't have either but it's not too bad. As usual with no-budget musicals there isn't a lot of music in it, and though it's got some burlesque sequences of course there are no authentic burlesque (i.e., stripper) numbers. (The censorship period in Hollywood was a bad time to get nostalgic for burlesque.) There is one clever dance number, with the dancers are got up as marionettes at a fair.Ralph Bellamy is an impresario and Powell is the cute girl who dreams of Carnegie Hall and discovers (it is never a secret to us) that her "theatrical" sister (Moore) is really a burlesque queen. Powell dreams up a way to redeem the sister. Never mind that Powell and Moore look nothing alike and don't appear to like one another. Moore, who made only Z movies, seems to sense that Powell was on to bigger and better things (she was but not for very long). Powell is a bit annoying in the early scenes, but she gets rather funny later once she's swathed in mink and pretending to be a diva. All in all, this is kind of a fun period piece. It's more typical of 1940s musicals than the big classics everyone knows about.