Doll Face (1945)
Burlesque queen Doll Face Carroll is dismissed from an audition for a legitimate Broadway show because she lacks culture. Her boss/manager Mike decides that she can get both culture and plenty of publicity by writing her autobiography. He hires a ghost writer to do all the work, but doesn't count on the possibility that Doll Face and her collaborator might have more than a book on their minds.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
I love this movie so much
Please don't spend money on this.
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
"Doll Face" is a minor musical which would undoubtedly have enjoyed greater appeal if it had not been saddled with a repertoire of pleasant but totally unmemorable songs. Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson can certainly do much better than this.The script, alas, is also no more than routine - and even that is probably an exaggeration of its merits. Louise Hovick's stage play is that old chestnut about the guy who hires a male teacher for his fiancé and suspects the two are two-timing him!However, I must admit that if you're not expecting anything special and your mood is indulgent rather than critical, you will probably enjoy the movie to some extent. It is certainly enthusiastically played by a surprisingly good cast headed by Dennis O'Keefe, Vivian Blaine, Perry Como and Carmen Miranda.All in all, "Doll Face" certainly passes an agreeable - if unmemorable - 80 minutes.
"Women are like rugs---you gotta take 'em out and beat 'em every once in a while"--Dennis O'Keefe from DOLL FACE.In many ways, this film reminded me of BORN YESTERDAY--though this film came out a year before Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon's hit play debuted on Broadway--and five years before the movie version of BORN YESTERDAY debuted. Both feature an uncouth couple with an abusive and indifferent boyfriend and both feature a cultured writer who educates and enlightens the tacky leading lady. However, BORN YESTERDAY was a comedy and DOLL FACE was an unconvincing musical...and I can see why it has sunk into the public domain--it just isn't that good a film. Part of this is the poor script, part of it is too much dull musical numbers and part of it is because the male love interest, Dennis O'Keefe, is a rather abusive and neglectful man--and seeing him getting the girl (Vivian Blaine) in the end was a bit disturbing. After all, this is the same character who uttered the charming quote above!! Perhaps my feelings are colored by a more modern sensibility that does NOT condone jerk boyfriends, but I am pretty sure audiences of the day also might have felt unsatisfied with this as well. Regardless, it's a very forgettable film that started off well enough but really bogged down as the film progressed.If you care, Perry Como and Carmen Miranda also starred in the film but their talents (particularly Como's) were rather wasted. Como just sang a lot but had the personality of saw dust.
Veteran song and dance beauty Vivian Blaine plays Mary Elizabeth Carroll, better known as burlesque star 'Doll Face', has her sights set high for the legitimate stage. Her boyfriend manager Mike Hannegan(Dennis O'Keefe)is her number one booster; and convinces her to hire a ghost writer, Fredrick Manly Gerard(Michael Dunne), to help with an auto-biography to prove she has attained 'class'. Of course, the writer comes between the songstress and her guy.Blaine sings "Somebody's Walking in My Dream" and reprises a couple of nice tunes, "Here Come's Heaven Again" and "Red, Hot and Beautiful" with crooner Perry Como, who sings one of his break-through songs "Dig You Late(A-Hubba Hubba Hubba)". And the one and only Carmen Miranda as Chita Chula sings "Chico Chico". This fun over-looked musical is based on a play by Gypsy Rose Lee.
A wartime soufflé from a play by Gypsy Rose Lee (as Louise Hovick), DOLL FACE features a lightweight plot with some snappy dialogue and delivery among the clichés, while director Lewis Seiler's vision is properly focused upon contemporary swing music, highlighting the vocal skill of Vivian Blaine, Perry Como, Carmen Miranda and Martha Stewart (no, not that one). The scenario has as its primary business a rocky romance between Doll Face Carroll (Blaine), a burlesque queen, and her manager, Mike Hannegan (the stalwart Dennis O'Keefe), along with the latter's efforts to boost his proletarian protégé into the realm of operetta. Seiler manages to remain faithful to the story line while seamlessly blending in the many musical numbers which, interestingly enough, prove more of a showcase for the perky Stewart and smooth Como than for the top-billed and certainly very pleasant Blaine; the production number for Miranda is a wild one, indeed.