You Were Meant for Me (1948)

Wonderful character development!

Why so much hype?

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

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.

This 1948 film starts its action 20 years earlier in 1928 when the country was in the throes of the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age when it seemed like the national party would never end. You Were Meant For Me stars Dan Dailey as a Rudy Vallee like band-leader with Jeanne Crain as the small town girl whom he falls for and marries while on tour. One thing though, Vallee never had the dance moves that Dan Dailey had. I always marveled at how gracefully that big man moved.If this had been done over at Warner Brothers Jack Carson would have been cast in the lead. Dailey is quite the party animal when good times are plentiful. But the stock market crash comes even with bookings canceling all around him, Dailey feels the need to put up a big front. The man needs a reality trip and Crain is ready to give it to him.The score is taken from various standards of the Roaring Twenties and that's the best part of the film. Oscar Levant is in the cast as his usual witty and cynical self and we hear him do Gershwin's Concerto in F. Percy Kilbride and Selena Royle are Crain's small town, home town parents who give out some practical advice.If you like the music of the Twenties than You Were Meant For Me is meant for you.

Small town girl Jeanne Crain finds her boyfriends have no oomph, so when she plants a kiss on visiting band-leader Dan Dailey's lips, she's surprised by the spark, and so is he. She's a raffle winner on a date, and wins more than just the grand prize. It's the 1920's, and jazz dance bands are the heroes of the youth set. So before you can get out the first line of "Crazy Rhythm" (I go my way, you go your way), the two are wed and living with Crain's stony mother (Selena Royle) and easy-going pop (Percy Kilbride, of all people!). But times change, the stock market crashes, and gigs dry up for Dailey. Along the way, it is the wife who remains the strength of the family, Dailey obviously a dreamer and too hard-headed to move along with the times. They manage to go off on their own for a brief period of success, but as Crain admits after everything falls apart, "We'll put Humpty Dumpty together again, and it won't be with ticker tape."Once again, nostalgia is the name of the game in this enjoyable 20th Century Fox musical, the type they'd been doing since they signed both Alice Faye and Shirley Temple to contracts, continuing along with Betty Grable, June Haver, Charlotte Greenwood, Don Ameche, John Payne and their other contract players. Dailey had made one successful appearance up to this point with Grable ("Mother Wore Tights"), and there is even a reference to a song from that film ("Kokomo, Indiana") and would go onto others (he received an Oscar Nomination for the same year's "When My Baby Smiles at Me") with Grable. Crain is basically a non-musical presence here, so her presence rather than Grable's makes more sense, and she makes the character extremely likable and understanding. Such standards as "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Ain't She Sweet?" are among the musical highlights, as is the romantic title song sung by Dailey to Crain as they dance after she wins the raffle. Barbara Lawrence, the perky blonde who co-starred with Crain in "Margie" (and would go on to parody herself in a Bette Davis film called "The Star"), is memorable as Crain's high school best friend. Dailey stands out in a scene where he tells off Crain's old friends who were supportive in the good old days but whom he believes have come to consider him a joke now that he's a has-been. The film goes through several generations of 20th Century American history, from the roaring 20's through the depression and finally to the hopes and dreams of the Roosevelt era of "a new deal". The themes of support and understanding through even the worst of times are still vital today, making this more than just a nostalgic entertainment.

"You Were Meant for Me" has all the elements of a very nice film. We have a dance band and Jeanne Craine falling for and marrying band leader Dan Dailey over night.All goes well until the stock market crashes in 1929 and the band is forced to disband.Dailey and Jeanne move back with her parents, Percy Kilbride, who, for a change is not funny here and the dependable Selena Royle who really never was known for comedic gifts. Their lack of it is showing here. Kilbride,in particular, wastes chances to enhance his part. Known for deadpan humor, it is missing here.Invariably, when Dailey refuses a job offer that he considers beneath him, the two argue and Dailey runs off to N.Y.It is at this point that the film goes awry. Dailey, at the bus depot, looks out at Bloomington, Indiana. He runs back to Craine where he finds long-time pal Oscar (Oscar Levant) at the house. Kilbride comes home from his job. By the next scene, Dailey is leading a band and Levant is working selling bricks at Kilbride's place.Craine and Dailey dance and the film ends. There was no proper segue leading up to this end.In addition, the few dance numbers are too stilted. Craine, tries but gives little pep to this film. Song and dance man Dailey is wasted here.

Yes, I know it's been done before, but this great little tale of a struggling Thirties couple really has something special. Optimistic Dan Dailey keeps smiling through it all, Jeanne Crain lights up the screen, Oscar Levant is a wry delight, and see Percy Kilbride just before his "Pa Kettle" persona caught on. And that great title song.......! Highly recommended to all.