Seven Sweethearts (1942)

Good concept, poorly executed.

As Good As It Gets

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.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Reporter Van Heflin travels to a small town to write about their annual tulip festival, but as soon as he gets there, he's greeted with nothing but strangeness from the town's residents. First, the head honcho, S.Z. Sakall, sits in the middle of the square and plays the oboe, the local hotel is full of colorful characters, and S.Z's seven daughters all have boys' names! Since all seven daughters are beautiful, Van has a difficult choice on his hands. The oldest, Marsha Hunt, and the youngest, Kathryn Grayson, are the highest contenders for his affections, and it isn't long before the audience finds out the reason for Marsha's heavy come-on. According to tradition, the oldest daughter has to get married before any of the others can-and S.Z.'s very old fashioned!Most people probably aren't going to choose to sit down and watch this obscure old movie, but for the few of you out there who remember Kathryn Grayson and love listening to her beautiful voice, she's given plenty of songs to show it off. Her beautiful coloratura soprano voice shines, but if you don't like opera singing, this movie will probably drive you up the wall. I'm the first to admit I don't usually like Van Heflin, and I usually get him confused with Van Johnson and Arthur Kennedy, but in this movie he's actually a lot more likable than he usually is! I've never seen him in a romantic comedy before, and when he smiles and jokes around, he doesn't seem as grumpy as he normally does. Kathryn is also very sweet and likable, so once again, if you're looking for a film of hers to watch-she didn't make too many unfortunately-you could do a lot worse than Seven Sweethearts. One more compliment for this light-hearted B movie: S.Z. Sakall, usually cast as a laughable foreigner, was given the opportunity to actually act in this movie, and he did a very good job. As a father terribly attached to his daughters, when he learns they're considering marrying and leaving him, he gets very hurt. If you watch this movie, you'll find out how effective his pouts can be.

I helped restore a boat that Van Heflin,and Kathryn Grayson were on.The movie was made in Saugatuck,Michigan.This boat was named the "Karab" at the time.Was owned by Karl Irwin. In 60 yrs this boat has only had 4 owners ! It is listed as the third oldest boat still on the Great Lakes. The picture shows the movie crew on the boat,and the other sisters that were in the movie when it was docked at the "Badlands" hotel which burned down. This boat was a 1923 Defoe built in Bay City,Michigan. I looked for over a year to find the movie.Didn't know it was a musical. I had to get help from MGM to find out what type of movie it was. I have a poor quality of the movie,and the boat was not seen in the movie. I like good musicals with a good story line,and this was done just right.

This is one of those films that is best enjoyed by just turning off your brain and letting yourself get into the film despite a very silly and impossible plot. Considering the film has considerable charm (and Cuddles Sakal), I could do this quite easily--at least until Kathryn Grayson sang too many songs that it spoiled mood! While I am not a huge fan of musicals, this isn't exactly a musical as all the numbers are strictly Grayson singing in a very operatic style that you either love or hate--guess which category I fell into! The silly plot is about the fictional town of New Delph, Michigan--and I assume it's a thinly disguised version of Holland, Michigan, as this town is famous for their bulbs and Dutch heritage. The town is like a little piece of Holland transported to America, as the homes look very Dutch and they keep alive their heritage through cultural festivals.Van Heflin is a reporter and arrives for the annual Tulip Festival. The first person he meets is the odd but very sweet Cuddle Sakal who runs the local hotel. The hotel is staffed by his seven daughters--all who have boys' names! And, of course, all are very beautiful and charming (with one exception). Van falls for the youngest one (Grayson) but the family tradition is that none of them can marry until the oldest marries (Marsha Hunt). Unfortunately, Hunt is a rather vain and obnoxious lady and Heflin is stuck because he wants to wed Grayson and break the very strong family tradition.The whole contrived plot works because of the charming nature of the film. Sakal, as usual, is a cute and endearing character and the film is well-written (at least when it comes to dialog). About the only deficits are the silliness of the plot and the over-abundance of singing by Grayson. Without the singing, this film would have earned at least a 7!

"Seven Sweethearts" is about a journalist who travels to Holland, Michigan to do a story about tulip time there and falls in love. The owner of the hotel has seven young, lovely daughters, all with men's names, who live in an isolated little world of clogs and tulips. One of them is pretty Billie (Kathryn Grayson) with whom the jaded reporter falls in love. All the girls, with the exception of the ambitious, cold Reggie (Marsha Hunt) have boyfriends and are aching to get married. But tradition states that the oldest girl must marry first.This movie seemed very long to me, strange, and somewhat boring. It's filled with B actors, with the exception of Heflin, Grayson, and character actor S.K. Sakall, who hands in one of the best acting scenes toward the end of the film when he has a confrontation with Billie. Grayson had a thin, fluttery coloratura soprano that nevertheless possessed some beautiful high notes and pianissimos, and she entertains throughout with songs and arias such as "Je suis Titania." She's good in her role. Heflin seems out of place but is quite likable.For those who don't know, the oldest girl marrying first was and perhaps still is a tradition in many cultures. The ending is cute, but this is still a cloying film, and it's hard to believe that this family had no relatives in Holland that they were concerned about during wartime. I suppose the idea was to take everyone out of the war for a while.