Lovely to Look At (1952)

How sad is this?

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of several MGM musicals from the '50s set primarily in Paris, beginning with "An American in Paris" of the previous year. It reunites 3 of the 4 leads from the minor musical comedy "Texas Carnival" of the previous year, with Kathryn Grayson replacing Esther Williams. Marge and Gower Champion replace Fred and Ginger Rogers in "Roberta". They serve as additional costars, while supplying a high level of off-stage romantic, as well as stagy, song and dance, to complement Anne Miller's sexy dance production with a 'wolf pack' to the "I'd Be Hard to Handle", with intimidating lyrics. Unfortunately, this was her only dance production. Usually, she got 2. The Champions naturally form one of the new love couples. Blasé Anne Miller(as Bubbles) again ends up with Red Skelton(Al), after being knocked from Howard Keel's(Tony) A list by his introduction to Kathryn Grayson's pompous character(Stephanie). This was the second pairing of Keel and Grayson as the top leads("Showboat" of the previous year). The Champions also are returnees from that film, again being featured as a team in 3 dances, each more distinctive than those in "Showboat", and being a more important part of the screenplay.The 3 male costars form a threesome, rather reminiscent of the previous popular "On the Town". Male and sometimes female threesomes were featured in several other '50s MGM musicals, including "Always Fair Weather", "Hit the Deck", "Give the Girl a Break" and "Silk Stockings". The plot is quite absurd, with Red's character, from Scranton, PA, a surprise coheir to a Paris high fashion store(Roberta's), meeting the 2 female coheirs(Kathryn and Marge), who were running the store. Much reminds me of the very similar story line for the prior Fox musical comedy "Something For the Boys", also based on a Broadway play. The 3 arrive in Paris from the states in high spirits, confident they can sell Red's share of the business to provide seed money for a musical show. They gather in front of a street statue of Lafayette, and sing "Lafayette", as they prance down the street toward Roberta's, in "On the Town" style. Along the way, they stop by a flower seller and make up the astonished flower girl to look like the Statue of Liberty, using flowers and a book they spy(Remember, this statue was a gift from France.) Upon arriving at Roberta's, Red takes an eventful ride in the rickety open elevator with a mind of its own, to meet the coheirs upstairs. He discovers it won't be possible to sell his part of the store, as the business is in deep financial trouble. Keel's character(Tony) is very disappointed, but ecstatic about meeting Stephanie. He pursues her for the remainder of the film, despite a rather chilly initial reception, and opposition from a jealous Anne(Bubbles), his current girlfriend, who arrives in Paris a bit later. Gower immediately pursues Marge, engaging in a chase-like song and dance among racks of clothes and manikins on wheels. Marge initially sings "I Won't Dance", but eventually warms up to participate in an exuberant dance: certainly one of the highlights. Tony then makes a serious attempt to seduce a resisting Stephanie, as they exchange singing portions of "You're Devastating". But she's soon very impressed when Tony unexpectedly barges in on a meeting of Roberta creditors to announce a plan to remake the business as a combination fashion, music, and dance showroom, hopefully saving the business. But, then Bubbles arrives, complicating the romantic picture.Later, disaster for Roberta's looms again, as Tony is talked into producing a Broadway show. The rest of the gang refuse to abandon Roberta's, as Tony goes off to NYC. But without the gang, Tony can't come up with anything in NYC, so he and Max(the theater owner) return to Paris to direct the opening fashion show -musical combo before Roberta's is liquidated. Vincent Minnelli was brought in to direct the latter, which serves as the finale big production. Despite imaginative ornate sets, the latter tends to get a bit boring. However, Minelli inserts a segment that looks like it was inspired by his "The Pirate". Dancers with deer heads show up. This is followed by an avant guard Kelly-like dance drama by the Champions, with often garish red-green backgrounds or filters. During this dance, Gower steals some jewelry off a model, and Marge eventually steals these from Gower. Later, Kathryn appears as a model and sings "The Touch of Your Hand", with Keel eventually chiming in, to set the finale, in which the several romantic pairs of stars gradually show up and engage in a 'feel good' finale romantic dance. In this summary, I've neglected discussing 3 of the most memorable musical numbers. First, as Kathryn is in her bedroom, trying on a dress, a ghostly image of Keel appears in one of her 4 floor-length mirrors, as he sings "Lovely to look At". Eventually, his image appears in all 4 mirrors, as he continues to sing. Latter, as Tony goes off to NYC, Kathryn, in a very sad mood, sings the beautiful Kerns standard "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". Prior to this, the Champions did a memorable romantic dance to the same song in a starry night scene, just after Marge finally gave up resisting Gower's persistent advances. Without Gene or Fred, we have a MGM musical well balanced between pure singing and song and dance, with the usual romantic and professional complications of musical screenplays, and some humor here and there. Red was supposed to supply much of the latter, but his main comedic skit falls quite flat. Kurt(Max) and an uninteresting decorative Zsa Zsa Gabor form a marginal 4th romantic couple.Kathryn, Howard and Anne would soon be reteamed to star in the much more remembered "Kiss Me Kate". Between, Kathryn would be teamed with Gordon MacRae, in the also unjustly neglected "Desert Song", based on the Romberg/Hammerstein musical play.

I'd forgotten how great Marge and Gower Champion were...just watched a VHS of this film I picked up at a video sale. Their dance to "I Won't Dance" is extremely well-staged in what looks like a very intricate one take, and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" has wonderful choreography as they float against a pale blue background with twinkling stars--it's beautiful. Ann Miller's knockout dance earlier in the film is memorable, too. Grayson and especially Keel have been heard to better advantage, though each is "lovely to look at." Skip the excruciating stand-up number by the Red Skelton in the party scene as well as the hideous fashion show at the end of the movie--OMG, those Fifties dresses were nightmarish. The art direction in this movie ranges from garish (the fashion show) to exquisite (cf. a stunning dawn park scene with Grayson and Keel and the aforementioned Champion number). All in all, a very mixed bag. The dancing by the Champions and Ann Miller is the best part of this film.

I can't remember the last time I saw such a wonderful, talented cast in such a forgettable movie. Take a look at that cast: Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Marge and Gower Champion, Ann Miller, even Zsa Zsa Gabor (and yes, I'm leaving out Grayson intentionally; she was not that talented). But the script is God-awful, and nothing works. What was the point of redoing a very exceptional previous movie, the 1930s Roberta with Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rodgers - and yes, Randolph Scott - if you weren't going to do something at least as good? Grayson can't hold a candle to Dunne when it comes to singing the big numbers in the show - Yesterdays, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes; they don't trust her with You're Lovely to Look At, and give it to the chorus instead - and she certainly was not in Dunne's league as an actress. The Champions do a beautiful dance number with Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which is probably the highlight of the movie, but they don't have any charisma as actors. Keel is a great singer and has real charisma as an actor, but he's largely wasted here, as is Skelton, who has an embarrassing comedy number.If you know the 1930s Roberta, this will make you cringe. If you don't, it still won't hold your interest.Why they bothered with this, I don't know. Everyone in it did much better elsewhere.

Other than the Gower's occasional dances in this film, this movie just falls flat. True, there are some great songs, but Red Skelton is purely annoying, Zsa Zsa Gabor is wasted in a thankless role, and Ann Miller has all the personality of a sponge. I just watched it for the first time today. Now I understand why so many younger people think the old movie musicals are hokey. Occasionally they work - but not in this case...steer clear...the plot and acting are generally sub-par! Compared to the films of Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, and even Judy Garland, this film seems amateurish. Watch "In The Good Old Summertime" or "Carmen Jones" instead.