IN SAYING
EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE?
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IN SAYING EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE? |
| PANAMA HATTIE (director: Norman Z. McLeod; screenwriters: Jack McGowan/Wilkie Mahoney/based on the musical play by Herbert Fields, B.G. DeSylva and Cole Porter; cinematographer: George J. Folsey; editor: Blanche Sewell; music: George E. Stoll; cast: Ann Sothern (Hattie Maloney), Dan Dailey (Dick Bulliet), Red Skelton (Red), Marsha Hunt (Leila Tree), Virginia O'Brien (Flo Foster), Rags Ragland (Rags), Alan Mowbray (Jay Jerkins), Ben Blue (Rowdy), Lena Horne (Herself), Jackie Horner (Geraldine 'Gerry' Bulliet), Joe Yule (Waiter), The Berry Brothers (Themselves); Runtime: 79; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Arthur Freed; MGM; 1942) |
| "The
wartime musical/comedy
Panama Hattie
was a hit on
Broadway for songwriter Cole
Porter and its star Ethel Merman."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz The wartime
musical/comedy
Panama Hattie was
a hit on
Broadway for songwriter Cole
Porter and its star Ethel Merman. As a film it was a
bomb when first
released to a preview audience, but the studio spent
big money
reshooting and adding a few scenes--which paid off
into making it a box
office success some 11 months later when released.
The
sprightly Ann Sothern takes Merman's
role and sings "I've
Still Got My
Health." The Broadway diva was never sought
after by
Hollywood, while Sothern never became a Hollywood star
though prepped
to become one. It's based on the play by Herbert
Fields and B.G. DeSylva. Norman
Z. McLeod ("Horse Feathers"/"Topper"/"Alice in
Wonderland") has
no feel for
drawing out the comedy, as Red
(Red Skelton), Rags (Rags
Ragland) and Rowdy (Ben Blue) are a trio of goofy
'comic relief'
sailors looking for Nazi spies and protectively
hanging onto
working-class gal Hattie Maloney (Ann
Sothern), the
brassy Panama
Canal nightclub owner, as she's squired around town by divorced
Philadelphia society guy Dick
Bulliet (Dan
Dailey) and
his sharp-tongued daughter (Jackie Horner) and very British butler (Alan Mowbray). It's only the Cole Porter songs that keep things watchable. The film is noteworthy for being the first film at MGM for legendary black singer Lena Horne, who had no role but would sing two songs (therefore the studio could easily edit her out of the film for the racist Dixie crowd). One song was "Just One of those Things," the other was "The Sping." REVIEWED ON 5/22/2010 GRADE: C Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |