Yes, "I Love Melvin" is formula, but sometimes formula provides nutrition. If indeed that is true, then the cast of this pleasing musical comedy is overdosing on nutrients. Donald O'Connor plays a Look Magazine Employee, assistant to photographer Jim Backus, who longs to make the grade and cease running errands for his boss. He takes pictures of rising Broadway ingénue Debbie Reynolds whom he slowly falls in love with in spite of the fact that her father (Allyn Joslyn) is trying to push her together with the boringly handsome Richard Anderson. But O'Connor tries to win over pop Joslyn and mama Una Merkel's affections by presenting a fake cover of "Look" with Reynolds on the cover. How will he explain when "Philly of the Month" ends up being a prizefighter?
There are more musical numbers in this that actually seem to be moving the plot along than "drop-ins" or on-stage numbers, although Reynolds humorously portrays a football in one, her Broadway show which appears to be the "Good News" of its day. She also has two dream sequences where she's a movie star (I guess a Broadway one isn't big enough in MGM's eyes) including one where she resembles Ginger Rogers while dancing with several men in hideous Fred Astaire masks. They are delightful spoofs of the Hollywood image, and the over-the-top grotesqueness is appropriate. Impish Donna Corcoran playfully sings a delightful ditty, "Life Has Its Funny Little Ups and Down", which O'Connor does a roller skate dance to that just about equals his "Make Em' Laugh" in the previous year's "Singin' in the Rain". Then, he has his big solo, "I Wanna Wander", during which you'll expect him to pass out from due to exhaustion. In typical MGM fashion, all ends happy (as MGM musicals should) and smiles are guaranteed.
There are more musical numbers in this that actually seem to be moving the plot along than "drop-ins" or on-stage numbers, although Reynolds humorously portrays a football in one, her Broadway show which appears to be the "Good News" of its day. She also has two dream sequences where she's a movie star (I guess a Broadway one isn't big enough in MGM's eyes) including one where she resembles Ginger Rogers while dancing with several men in hideous Fred Astaire masks. They are delightful spoofs of the Hollywood image, and the over-the-top grotesqueness is appropriate. Impish Donna Corcoran playfully sings a delightful ditty, "Life Has Its Funny Little Ups and Down", which O'Connor does a roller skate dance to that just about equals his "Make Em' Laugh" in the previous year's "Singin' in the Rain". Then, he has his big solo, "I Wanna Wander", during which you'll expect him to pass out from due to exhaustion. In typical MGM fashion, all ends happy (as MGM musicals should) and smiles are guaranteed.