"Annie Get Your Gun" was a hard act for Betty Hutton to follow, but she makes a valiant effort to equal it here, despite lacking Irving Berlin's memorable songs. However, Frank Loesser did compose 6 new songs for either Betty or Fred to sing and/or dance to. An additional song was composed by others for Fred to dance to.
During the opening London air raid siren scene, the Blond Bombshell explodes with "Can't Stop Talking About Him". Fred chimes in later with song and dance, although clearly it was composed with Betty in mind. Quite an energetic and fun routine! They have 2 other musical numbers together. In the middle, they perform the comical "Oh, Them Dudes", impersonating a couple of western gunslinger caricatures, shooting up the saloon. In general style, it much reminds of the skit in "Easter Parade": "A Couple of Swells" in which Fred and Judy clown around dressed as a pair of hobos. Their final musical number together occurs in the finale, when they are riding in a gondola, singing and later dancing to "Tunnel of Love", when they are considering an imminent marriage. Betty has a solo song "Why Fight the Feeling"(Help! My dress is burning!) Fred has 3 solo songs or dances. In the "Piano Dance", he dances around, on, and in a piano, as well as some chairs, disturbing some cats hiding in the piano. He sings and cavorts around the bedroom to entertain Betty's son Rickie with "Jack and the Beanstalk". Lastly, he cavorts around the pool area by himself, having visions of Betty and pretending he's dancing with her. In function, this reminds me of Gene Kelly's ballet in "On the Town", in which he is expressing the fear that he has lost his new love. Here, the situation is that another man has announced that he and Betty will be married soon.
The drama largely relates to the question of whether Betty or her socialite grandmother-in-law is going to raise Betty's boy: Richie, the son of her deceased husband, who died in war soon after they were married. The grandmother argues that, as a single working mom, Betty can't properly take care of Richie. This conflict ends up in court, where Richie demonstrates he's been learning languages and math, even though not attending school. The other question that continues through the film, is whether Betty is going to respond to Fred's inquiries of marriage. Twice Fred announces that they will soon be married without consulting Betty, to her disapproval. In the finale, it's Betty who makes the announcement.
A few reviewers claim that Betty and Fred had incompatible acting and singing styles, thus were a mismatch as partners in such a musical comedy. In theory, this might be so, but I didn't detect any major problem in their relating to each other. We had two great talents, who largely complemented the talents of the other.
As another reviewer mentioned, the finale did seem a bit rushed, with Fred, Betty and grandmother suddenly resolving their differences, grandmother relenting on her claim that Betty was an unfit mother because of her poverty and lack of husband.
See it in color at YouTube.
During the opening London air raid siren scene, the Blond Bombshell explodes with "Can't Stop Talking About Him". Fred chimes in later with song and dance, although clearly it was composed with Betty in mind. Quite an energetic and fun routine! They have 2 other musical numbers together. In the middle, they perform the comical "Oh, Them Dudes", impersonating a couple of western gunslinger caricatures, shooting up the saloon. In general style, it much reminds of the skit in "Easter Parade": "A Couple of Swells" in which Fred and Judy clown around dressed as a pair of hobos. Their final musical number together occurs in the finale, when they are riding in a gondola, singing and later dancing to "Tunnel of Love", when they are considering an imminent marriage. Betty has a solo song "Why Fight the Feeling"(Help! My dress is burning!) Fred has 3 solo songs or dances. In the "Piano Dance", he dances around, on, and in a piano, as well as some chairs, disturbing some cats hiding in the piano. He sings and cavorts around the bedroom to entertain Betty's son Rickie with "Jack and the Beanstalk". Lastly, he cavorts around the pool area by himself, having visions of Betty and pretending he's dancing with her. In function, this reminds me of Gene Kelly's ballet in "On the Town", in which he is expressing the fear that he has lost his new love. Here, the situation is that another man has announced that he and Betty will be married soon.
The drama largely relates to the question of whether Betty or her socialite grandmother-in-law is going to raise Betty's boy: Richie, the son of her deceased husband, who died in war soon after they were married. The grandmother argues that, as a single working mom, Betty can't properly take care of Richie. This conflict ends up in court, where Richie demonstrates he's been learning languages and math, even though not attending school. The other question that continues through the film, is whether Betty is going to respond to Fred's inquiries of marriage. Twice Fred announces that they will soon be married without consulting Betty, to her disapproval. In the finale, it's Betty who makes the announcement.
A few reviewers claim that Betty and Fred had incompatible acting and singing styles, thus were a mismatch as partners in such a musical comedy. In theory, this might be so, but I didn't detect any major problem in their relating to each other. We had two great talents, who largely complemented the talents of the other.
As another reviewer mentioned, the finale did seem a bit rushed, with Fred, Betty and grandmother suddenly resolving their differences, grandmother relenting on her claim that Betty was an unfit mother because of her poverty and lack of husband.
See it in color at YouTube.