La cigüeña se demora

Can't remember much about the movie, except my parents were a little disgusted at some of the dialogue. One that stands out: Grable and Dailey, a married couple, announced she was pregnant.

At a party (or something)where they announced the news, somebody said something like, "Well, we had better go because they probably want to be alone."

To which David Wayne, in whatever role he was playing, said, "Listen, if what these two kids said is true, they've been alone."

That was one pretty risque line for 1950. Would that dialogue today were as tame as that.

This film really isn't much. The performers are all agreeable, but the real star is the score by Harold Arlen and Ralph Blane. The lost gem is "Halloween", an Arlen waltz performed by Betty Grable, Dan Dailey, and David Wayne. Arlen did not write many waltzes. Only "When the Boys Come Home", "Sunday in Cisero Falls", and "Fancy Free" come to mind. This is a fine waltz with a witty lyric by Blane telling us that Irving Berlin forgot to write a song about "Halloween". "Don't Rock the Boat", Arlen's take on Calypso music, is also a winner. "Friendly Island" is a hilarious send up of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific". Blane has never been so archly funny. Dailey even makes fun of Ezio Pinza's singing in this number. Aside from these numbers, "Mother Wore Tights" and "Call Me Mister" are superior Grable-Dailey films. Wayne gives us some comedy, but it is not enough to make the film sparkle.

Wonderful Bette Grable and Dan Dailey fanfare dealing with a musical couple's hard luck in having their own child. They are forced to resort to adoption when a traffic accident causes the loss of her unborn child. We then see unscrupulous adoption procedures and other mayhem preventing this couple from having a child of their own.

The couple do a routine on television and Dailey along with Grable show they could still sing and dance at their best. In a brief role, Mitzi Gaynor, who would play Daley's daughter 4 years later in "There's No Business Like Showbusiness," turns up as a fellow dancer who is ready to flirt and take Daley away from Gable.

The wonderful is ending but we expected that. In such film predicaments, they usually do just that.

One of Bettys more grown up movies and she does well. Strong acting on her part and always a joy to watch her sing and dance. Plot is melodramatic as was her Dolly Sisters movie. Some mistakes in the screenplay though. I go for realism and a couple of scenes had me confused due to sloppy writing. Toward the beginning when Bette and Dan go into their dressing room at the radio station, they confront their dog. A few lines and they leave by closing the door. The dog is still inside??? Who looks after him till the next day?? They don't take the dog home with them? Another example of poor writing is when the couple visit their writers and best friends at the farmhouse. They are are surprised to see the couples six kids and say they didn't know they had kids. WHAT?? They've known them for years and didn't know they had kids???? Didn't anyone, including the actors question this oddity?? So very strange. And while the friends/writers are in their NY place, who watched those six kids???? Debut of Mitzi Gaynor and she doesn't have much to do, but dances well.

I got this as part of a 'boxed set' of Grable films, all delightful in their own way. This one (1950) had a few surprises. As others noted, maybe the censors were tiring of policing every little phrase & hint of sensuality, such that it is clear that Betty & her husband are quite happy as intimate partners and are trying to make a baby. The costumes and dances later in the film are daring for the time period, but quite tame compared to post-2000 flicks (and even the Pre-code stuff before 1933).

The technicolor was a delight and the musical portions were terrific-Dailey was more than equal as a dance partner, but retained a 'goofy husband' look, so we never take Mimi Gaynor's crush on him very seriously. We also see the impact of early TV on the entertainment culture, so-called, as Producers struggled to find talent that could be showcased on the new medium.

The couple suffer setbacks as they try to start a family, and I worried the tale would descend into a teary melodrama. Not so. Just stick with the story. Things turn around quickly, and our beloved couple dance their way to a satisfying conclusion.

8/10.