Summer Holiday

... Eugene O'Neil's heartwarming masterpiece, "Ah, Wilderness". Unfortunately, the Technicolor beauty just covers up a bland production ponderously directed by Rouben Mamoulian who has many fine credits to his name.

I had high hopes for this film, mainly because of its great cast and the fact that it is from producer Arthur Freed, who was responsible for the best musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Mickey Rooney, Walter Huston, Agnes Moorehead, and Frank Morgan are all fine actors who are capable of much better than this. The film's screenplay had no spark to it, and the scenes that were supposed to be pivotal to the characters' development garnered no reaction from me as a viewer. The actors seemed to know the script wasn't that good because in each scene, they recited their lines without enthusiasm or conviction. As a musical it was mediocre. The songs are not catchy or memorable and are largely talked rather than sung. I guess every producer and studio is entitled to a stinker. If you want to see a really good family based musical, try "Meet Me in St. Louis", or if you want to see Mickey Rooney at his best in a musical try "Strike Up the Band."