My Blue Heaven

This TCF production looks like an attempt to update the standard 40's musical. Instead of romantic youngsters, there's Grable and Dailey as a mature married couple; and in place of the usual wispy storyline is a surprisingly biting one; while banal dialog is peppered with risqué throw-away lines; and most topically, there's that new-fangled livingroom monster, television. On the whole, however, the combination doesn't go down well.

For one, the main plot thread simply doesn't lend itself to light-hearted entertainment. Ping-ponging adoptive babies back and forth, plus an auto accident, is the stuff of dramatics, not fluff, and leads to abrupt interruptions in mood. Sure, Grable gets to show some acting chops, which I expect was the intention, but it comes at the expense of overall results. Then too, the musical numbers are forgettable, to say the least. But at least, big-budget TCF mounts them in splashy Technicolor keeping the eye entertained even when the ear isn't. And I agree with the reviewer who thinks the vibrant young Mitzi Gaynor steals the show. She's clearly on her way up the Hollywood ladder.

Anyway, Dailey and Grable hoof and warble well enough. But, unfortunately, the movie comes across as two Hollywood vets doing their best with difficult material, yet only partially succeeding.

Mediocre musical. Kitty and Jack Moran (Betty Grable and Dan Dailey) try to adopt a baby. One complication after another pops up preventing them from doing that. These complications aren't funny--just pretty depressing (for a musical). These are all interspersed with bad music and dance numbers.

This is a pretty bad 1950 musical. The dialogue is terrible and all the songs are completely unmemorable. Also Dailey has a tendency to REALLY overact. But the movie is in bright Technicolor,there is a Halloween number that I enjoyed, the plot is pretty interesting and the dancing is incredible. Also David Wayne, Jane Wyatt and a very young Mitzi Gaynor are good in supporting roles. But Grable saves the picture. She's gorgeous, can sing and dance, has good chemistry with Dailey and holds her own in the dramatic scenes. She's basically the only good thing worth watching here. Aside from her this is a bad musical. I give it a 4.

My Blue Heaven which starred Dan Dailey and Betty Grable are a happy show business couple who started in vaudeville and now are going into that happy new medium television. This was one of the first films that dealt with the phenomenon of television. As Dailey says during the course of the film, right now only Milton Berle and Howdy Doody are in it, the field is wide open.

Dailey and Grable are a happy couple, but they'd even be happier with a child, in fact Betty loses a baby almost at the beginning of the film. Friends and sponsors, David Wayne and Jane Wyatt suggest adopting because three of their six are adopted. The rest of the film is a lighter treatment of the themes from A Penny Serenade. Things go a lot happier for Dailey and Grable than they did for Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

Because they are a musical performing couple Grable and Dailey get a whole lot of numbers and there's even a few tossed in for Mitzi Gaynor who was doing her second film. What a pity she came along as late as she did, she would have been a Grade A star in the Thirties. Gaynor plays an eager young understudy who'd just as soon Grable stay out on maternity leave.

Other than the title song, there's nothing terribly memorable in the score that Harold Arlen and Ralph Blane wrote for My Blue Heaven. Of course very few songs are as memorable. Until Bing Crosby introduced White Christmas in Holiday Inn, My Blue Heaven was the largest selling song in history with Gene Austin's version topping the charts.

My Blue Heaven is a pleasant enough diversion. Grable and Dailey work well as a team together, you'll enjoy them.

The songs and dances are wonderful! Kitty and Jack are actors so when they sing/perform there are scenery and wardrobes that go along with the songs, making it less like an ordinary "musical." The story itself is modern and realistic even for the time (like someone else mentioned some of the things they say may have been considered "risque.") If you like old movies or musicals, I recommend you find a way to see this! You'll never get these songs out of your head, and you probably wont want to either. A classic!

I grew up watching this movie over and over again. I wish that I could find another copy but it seems impossible. :( If any decides to release it again, let me know!

Popular radio-program duo in New York City, a chummy married couple about to make that transition to television, have troubles adopting a baby. Colorful Betty Grable vehicle weighted down with musical chaos. Granted, "My Blue Heaven" is a 20th Century-Fox musical--and anyone going into it should rightfully expect lots of singing and hoofing--but here the story is far more substantial than the song numbers, which simply get in the way. Screenwriters Claude Binyon and Lamar Trotti, working from S.K. Lauren's story "Stork Don't Bring Babies", tentatively touch upon several topical issues (both satiric and dramatic) which are not explored with any depth. The sudden boom in television (and its impact on radio), the perils of a working mother who leaves her job to be with her child, and the reluctance of adoption agencies to assign babies with those "constantly divorcing" show-biz couples are all products for a satisfying comedy-drama. Grable and Dan Dailey are a lot of fun on the dance-floor, but this glossy product could actually use less pussyfooting around and more narrative heart. It's a feel-good movie, all right, but a picture for its time and not for the ages. **1/2 from ****