Tea for Two

This film peaks near its beginning with a production number featuring Doris Day and Gene Nelson dancing with both an infinity mirrored wall and the New York skyline showing outside (of some huge windows). The later production number, a blend of "No, No Nanette" and "Tea for Two", is tellingly anti-climatic.

The plot is easy - Ms. Day has to say "No" to everything for a day. But, the movie goes on and on with several songs and dances having little/nothing to do with the story. Other characters and sub-plots are thrown in; with all the extra songs and dances, I have no trouble believing everything in this film was not in the original "No, No Nanette". Some of it all is very good - Day and MacRae sing well, Mr. Nelson dances well, and Eve Arden does her thing - but this feels more like a string of songs and scenes than a movie.

***** Tea for Two (9/1/50) David Butler ~ Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, Eve Arden

Doris and Gordon have delightful musical chemistry but this cobbled together backstage comedy (that has nothing to do with "No No Nanette") is kind of a dud. Both stars fare much better in the charming "On Moonlight Bay."

Despite a few spirited dance numbers, and the energetic (if light on charisma) Gene Nelson, it feels like all the A-List musical talent was locked up over at MGM.

The reliable Eve Arden is given some C-list wisecracks, SK Sakall tries his best with his trademark adorable apoplexy, but much of the comedy unfortunately falls into the less than capable hands of Billy DeWolfe.

Doris Day was involved in many musicals at Warners from 1948 onwards, and 'Tea for Two' is a typical example. Set in the stock market crash of 1929, this variation on 'putting on a show' has Day as both an heiress and a stage-struck singer and dancer, supported by her friends Jimmy the composer (Gordon MacRae, later to appear to good effect in 'Oklahoma' and 'Carousel'), and Tommy the hoofer (Gene Nelson, the cut-price Fred Astaire who ended up directing Elvis' minor musicals).

The score is nice but not that memorable - 'Tea for Two', 'No, No, Nanette', 'I Want To Be Happy', 'Do, Do, Do' - while the story, loosely based on the play No, No, Nanette concerns rivalries, lost investments, and a comic uncle (SZ Sakall, who played the same part in countless films throughout the 1940s and 1950s). Billy de Wolfe and Patrice Wymore round out the cast as a heel of a producer and his sniping leading lady.

As a film, 'Tea for Two' passes the time and boasts some great costumes and colour, even if most of the film doesn't have a 1929 feel. And the bookending sequences, with Sakall telling a tale to a roomful of children, doesn't quite sit with the rest of the material. But it isn't bad.

Since I was a child old movies made my day when they were on the television....Long before video tape machines. Nothing, in my mind, can replace any old movie. Black & white or Technicolour, they are done with class and taste. Now, anything goes. That is a shame. Enjoy this movie. Especially, the actor who plays Doris' uncle. Can' remember his name just now.

Pillow Talk is another Doris Day film I would suggest. Her acting is so wonderful to watch. I have yet to see her act the same way in any movie I have had the pleasure to see. She is one of a kind. Her smile, her singing: Amazing!

DORIS DAY and GORDON MacRAE are a pleasant team again in TEA FOR TWO, this time given some nifty song and dance routines and a supporting cast of old pros--Gene Nelson, Eve Arden, S.Z. Sakall, Patrice Wymore, and Billy deWolfe. The fluffy plot has Day promising Sakall that she'll say "no" to any question posed over the week-end, but is only an excuse for some wonderful old-time songs and some talented dancing by Day and Gene Nelson.

Day proves what a fine vocalist she is--and Gordon MacRae proves he's no slouch with his pleasant baritone voice. Gene Nelson does some fancy footwork and there are comic highlights with Eve Arden tossing off one-liners with her usual skill and Billy deWolfe reminding us what a wonderful comedian he could be with the right material.

Pleasant, above average entertainment, well worthwhile if you like these kind of fluffy musicals.