The Girl Most Likely

JANE POWELL seems to be enjoying herself in this cheerful little mixture of music and romance. However, the film itself never succeeds in looking much more than a low-budget musical with fake RKO sets that belong in a B-movie rather than a color musical. Despite this, there are pleasant performances by Jane Powell, Cliff Robertson, Tommy Noonan, Keith Andes and Kaye Ballard that compensate for a story that's been told before as "Tom, Dick and Harry" with Ginger Rogers back in 1941 (in B&W and without music).

Jane is just as pert and pretty as Ginger Rogers in the role of a girl who can't decide which man puts her on cloud nine until she finally wakes up at the last moment on the basis of the right kiss. It's all strictly fluff meant to entertain and in its own way it succeeds beautifully, thanks to Powell's effortless charm.

She's also in good voice but is given a number of songs by Blaine and Martin that have no lasting appeal. She delivers them all in a lilting and rich vocal style. Cliff Robertson was obviously a bit ill at ease in his musical sequences but provides a hunky presence as one of her smitten suitors. Tommy Noonan provides most of the comedy relief and Keith Andes has a role he can do virtually nothing with.

There's a rather imaginative American Indian song-and-dance routine that is sure to offend some of the politically correct crowd who can't accept the sort of stereotyping that was done in films of the 1950s. A similar number from ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (and one of the highlights of the MGM film) was cut from the latest Broadway version to placate the PC protesters.

It's the last theatrical film directed by Mitchell Leisen who was then near the end of his distinguished career directing a variety of films. This has got to be one of his lesser efforts but it has a certain charm as the last gasp of the musical era. RKO was virtually at a shutdown by the time the film was completed and it was released two years after being made on the lower half of a double bill.

This is an odd, but charming, little film. A remake of an old Ginger Rogers film called Tom, Dick or Harry. But somehow in musicalizing it and making the changes necessary for the new location, something has been lost and I just can't quite put my finger on it.

Your have a great cast! Jane Powell, fresh from her MGM days. Kaye Ballard in one of her very rare movie roles (there are times when she still seems to be playing to the balcony) and a great supporting cast of people like Frank Caddy, Una Merkel, Cliff Robertson, Tommy Noonan and Keith Andes, who was also rarely seen on film. The choreography by Gower Champion is bright and inventive, especially the number on the beach and a score by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. What else could someone want?

I still don't know.

Ms Powell's character has no redeeming characteristics. She is out for one thing and one thing only - to marry a rich man and she doesn't care who she steps on along the way. Then when she does have the millionaire she just drops him suddenly,on the very hour of their wedding, to go back to Fiancée #2, the mechanic, with no thought to Fiancée #1 (her childhood friend) who seems to be the only one honestly in love with her. Ah love - one can never understand it.

This is one of the last 50s style musical comedies and the final film to present Jane Powell as a singing star. She is supported by Keith Andes, who can truly sing, and comedy by Tommy Noonan and Kaye Ballard. Cliff Robertson's singing is dubbed by Hal Derwin. The songs are only serviceable, even though they are written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, who gave us "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "Best Foot Forward". The best musical number, however, is the title tune, actually written by Nelson Riddle, with a vocal by the Hi-Los. Riddle's arrangements, which never seem to date, keep the music interesting. As for the plot, there isn't much of one. As for the comedy, both Noonan and Ballard were better served elsewhere. The choreography, however, is spectacular; this is Gower Champion's first attempt to stage dances for performers other than himself and wife Marge. From here, Champion went to Broadway and became a legend.

This role was so beneath Powell. You can see why she left Hollywood two years later. She is almost 30 years old here and still being given the part of the young innocent being courted for marriage. I have no problem with the premise but the storyline and direction is totally amateur hour. This is really at the beginning of movies taking a turn for the worse as the studio system collapses. The one interesting thing about this film from a sociological perspective is you can really see the beginning of the sexual revolution as there is a scene here where there are teams of couples on the beach wrapped around each other (you will see a lot more of this in the next five-year period with all of the beach party movies).

This movie features mostly people not known for their singing or their dancing... singing and dancing. The story is pretty weak and the musical numbers and dances are uninspired to put it mildly. Some of the principals were fortunate enough to be in much better films than this; how they ended up here I don't know but it's just a lame effort. The sets and color are nice enough and there are some interesting period touches for the 1950's, but overall, it's not a movie you'll finish watching (if you DO finish it) and want to see it ever again.