Relaxed and enjoyable musical comedy. (There are some nefarious Nazis here with evil plans but forget them.) It's not Red Skelton's funniest comedy but he's still pretty amusing as his usual tall hick, with his goofy smile, falling over chairs, a pants-presser who impersonates someone else and gets rattled when threatened with exposure.
The musical numbers are pretty well done and efficiently integrated into the plot -- direction by Vincent Minnelli. Eleanor Powell is the major musical star and her tap dancing is so vigorous, and her body so limber and supple, and the tempo so fast, that just watching her spins for thirty seconds gave me chest pains.
We are given an extended version of the song "Star Eyes". It was a big hit during the war years. The lyrics are loony, but the song is pretty and amenable to all kinds of variations, as the film demonstrates. It's still part of the Great American Songbook. You can catch it on the occasional recent CD if you keep your ears open. Nick Brignola did it on baritone sax some years ago. The version in the film is of the period, with Helen O'Connell and Ray Eberle, with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra.
Some of the jokes may get by younger viewers -- that is, younger than about 60. Red Skeleton is listening to a recording by Jimmy Dorsey at a shop window. He turns to the man standing next to him and makes some complimentary remark about Jimmy Dorsey. The man makes a snotty comment and walks away. The man is Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy's brother, and the two were notorious rivals at the time.
Someone pointed out in another comment that this was an updating of a Buster Keaton movie and I can believe it because Keaton's influence seems apparent in some scenes. (Skeleton trying to lift the limp body of the unconscious Eleanor Powell and stretch it out on the bed.) Keaton was gag adviser on another Red Skeleton comedy, "A Southern Yankee", and turned some of the scenes (eg., a dentist's chair) into comic gems.
"Star Eyes" was nothing more than ordinary pop music at the time. Whatever happened to vernacular music? Now I have to listen to some gangsta who can't sing threaten to wrench my head off and pour beer down my neck cavity. (Sob.) Where did it all go?
The musical numbers are pretty well done and efficiently integrated into the plot -- direction by Vincent Minnelli. Eleanor Powell is the major musical star and her tap dancing is so vigorous, and her body so limber and supple, and the tempo so fast, that just watching her spins for thirty seconds gave me chest pains.
We are given an extended version of the song "Star Eyes". It was a big hit during the war years. The lyrics are loony, but the song is pretty and amenable to all kinds of variations, as the film demonstrates. It's still part of the Great American Songbook. You can catch it on the occasional recent CD if you keep your ears open. Nick Brignola did it on baritone sax some years ago. The version in the film is of the period, with Helen O'Connell and Ray Eberle, with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra.
Some of the jokes may get by younger viewers -- that is, younger than about 60. Red Skeleton is listening to a recording by Jimmy Dorsey at a shop window. He turns to the man standing next to him and makes some complimentary remark about Jimmy Dorsey. The man makes a snotty comment and walks away. The man is Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy's brother, and the two were notorious rivals at the time.
Someone pointed out in another comment that this was an updating of a Buster Keaton movie and I can believe it because Keaton's influence seems apparent in some scenes. (Skeleton trying to lift the limp body of the unconscious Eleanor Powell and stretch it out on the bed.) Keaton was gag adviser on another Red Skeleton comedy, "A Southern Yankee", and turned some of the scenes (eg., a dentist's chair) into comic gems.
"Star Eyes" was nothing more than ordinary pop music at the time. Whatever happened to vernacular music? Now I have to listen to some gangsta who can't sing threaten to wrench my head off and pour beer down my neck cavity. (Sob.) Where did it all go?