OK, so maybe you know the songs, but do you know the name? Don Emmett, one of the premiere minstrel composers of the mid nineteenth century. Perhaps the influence of the minstrel show has been forgotten 170 years later, and maybe with good reason. But this is a colorful trip down memory lane which gives Bing Crosby (once you get past the fact that he seems far too 40's in style to be 50's, 1850's that is....) a chance to sing some American standards and play a fictionalized version of an American legend.
This film starts off on an awkward note with Crosby accidentally responsible for burning down the house of fiancee Marjorie Reynolds, barely getting a slap on the wrist of her hard nosed father (Grant Mitchell) who bets that Crosby can't make it in the world of entertainment and come up with the several thousand dollars he has assured Mitchell that he will have before he greets Reynolds after she walks down the aisle. "The Wizard of Oz's" Clara Blandick is Reynolds' mother, obviously kept under control as evidenced by her brief weepy appearance. On a paddleboat, Crosby loses everything from his estate to card shark Billy DeWolfe whom he follows to New Orleans, later encountering DeWolfe's pretty landlady, Dorothy Lamour, who runs a boarding house ironically for actors.
Lamour is given a goofy accent that is certainly far from Southern. At times, she sounds like she's more from the Bronx than Dixie. Perhaps for that reason, she is not given a song. It is obvious that in spite their initial tension that a romance will grow between Crosby and Lamour. But when he goes back home for a visit and learns that Reynolds is paralyzed, he marries her out of pity and they move to New York where he manages to sell his songs. It will only be a matter of time before he is reunited with the fiery Lamour who for some reason began to become involved with DeWolfe.
In one of the minstrel numbers, DeWolfe is in drag, and with his orange wig, face and dark make-up looks like a combination of the cowardly lion and Miss Piggy. The fire caused by Crosby's pipe is repeated again so when the opera house in the conclusion catches on fire, everyone assumes that Crosby once again accidentally started it. But this makes Crosby speed up the singing of his most popular song, "Dixie", which Reynolds had suggested to him already, and that brings the squares who claim to like only opera and ballet to their feet. Among the audience in this sequence is character actress Norma Varden who goes from snooty to sassy as a result of the raucous southern anthem.
There's a gag here involving a cockroach later utilized famously in "Victor/Victoria", here utilized by DeWolfe who has an appetite bigger than the enormous man in "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life". The comedy is goofy, but the musical numbers, colorful but tacky, are certainly eye-raisers. The idea of blackface in black and white is bad enough, but add color (pardon the pun), and it looks even more absurd. Paramount used this in many of their old musicals up as far as "Somebody Loves Me", but fortunately cut it out with the minstrel show in "White Christmas".
Familiar comic character actors like Eddie Foy Jr., Lynne Overman, Irving Bacon and Raymond Walburn (as Lamour's father) add some chuckles, but a good percentage of the comic moments bring eye rolls, not laughs. Still, the glorious color makes this a treat for the eye (there were very few color films, let alone musicals, made in 1943), and the singing and dancing is top notch. If you get past the dated concept of minstrel shows as classic American entertainment, you might find something to enjoy.
This film starts off on an awkward note with Crosby accidentally responsible for burning down the house of fiancee Marjorie Reynolds, barely getting a slap on the wrist of her hard nosed father (Grant Mitchell) who bets that Crosby can't make it in the world of entertainment and come up with the several thousand dollars he has assured Mitchell that he will have before he greets Reynolds after she walks down the aisle. "The Wizard of Oz's" Clara Blandick is Reynolds' mother, obviously kept under control as evidenced by her brief weepy appearance. On a paddleboat, Crosby loses everything from his estate to card shark Billy DeWolfe whom he follows to New Orleans, later encountering DeWolfe's pretty landlady, Dorothy Lamour, who runs a boarding house ironically for actors.
Lamour is given a goofy accent that is certainly far from Southern. At times, she sounds like she's more from the Bronx than Dixie. Perhaps for that reason, she is not given a song. It is obvious that in spite their initial tension that a romance will grow between Crosby and Lamour. But when he goes back home for a visit and learns that Reynolds is paralyzed, he marries her out of pity and they move to New York where he manages to sell his songs. It will only be a matter of time before he is reunited with the fiery Lamour who for some reason began to become involved with DeWolfe.
In one of the minstrel numbers, DeWolfe is in drag, and with his orange wig, face and dark make-up looks like a combination of the cowardly lion and Miss Piggy. The fire caused by Crosby's pipe is repeated again so when the opera house in the conclusion catches on fire, everyone assumes that Crosby once again accidentally started it. But this makes Crosby speed up the singing of his most popular song, "Dixie", which Reynolds had suggested to him already, and that brings the squares who claim to like only opera and ballet to their feet. Among the audience in this sequence is character actress Norma Varden who goes from snooty to sassy as a result of the raucous southern anthem.
There's a gag here involving a cockroach later utilized famously in "Victor/Victoria", here utilized by DeWolfe who has an appetite bigger than the enormous man in "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life". The comedy is goofy, but the musical numbers, colorful but tacky, are certainly eye-raisers. The idea of blackface in black and white is bad enough, but add color (pardon the pun), and it looks even more absurd. Paramount used this in many of their old musicals up as far as "Somebody Loves Me", but fortunately cut it out with the minstrel show in "White Christmas".
Familiar comic character actors like Eddie Foy Jr., Lynne Overman, Irving Bacon and Raymond Walburn (as Lamour's father) add some chuckles, but a good percentage of the comic moments bring eye rolls, not laughs. Still, the glorious color makes this a treat for the eye (there were very few color films, let alone musicals, made in 1943), and the singing and dancing is top notch. If you get past the dated concept of minstrel shows as classic American entertainment, you might find something to enjoy.