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Memorable, crazy movie

Good movie but grossly overrated

good back-story, and good acting

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I knew nothing of this film, but watching it one immediately sees the extraordinary quality of the direction and production. I didn't know that Dorothy Lamour began her career as a singer for a big band and later sang on radio for network shows. She was Miss New Orleans in 1931 and her heritage included being Spanish. Looking at her she reminds one of Katy Jurado and could have played roles for Latin characters. In this film I think she was especially effective when she played "herself", Mary the carny girl. The production numbers were excellent and indicated the direction dance numbers would be presented in the future. Don Ameche was excellent as always. So this film was a very pleasant surprise.

I guess if you're in the mood for this piece of fluff you might find it diverting. I realize it was directed by Douglas Sirk, who has a following, as they say, but it's really undistinguished. To find it otherwise because of who directed it, is to commit the fundamental error of attribution -- "Sirk is a genius and therefore everything he does is outstanding by its nature." Don Ameche is a movie director and impresario who believes he's found in showgirl Dorothy Lamour the perfect expression of French charm and talent. (Actually she's from Brooklyn or someplace.) The movie is based on that idea. The only surprise in it is that in a supporting role Adele Jergens -- Queen of the B movies -- shows some background in dance. I've always admired dancers for the same reason I admired athletes. They can do all kinds of things with their bodies that are forbidden to the rest of us because we are born with a psychokinetic deficit. Dorothy Lamour. The name doth run trippingly from the tongue. Ah, l'amour, l'amour. Toujours l'amour. Ironically, Dorothy Lamour, born Mary Slaton in New Orleans in 1914, had Louisiana French forbears. (Her sister's name is Jean, pronounced "Zhawn.") The New Orleans cat house depicted in Brooke Shields' breathrough movie, "Pretty Baby," in which the Madam addresses her clientèle as "M'sieur," was set in the Storyville section of the city at a time when Lamour was a child.She was a pretty, unpretentious, and good-natured woman whose career was fading when this movie was made. She sings most of the songs and does her best with them. The best known is "Let's Fall in Love," which Cole Porter wrote in 1928. She didn't have much of a singing voice but had so much charm that it didn't matter much. And in other movies she managed to introduce a couple of songs that became standards -- "I Remember You," "But Beautiful", and "Personality," later adapted for use in a Wesson Oil commercial.In fact, though, both the leads are likable. It's just that the movie is too weak to carry them.

(Spoilers, yes -- but the plot hardly matters...) Nothing much to recommend this, I'm afraid, except perhaps for the opening dance number, which seems to be taking place in someone's idea of Paris, but which we only belatedly discover is a sound stage (as if we didn't know) with the entrance into the frame of a camera on its crane. Nice touch, that. Unfortunately, from her first scene top-billed Dorothy Lamour is quite insufferable (intentionally, perhaps, but that doesn't really help matters), and she is, unfortunately, the central character. Don Ameche does his level best with a role which he was to reprise (in essence) in the 1958 Broadway musical "Goldilocks," and he does rant well. Janis Carter gives a real amateur night in Dixie performance as Ameche's sister, but Willard Parker (very handsome, he) is more than respectable as Ameche's producer and Lamour's secondary love interest (who ends up with -- too bad for him -- Carter). At least the title is intriguing (as are almost all Sirk's titles, in one way or another). Quite, quite boring, however.

Bad movie made only for the lead star's fans.This is the first movie of Lamour where I get a good look at what kind of acting ability Lamour has.One will see it is quite limited but she is really a great salesman.She just hypnotises us with charm and beauty.One can also see she was a born entertainer indeed.If one likes her syle,this movie will truly delight her fans.just to see Lamour have fun with this formula romance/musical/comedy once more!I for one love this stuff.I rate Lamour as the third top sexy star of the 1940's behind Marilyn Monroe (mostly a model at that time) and Hedy Lamarr.....