Saturday, March 14, 2009

A Date With Judy

A Date With Judy was a fluffy musical from 1949, which, though underwhelming as a musical, did feature some surprising stars. Elizabeth Taylor is notable in her first grown-up sex-kitten role, doing some serious eyelash batting and scene-stealing from the corners. Robert Stack plays a hunky sodajerk with high morals. Wallace Beery (of whom I'm really not a fan) got me to laugh several times as he attempted to learn the rumba from Carmen Miranda (!). Miranda is totally the best thing in this film. I feel the same way about Carmen Miranda as I do about Marilyn Monroe, although Miranda seems to have had much more agency in her career. They both are somewhat exploited, somewhat pigeonholed stars who exuded so much warmth and charm in even their most stereotypical roles that I've really grown to love them both.

Unless you're an ardent fan of one or all of the above, I don't recommend this movie. The story is dull, Jane Powell is pretty irritating, there are lots of dated teenage and family problems that don't entertain like they did in Bye Bye Birdie and don't relate emotionally like they still do in Douglas Sirk movies, and the musical numbers are not memorable. The direction is also kind of weak and uninspired.

1 comment:

  1. I still want to see it. I think I have this problem with musicals where I just always want to see them. No matter what. Except for Repo: The Genetic Opera, which I am still on the fence about.

    ReplyDelete