BEST FOOT FORWARD
US, 1943,94 minutes, Colour.
Lucille Ball, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler, Tommy Dix, June Allyson, Gloria de Haven, Nancy Walker, Chill Wills.
Directed by Edward Buzzell.
One of the earliest M.G.M. musicals in colour and a war morale boosting effort. It was produced by song-writer Arthur Freed who was bringing many Broadway hits to Hollywood. He also produced such films as Yolanda And The Thief and The Ziegfeld Folies before branching out into more creative musicals with such directors as Vincente Minnelli and Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, An American In Paris, Singin' In The Rain, The Bandwagon. This is a pleasant, if very dated. musical (although Grease in the seventies would seem to be a direct descendent in both content and style).
The New York cast was transplanted to Hollywood but only a few of the cast were to succeed immediately, especially June Allyson and Gloria de Haven. Child star of the thirties and forties, Virginia Weidler, has a featured role and is entertaining in the straight-faced comic heroine style. Nancy Walker makes a big impact with her zany comic presence but she was not to be a success on the screen until her television career with such series as McMillan? And Wife. (She was later to direct the Village People in Can't Stop The Music.)
The star of the film is Lucille Ball playing herself on a publicity stunt, going to a military college for a Prom night. She gets into all kinds of scrapes, managing to keep her dignity as well as offering a number of wisecracks and even singing a ballad to the teenage hero! There is also a comedy role for Chill Wills. Since most of the action is dance, Harry James and his orchestra receive a great deal of prominence - Harry James even trumpeting The Flight Of The Bumble Bee.
There are some bright songs, not particularly memorable, and a lot of vigorous dancing choreographed by Charles Waters who was later to make his mark in a number of musicals especially his first, a college musical, Good News. Not to the tastes of later decades, but interesting as reflecting the popular styles of the M.G.M. musicals of the forties.
