THREE LITTLE WORDS

US, 1950, 102 minutes, Colour.
Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, Vera- Ellen, Arlene Dahl, Keenan Wynn, Gale Robbins, Gloria de Haven, Phil Regan, Debbie Reynolds.
Directed by Richard Thorpe.

Three Little Words is a pleasant M.G.M. musical of the '40s-'50s vintage. The production values are excellent and the screenplay strong, the performances sound, and good presentation of the songs and dances. The film is a biography of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, composers of such songs as Nevertheless, I Wanna Be Loved By You. The film has a very good performance by Fred Astaire, at the age of 50. He sings and dances as well as he did in his earlier years. Red Skelton portrays Harry Ruby and subdues his sometimes exaggerated comic effects to give quite a pleasing and at times moving performance. Vera-Ellen?, one of the best screen dancers at the time, is very good as the leading lady. She had just appeared with Gene Kelly in On The Town and was to team with Fred Astaire again in The Belle Of New York. The film can be compared with the kind of musical and biography that 20th. Century Fox made in the '40s. This film appears to be superior to those. Direction is by Richard Thorpe, a competent M.G.M. director, the maker of many adventure films with Robert Taylor.

1. The popularity of the M.G.M. musicals? Production values, colour photography, the stars, the presentation of songs, the choreography? The blend of humour and sentiment?

2. The tradition of the film biography? The tribute, the blend of fact and fiction, the romantic treatment, the presentation of songs and their composition? How well did this film fit into the tradition? The men offered the tribute, the quality of their music, its place in America and the world's popular music tradition?

3. The quality of the songs - their popularity over the decades, the visual presentation of them, the dancing, the medley at the end?

4. The film as a Fred Astaire vehicle - his popularity, personality, the quality of his dancing and its variety? Vera-Ellen? as a partner? The routines such as the opening with Where Did You Get That Girl, the ballet about home life performed for President Wilson, Bert Kalmar dancing on the empty stage? Jessle and her French-style song and dance routine?

5. Red Skelton and his comedy style, the pathos and the human touch in his performance?

6. The tradition of Tin Pan Alley, the popular song in America in the early part of the 20th. century, styles of composition, the pianists as accompanists, the dream of Broadway and the musical show, the theatre and its influence, sheet music production and sales - as illustrated here, records, films? The facts and their being remembered with nostalgia?

7. Bert Kalmar and his dancing, partnership with Jessie, his unwillingness to marry, his being full of energy? The humour of his enjoyment of magic - attempting tricks, pretending to be The Great Kendall and the clash with Harry Ruby? The irony of his injury, his being out of dancing for so long, his attempts to dance again - the sequence on the empty stage? His unwillingness to marry? His capacity for writing lyrics, the collaboration with Harry Ruby, its development, their success? Selling the sheet music in the shop etc.? The rediscovery of Jessie, the wedding, the honeymoon, the decision to be in partnership with Harry? The writing of the play and Charlie and Harry undermining it? The comparison with Jessie and Bert getting Harry to go to Florida with the baseballers to avoid the women? The success over the years, the visit to England, the ship composition? The success story?

8. Harry as a personality, love of baseball in comparison with Bert's love of magic, playing music, his trying to avoid Bert and the encounter with their first song, the discovery of the truth, the various compositions, the partnership? Harry and his infatuation with Terry, her getting the part in the play, her fickleness-and marriage? His enjoyment of the baseball - and the comedy Red Skelton-type routines? The shipboard romance and his romantic song? Remeeting Eileen and her being a film star after missing out on the stage play? His infatuation with her, the marriage?

9. The build-up to the anniversary, the harmony, the breakout of the clash? The childish behaviour, the hurt of the separation, the manoeuvering of the wives for the meting? The encounter, tension, the perennial melody of Three Little Words and its being the means of reconciliation? The happy ending?

1O. The sketch of Terry and her singing, behaviour in the restaurant, in the part., her marriage? The contrast with Eileen as ambitious understudy, star, wife?

11. Charlie as the American-type agent, making mischief unwittingly - about where Jessie was, the story of the play?

12. The world of the American theatre, its atmosphere, hopes, ambitions, success and failure?

13.The musical style of the '40s and '50s and its appeal?