My Blue Heaven (1950)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Henry Koster

Writers:

Claude Binyon (writer)
S.K. Lauren (story)

Release Date:

18 December 1950 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Musical

Plot:

Betty Grable and Dan Dailey are a married song and dance team who cannot have children. The movie follows the travails as they try and adopt and keep the kids they adopt while performing on their TV show.

Plot Keywords:

Pregnant | Radio | Title Based On Song | Pregnant Wife | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Betty Grable	...	Kitty Moran
Dan Dailey	...	Jack Moran
David Wayne	...	Walter Pringle
Jane Wyatt	...	Janet Pringle
Mitzi Gaynor	...	Gloria Adams
Una Merkel	...	Miss Irma Gilbert
Don Hicks	...	Young man
Louise Beavers	...	Selma
Laura Pierpont	...	Mrs. Johnston

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This movie does a parody of the musical South Pacific (1958), ironically Mitzi Gaynor would go on to star in the movie version.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During the Cosmo Cosmetics number, all of the monitors in the television control room are in color. Expensive color sets would never have been used in a real TV control room, and in fact weren't even available in 1950.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

The Friendly Islands

Only One Star In "My Blue Heaven"

"My Blue Heaven" is boring. The plot is insipid; the characterizations and dialogue stink; the musical numbers, while occasionally staged in interesting ways, are not only too often absurd, but also lyrically trite, painfully bright, and emotionally hollow to the core. The leads, Betty Grable and Dan Dailey, are attractive professionals; however, in spite of their every talented effort to uplift the drear and uncompelling material, they fail. David Wayne and Jane Wyatt, for all their demonstrated talent in other projects, are more or less cyphers here.

There's really only one reason to watch "My Blue Heaven". One reason...one star: Mitzi Gaynor, in her film debut. Her total screen time is probably less than ten minutes, but so what? Her pert and promising screen personality, her feline beauty, and her exceptional charisma shine through gloriously and make these minutes the most watchable, memorable, and exciting moments in the entire film. If you would value an opportunity to see a tremendous young talent on the rise, then check out Miss Mitzi Gaynor in "My Blue Heaven."

Incidentally, I scorn (and would urge you to avoid) Drew Casper's manic, obsessive-compulsive DVD commentary for this film. Wordy, digressive, unduly fastidious, frequently ill-timed with what is playing on the screen, and galloping throughout with an excess of nervous energy, his comments are absolutely indigestible.