The Belle of New York (1952)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

C.M.S. McLellan (play)
Chester Erskine (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

22 February 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

M.G.M's Gay TECHNICOLOR Musical!

Plot:

In squeaky-clean New York at the turn of the century, playboy Charlie Hill falls so much in love that he can walk on air...

Plot Keywords:

Dance | Remake | Based On Play

Cast

Fred Astaire	...	Charlie Hill
Vera-Ellen	...	Angela Bonfils
Marjorie Main	...	Mrs. Phineas Hill
Keenan Wynn	...	Max Ferris
Alice Pearce	...	Elsie Wilkins
Clinton Sundberg	...	Gilford Spivak
Gale Robbins	...	Dixie 'Deadshot' McCoy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Oliver Blake	...	Currier (Wedding Portrait) (uncredited)
George Boyce	...	Bowery Bum (uncredited)
Carol Brewster	...	One of Frenchie's girls (uncredited)
Dorinda Clifton	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Supper Club Extra (uncredited)
Jean Corbett	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
Charles Cross	...	Bowery Bum (uncredited)
Roger Davis	...	Hills' Butler (uncredited)
Pamela Drake	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
Tom Dugan	...	With Wedding Gift of Stolen Silver (uncredited)
Joe Evans	...	Bowery Bum (uncredited)
Lisa Ferraday	...	Frenchie (uncredited)
Mary Jane French	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
Al Gallagher	...	Bowery Bum (uncredited)
Billy Griffith	...	Ives (Wedding Portrait) (uncredited)
Percy Helton	...	Presents Angela with flowers (uncredited)
Lola Kendrick	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
Donald Kerr	...	Bowery Bum Wearing Red Bow Tie (uncredited)
Helen Kimbell	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
Meredith Leeds	...	One of Frenchie's girls (uncredited)
Sandee Marriott	...	Bowery Bum (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Supper Club Extra (uncredited)
Joe Niemeyer	...	Bowery Bum (uncredited)
Betty Jean Onge	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
Jetsy Parker	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
Bud Penny	...	Bowery Bum (uncredited)
Walter Ridge	...	Bowery Bum (uncredited)
Buddy Roosevelt	...	Cab Driver (uncredited)
Reginald Simpson	...	Casino Headwaiter (uncredited)
Henry Slate	...	Police Sgt. Clancy (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Bowery Bum Wearing Dark Reddish Coat (uncredited)
Beverly Thomas	...	One of Frenchie's Girls (uncredited)
Dick Wessel	...	With Wedding Gift of Stolen Silver (uncredited)
Lyn Wilde	...	One of Frenchie's girls (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Walters

Writing credits
C.M.S. McLellan		(play) (as Hugh Morton)
Chester Erskine		(adaptation)
Robert O'Brien		(writer) &
Irving Elinson		(writer)

Produced by
Arthur Freed	....	producer
Roger Edens	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Robert H. Planck		(director of photography) (as Robert Planck)

Film Editing by
Albert Akst

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons
Jack Martin Smith

Set Decoration by
Richard Pefferle
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Helen Rose		(costumes: women)
Gile Steele		(costumes: men)

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair designer
William Tuttle	....	makeup designer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Jennings	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording supervisor

Special Effects by
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects
Irving G. Ries	....	special effects

Music Department
Robert Alton	....	musical numbers staged and directed by
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestrator (as Maurice DePackh)
Adolph Deutsch	....	musical director
Conrad Salinger	....	orchestrator
Alexander Courage	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Robert Franklyn	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Robert Tucker	....	music arranger: vocal arrangements (uncredited)

Other crew
James Gooch	....	technicolor color consultant
Henri Jaffa	....	technicolor color consultant
Marilyn Christine	....	assistant choreographer (uncredited)
Alex Romero	....	assistant choreographer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (video)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The song "I Love to Beat the Big Bass Drum" was written for the film but not used.

Quotes:

Charlie Hill: Can I have a magazine? I'll treasure this all my life, I'll sleep with it under my pillow.
Angela Bonfils: It would do you more good if you read it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)

Soundtrack:

Let a Little Love Come In

Dancin' Man

Fred Astaire wrote in his autobiography that he was personally hurt by the critical and box-office failure of this Freed Unit musical, adapted very loosely from a turn-of-the-century stage success. You can see why audiences rejected it, but you can also see he was right to be proud. The story is trite even for a musical, and nothing can liven up the dead space between numbers -- not Marjorie Main playing to the gallery, not Alice Pearce frumping about predictably, and most certainly not the central conceit of the central romance, which is that love makes our young sweethearts (the script keeps referring to Astaire as "young man," which he plainly is not at this point) literally walk, and dance, on air.

The gimmickry gets in the way of a couple of numbers, too: Astaire and Ellen dance on a hapless horse's back, and Astaire cavorts atop the Washington Square arch. Still, the Warren-Mercer score, though it contains no hits, is tuneful, clever, and well suited to the meager plot; the MGM Orchestra is irresistibly lush; and the Technicolor gorgeously shows off the handsome production. In short, the film may be a triumph of studio engineering over inspiration, but as long as the stars are dancing, it's a delight.

Vera-Ellen partners Astaire charmingly, even if she's not the world's most dynamic actress, and she has a fun solo, "Naughy But Nice." As for Astaire, he's his usual self, and we'd want it no other way. His best number is the one least dependent on special effects, "I Wanna Be a Dancin' Man." "Gonna leave my footsteps on the sands of time," he sings. You surely did, Mr. A.