By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

David Butler

Writers:

Irving Elinson (written by)
Robert O'Brien (written by)

Release Date:

15 February 1954 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

IT'S BRIGHT AND ROMANTIC! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

The trials and tribulations of the Winfield family in small town Indiana as Marjorie Winfield's boyfriend...

Plot Keywords:

Little Brother | Imagination | Suitor | Tomboy | Small Town Life

Cast

Doris Day	...	Marjorie Winfield
Gordon MacRae	...	Bill Sherman
Leon Ames	...	George Winfield
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Alice Winfield
Billy Gray	...	Wesley Winfield
Mary Wickes	...	Stella
Russell Arms	...	Chester Finley
Maria Palmer	...	Renee LaRue
Howard Wendell	...	John Harris
Walter 'PeeWee' Flannery	...	PeeWee Harris (as Walter Flannery)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #16065) | UK:U

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Mary Wickes, appears as Stella in the film's trailer and talks directly to the audience telling them about the story.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When "Gregory" the turkey flies into the dining room from the kitchen during Thanksgiving dinner, the crew member who threw him into the room can be seen as the door swings shut.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Stella: Hello, Mr. Winfield.
Father Winfield: Good afternoon.
Stella: [to the camera] That's Mr. Winfield. Vice President of our first National Bank, Chairman of the Civic Betterment League, and twice winner of the Elks picnic potato sack race.

Movie Connections:

Follows On Moonlight Bay (1951)

Soundtrack:

In My Merry Oldsmobile

A lovely film, but one oddity

I saw this again recently on British TV. It's a great film, with plenty of nostalgia, nice period atmosphere, and the lovely Doris Day. One slight oddity, though: her boy-friend returns from World War 1 in time for Thanksgiving (23rd November?), and says the Germans surrendered the day his unit got to Paris (11th November), so he must have got on a boat back to the States & been demobilised pretty quick to be home in less than 2 weeks (unless it took a year for that to happen!). Nonetheless, I recommend this very much to anyone interested in the Golden Age of American film musicals, the decade from 1945 to 1955, and the wonderful stars who beguiled us with their gentle escapism.