Author Archive: Retro

Texas towns vying for business plan competing carnivals, hiring rival press agents who eventually fall in love. Songs include: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Song”, “Let’s Have Another”, “Little Odd Rhythm”. Produced by Boris Petroff, Written by Samuel Fuller. Dir. Boris Petroff

Semi-biograghy of composer Stephen Foster, from his early studies for the clergy and his songwriting success just before the Civil War, to his eventual death in drunken poverty. Songs include “Oh Susanna”, “My Old Kentucky Home”, & “Swanee River”. Dir. Joseph Santley

In this British costume musical, Carol Raye plays Empress Maria, a young woman of noble blood who has fallen in love with Count Franz Von Hofer (Peter Graves), one of the men assigned to guard her. Maria’s guardians attempt to dissuade her interest in Franz because of his reputation as a Casanova, and when Franz is discovered in a playful conversation with Cenci Prohaska (Patricia Medina), they are convinced that their assumptions are correct. When Maria learns of Franz’s behavior, she disguises herself as Cenci for an upcoming costume ball with the hopes of catching Franz in a disloyal act. Waltz Time also features a guest appearance by the celebrated operatic vocalist Richard Tauber, who sings two numbers; it was one of Tauber’s final screen appearances, as he passed on in early 1948. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The captain of the Last Showboat on the Mississippi accidentally picks up a shipment of whiskey and is mistaken for a bootlegger by two con artists, who plan to hijack the booze. Songs include: “You ain’t Right With The Lord”, “Dixie Showboat”, “No, No, No”, “If It’s a Dream”, and more. Dir. William Christy Cabanne

Rambeau runs a boardinghouse for has-been actors, which is turned upsidedown when her daughter visits unexpectedly. Songs include: “Love Is the Thing”, “I Was Taken by Storm”, “Let’s Be Frivolous”, & “Martinique.” Dir. William Nigh

Helier, Pat Paterson, Kay Hammond. Noel Coward’s first major work as a composer, filmed by the team of Wilcox-Neagle. Sentimental operetta creaks a bit, but the story of young love in 1880 Vienna is a must for musical theater buffs. Lovely score includes

Claire Tree is a singer/dancer who goes after what she wants in a straight-forward, no-nonsense manner, so when she finds herself in the New York City hotel-suite, in fashionable Peacock Alley, of Stoddard Clayton, she wastes no time. Claire wants to get married. But, Stoddard, whom she cares for very much, has several proposals directed at her, none of which sound remotely like a marriage proposal; Claire tells him, in her straight-forward, no-nonsense manner that she wants to get married because, in her words: “I’m running away from the doubts and uncertainty and problems of a woman who isn’t married.” Stoddard thinks that nuptial bonds is a stupid old-fashioned tradition and fatal to romance. She says any man who says that is lying, and when she departs his suite at the crack of dawn, she seems convinced Stoddard indeed believes what he said he believed. But Claire has another option awaiting her…a Texan from home, [...]

Recalling her own rocky road to success, a former opera singer refuses to allow her daughter to take the stage, so it’s up to singer Michael Bartlett to convince her otherwise. Dir. Aubrey Scotto

Singing star moves to a new home and falls for her neighbor, a cartoonist with a young son, who resents her involvement with his dad. Dir. Richard Sale