Product Details

• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000OCY7US
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,299 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/19/2007 Run time: 99 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sit back and don't be too critical...and I think you'll enjoy this enthusiastic college musical, October 27, 2007

By 

C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Foot Forward [dvd/p&s-1.33/eng-fub] (DVD)

Best Foot Forward was a successful 1941 Broadway musical and, like Too Many Girls, was bought and adapted to be a vehicle for Lucille Ball. Like Too Many Girls, it's a simple-minded school romp where the innocence of the students and administrators makes today's educational establishments look like Sodom and Gomorra. We're at Winsocki Military Academy and the big prom is almost here. Cadet Bud Hooper (Tommy Dix) had written a fan letter to Hollywood star Lucille Ball asking if she'd be his date. He wasn't expecting she'd agree, but then he didn't know her press agent, Jack O'Reilly (William Gaxton). Seems Lucille's last couple of pictures hadn't done too well so he convinces her it would be great publicity for her to go to the prom. Bud is floored. His two roommates, Dutch (Kenny Bowers) and "Hunk" (Jack Jordan), immediately start making plans to meet her. And then Bud remembers his girl friend, Helen. Well, he tells Helen he's got the grippe, but after Lucille (and all the other cadets' dates) shows up, so does Helen...to keep him company because he's sick. The dance is about to start, Lucille is waiting for Bud...and Bud finds out Helen is on campus looking for him. Now we're in a whirl of misunderstandings, miscues, schemes and subterfuges, all powered by Hugh Martin's and Ralph Blane's songs, by Harry James and His Music Makers swinging at the prom, by broad performances from the cadets and their dates and by relentless enthusiasm and good cheer.

Among the standouts in the movie is Lucille Ball playing herself. Not only is she gorgeous, she handles the comedy with aplomb, which includes making some gentle but sharp fun of herself as a movie star. William Gaxton as her agent is amusing, conniving and does no lasting damage to anyone. The two of them bring polished comic performances to the movie. June Allyson and Nancy Walker recreate their stage roles and do fine jobs. With Gloria DeHaven, they are a smash singing "The Three Bs," with Harry James backing them. That's the Three Bs as in barrelhouse, boogie and the blues. The script is amusing and corny. "Is it true," asks Bud, "that everyone in California sleeps under two blankets?" Answers O'Reilly, "No. How could all those people get under just two blankets?" The young men -- boys, actually -- playing the cadets bring a lot of unabashed enthusiasm to their parts. Somewhere in the crowd is an unbilled Stanley Donen. Kenny Bowers can be funny but the director should have had him tone down the mugging. Tommy Dix comes up to Lucille Ball's shoulders, has a baby face and a kind of eery young-Mickey-Rooney sincerity. He also has a big, polished baritone voice. Dix handles his part well and, at the conclusion, power-sings the big production number, "Buckle Down Winsocki," while all the cadets and their dates march around the field during graduation. You'll enjoy the movie best if you just sit back and not be too critical.

This was Hugh Martin's and Ralph Blane's first score. Except for "Winsocki," none of the songs became well-known. Still, they have style and spirit. "Three Men on a Date," "The Three Bs" and "Ev'ry Time" I thought held up well over more than 60 years. On the strength of this score, Martin and Blane were offered the assignment of writing the songs for Meet Me in St. Louis, and that put them on the map. I don't think they ever topped "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

If you like college musicals (although I suppose Best Foot Forward is really a prep-school musical), this one has enthusiasm and a fine performance by Lucille Ball. I'd also take a look at Too Many Girls (1940), also with Ball and with an outstanding Rodgers & Hart score, and Good News (1947), with a charming performance, this time as the lead, by June Allyson.

The DVD transfer is just fine. The movie was shot in Technicolor and looks lush and rich. There are a couple of extras. The best is one of the 20-minute shorts dancer Hal LeRoy cranked out during the Thirties. This one is titled The Knight Is Young (1938). It's the story of a tap-dancing sign painter (LeRoy) and the girl he falls for (June Allyson). I wish someone would gather together all of his short features, clean them up and then issue them on one DVD. Hal LeRoy was an immensely talented tapper. He was a gangly, kind of goofy-looking guy with long legs. He was fast with his feet and had a lot of style. At times LeRoy could convince you his knees and ankles were double-jointed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STAND UP AND CHEER!!!!!, July 4, 2008

By 

Pamela Fuschetto "Amazon Fan" (Hackensack, NJ) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Best Foot Forward [dvd/p&s-1.33/eng-fub] (DVD)

I just finished watching Best Foot Forward for the first time. Being a staunch classic movie fan, the talent is so superior to anything we have today, I don't know how I missed this one; but I won't miss it again as I had to purchase a copy on the spot.

TALENT,TALENT, AND MORE TALENT. That about sums this movie up. The plot is predictable, the story light but FUN, FUN, FUN. Lucy is great in what I can only assume is an accurate portrayal of herself. The supporting cast outstanding. Most reprising their Broadway roles.

But what blew my mind was Tommy Dix!! I did not know of him before I saw him today and could not believe his voice. Sixteen and seventeen performing this roll on Broadway and eighteen for the movie. Unbelievable!! So amazing that I thought it had to be dubbed and was so thrilled to learn that it is indeed his voice. I would have been standing in the aisles cheering his rousing rendition of Winsocki had I had the good fortune to see him perform it on Broadway. And it is obvious by the smile on his face in the movie, that he enjoys performing this number. Thank goodness it is on film to cherish and enjoy over and over again. It is rare that an actor gives one performance that leaves people with such a long lasting impression. Tommy Dix is that rare actor, and his Winsocki that one in a million performance.

Along with Micky Rooney's movies you could class this as one of the original High School Musicals. The cadets at Winsocki Military Academy having their Senior Prom and Graduation with aspirations for acceptance to West Point the University. What I found most enjoyable is that with few exceptions, June Allyson was 25 and Lucy 32 at the time of shooting, the student cast was indeed in their teens and high school age. Not like today when the "teen" for the most part is well into their 20's. Just another documentation of the talent in that era of film making.

So give yourself a real treat and watch this movie as soon as you can. It will no doubt leave you with a big smile on your face too. Enjoy, its a real treasure.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars They Love LUCILLE!, January 12, 2008

By 

Gregor von Kallahann - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Foot Forward [dvd/p&s-1.33/eng-fub] (DVD)

If your fondest memories of Lucille Ball are of her as a zany TV sitcom housewife doing her darndest to BREAK INTO show biz, you might this 1943 screen musical an interesting contrast. In BEST FOOT FORWARD she plays a Hollywood INSIDER, an established actress--admittedly one in a bit of a box office slump and eager for some effective publicity. And interestingly enough, she plays an actress named "Lucille Ball"--or as the credits would have it, she is "by herself."

At first blush, it would seem perhaps a little, well, unusual for an established film actress to be playing "box office poison" under her own name. Had she called herself "Lola Beck" or "Linda Blaine" in the film, it still might have been clear that her character was based on Lucille Ball, without having to admit, even jokingly, that she had experienced a a few box office bombs in recent years. But then maybe I'm not giving the audiences of the 1940s enough credit. They probably "got" the joke just fine and enjoyed seeing the "Queen of the B's" play "herself" in an obviously farcical context.

The PR stunt Lucy gets involved in--on the advice of her agent--is to accept the invitation of a young fan at a Winsocki Military Academy to be his date for the "prom." She's expecting a lot of attention, but Bud Hooper (Tommy Dix), the young cadet who extended the invitation, never actually expected her to take him up on the offer, and has already made plans to attend with his own best gal Helen (Virginia Weidler). Of course, all kinds of mix-ups and highjinks ensue--not the least of which is that Bud and his friends concoct a scheme to have Ball attend the ball under Helen's name (not her own). Hmm, some publicity scheme that is!

The boys also conspire to keep the glamorous actress OFF the dancefloor, lest all the young wolves in the "stagline" (or was it "stags in the wolfline"?) try to horn in. As you might expect, the real Helen does show up on campus to nobly nurse young Hooper, who had given her the time honored excuse that he had the "grippe," and the anticipatedcomplications ensue. Lucy's agent creates further confusion by sneaking into the ball, dressed as a waiter. All vintage farcical fare, some of which may fall a little flat for 21st century viewers and some of which will still raise a chuckle or two.

The musical numbers are lively and feature talented young performers who would go on to make their mark in musical film history. June Allyson is on board, as is Gloria DeHaven and a sharply comic Nancy Walker. And of course, the Harry James Orchestra is on hand to provide the musical entertainment for the Winsocki Military Academy Prom (well, why not?). Like so many wartime films, it ends with the boys being forgiven for their antics and a strong dose of patriotic fervor during the final graduation scene (as the boys ready themselves for the next stage of their military careers and an American flag is superimposed over the closing credits).

BEST FOOT FORWARD is definitely of its era. As a period piece, it's certainly of interest. It's scarcely a "classic musical," but it's certainly enjoyable. Although there's more emphasis placed on Lucy's status as a glamour girl, the comic timing that would make her a television legend is already on display.