Product Details

• Actors: Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, Red Skelton, Arlene Dahl, Keenan Wynn
• Directors: Richard Thorpe
• Writers: George Wells
• Producers: Jack Cummings
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: April 16, 1995
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301980492
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,154 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Three Little Words (1950) was an example of Hollywood's late-'40s/early-'50s interest in the lives of famous songwriters. Fred Astaire plays vaudeville dancer Bert Kalmar, whose act with Jessie Brown (Vera-Ellen) runs aground due to his interest in magic acts and a backstage accident. While in rehab, he meets composer Harry Ruby (Red Skelton), and the two discover a knack for writing Tin Pan Alley songs, then Broadway shows, together. There's some mild conflict in their lives as portrayed in film, but mostly the movie is an excuse to pull out a slew of Kalmar & Ruby songs such as "Who's Sorry Now," "My Sunny Tennessee," "Nevertheless," "I Wanna Be Loved by You," and the title tune. Vera-Ellen is an excellent partner for Astaire, and the relatively restrained Skelton puts in a good performance. Also appearing are Arlene Dahl as a musical actress, Gloria De Haven as her own mother, a young Debbie Reynolds as Boop-a-Doop girl Helen Kane, and the real Harry Ruby as a baseball player playing catch with Skelton, the movie Harry Ruby. Three Little Words isn't one of the great MGM musicals of its era, but it's an entertaining picture, especially for fans of Astaire. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh What I Would Give For Those Three Little Words!, January 28, 2006

By 

Charlotte Kendall "blondee1234" (Bay City, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Little Words (DVD)

In the late 1940s and early 1950s MGM made a couple of movies on film biographies on songwriters such as Jerome Kern (Till the Clouds Roll By), Rogers and Hart (Words and Music), just to name a few. Well Three Little Words is actually about the Tin Pan Alley song-writing team Kalmar and Ruby. Fred Astaire stars as Bert Kalmar and Red Skelton stars as Harry Ruby. Also starring is Vera-Ellen (White Christmas) as Kalmar's wife and former vaudeville partner and Arlene Dahl as Ruby's wife. Fred Astaire once said this was one of his favorite movies he made and this a very enjoyable film. Some of the highlights of the film include Gloria DeHaven protraying her real life mother and Debbie Reynolds lip-singing to "I Wanna Be Loved By You." The numbers are great in this movie and include:

Where Did You Get That Girl- Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen sing and dance to this number. This is one of my favorites.

Mr. and Mrs. Hoofer at Home- Fred and Vera dance to this number as well. It is very enjoyable, another favorite.

My Sunny Tennessee- Fred and Red Skelton sing to this number.

So Long Oo-Long- Another song Fred and Red sing to.

Who's Sorry Now?- Gloria DeHaven protrays as her real mother in this number. Personally I think Ms. DeHaven has a wonderful voice. Another favorite!

Come On, Papa- This is one of my favorites as well. Vera-Ellen sings (really dubbed) and dances to this great number with a male chorus. A real stand out!

Nevertheless- Another favorite! Fred and Vera sing and dance to this great song.

All Alone Monday- Gale Robbins sings this number.

I Wanna Be Loved By You- Debbie Reynolds sings (really dubbed by the real Helen Kane, the Boop-Boop-a-Doop girl herself) and protrays her Helen Kane as well in this number. A cute number.

Thinking of You- In my opinion a very beautiful song. Vera-Ellen sings this and dances with Fred.

I Love You So Much- Arlene Dahl sings to this. A very gorgeous number.

Three Little Words- Fred Astaire sings this song! Another favorite.

As for extras on the DVD,

New featurette Three Little Words: It's All True
Vintage Fitzpatrick Traveltalk short Roaming Through Michigan
Classic MGM Tex Avery cartoon Ventriloquist Cat
Audio-only bonus: Paula Stone's Hollywood USA radio promo featuring Fred Astaire & Harry Ruby
Theatrical trailer
Languages: English & Français
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (feature film only)

I highly recommend this movie if you enjoy the MGM musicals or if you like Fred Astaire. Fred may not do a lot of dancing in this one but it's still a great film. Another great thing about this movie is compared to the other film bio-pics on songwriters this one Three Little Words is actually a very accurate depiction of the lives of tunesmiths Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. I heard Harry Ruby had a great deal of input for the making of this film. Anyway see this movie, the cast, the music and everything else in this movie is great!

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looks Good, Feels Good, April 22, 2006

By 

Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Little Words (DVD)

It's nice to see this out now on DVD. This was a wonderful, feel-good movie with tons of songs, many of them appealing. There also were some great dancing scenes, no surprise there since Fred Astaire is one of the stars. Astaire and Vera-Ellen paired up well for those numbers.

"Three Little Words" is one of the few films, even in the musicals, in which all the characters were nice people. In other words, there were no villains, no nasty people, which is refreshing to see now and then. It is supposedly the true-life account of songwriters Bert Kalmar (Astaire) and Harry Ruby (Red Skelton). Ruby is good at writing tunes, but not with lyrics. Kalmar supplies the lyrics and dance. Skelton also shows he had a decent singing voice.

The only unhappy moments in the movie are the squabbles between the two leading men, but that's not overdone and sometimes it's humorous. Skelton's character is the nicer of the two.

The leading ladies are wholesome-looking beautiful women. Vera-Ellen is a Shirley Jones-type pretty blonde with a great dancer's body. She's enjoyable to watch. Arlene Dahl, who was stunning, is the other leading female but her role was minor, unfortunately.

The movie is a good mixture of song, dance, comedy and drama and is an underrated film in that it that doesn't get a lot of publicity. Astaire was quoted as saying this was his favorite film. I agree. It's my favorite of his, too.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arlene Dahl IS GREAT, but underused, July 19, 2004

By 

Henning Sebastian Jahre "Judy-Viv" (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Little Words [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of Astaire`s lesser known vehicles, but in my opinion - 1 of his very best. It was his own favorite movie. He is a delight co-starring with Red Skelton(his intense comic style is toned down here) and has a wonderful chemistry with the great dancer Vera-Ellen. The film is full of good songs and memorable supporting players including Gloria DeHaven(as her own mother Mrs Carter DeHaven), Debbie Reynolds(dubbed by Helen Kane) and Carleton Carpenter. Debbie and Carleton was reteamed in the Jane Powell film TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE and indeed stopped the show with "Aba-Daba Honeymoon".

But when the Norwegian actress Arlene Dahl enters the film; she brings the film a step further. Her beauty and charm makes u go wild and her "I Love You So Much"-number good and simply staged. Unfortunately her role as Eileen Percy - the silent movie star - is a minor 1, but she glows every time she`s in front of the camera.

Miss Dahl has visited her homeland many times and has done wonders for the Norwegian community in the States. She is also the mother of Lorenzo Lamas of Falcon Crest and Renegade fame.