Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 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, December 31, 2006
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.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still just as great, over 60 years later, February 20, 2004
By A Customer
Lucille Ball, Tommy Dix, Virginia Weidler, June Allyson, and Nancy Walker star in this hilarious and refreshing story of a military school student who invites a famous movie actress to the prom.Bud Hooper didn't know that his letter would ever be answered...but when Lucille Ball writes back to say she'd be delighted to attend his school's senior prom, he's in shock. He frantically wires his girlfriend, Helen, not to come because he is sick. Guilty and depresed, Bud wishes he'd never thought up this crazy scheme. His two roommates are enthusiastic, however, and convince him that Helen will never know. Meanwhile, Lucille Ball isn't any happier. Jack, her publicity agent, wants to get her on the front page and thinks this is the way to do it. Lucille is skeptical, especially when she hears that she must hide her identity and go to the prom as Helen, because that was the name Bud turned into the faculty two weeks before. Trouble escalates when Helen shows up just before the prom, having intended to keep her poor bedridden boyfriend company. Then it's just one laugh after another as Lucille Ball's dress is torn off in a frenzy of "souvenir collecting" started by the fuming Helen. Lucy is then forced to hide in a stuffy closet, while Bud and his friends try to plan an escape. This is a true gem of a movie, with great songs and hysterically funny lines. My favorite line was probably one spoken by the hopelessly ugly blind date (Nancy Walker): "You can't insult me and get away with it. In fact, you can't insult me."
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
DVD Quality is Superb, December 30, 2006
For those of you who like to know the quality of the DVD transfer, this one is Superb. Picture is clear, not grainy, and is of the highest quality I've seen for a classic film transferred to DVD. This refers to the Amazon Exclusive DVD released in Dec 2006.
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