Movie of the Week XVII

First, I AM HOME! I am home, I am home, I am home. FOR GOOD. I have never been so thrilled to be back in America and back at home.

I will write more about our ski trip to Italy in December, my last weeks in the Czech Republic, and my return home, but not until after Christmas. Right now I am just enjoying being home!

But I could not let Christmas come and go without this movie:

White Christmas (1954)

Despite the title, it really is not a "Christmas movie" in the usual sense. In fact, the only reason it is called "White Christmas" is because the Irving Berlin song by that title appears a few times in the film, crooned by Bing Crosby. The finale of the movie takes place on Christmas Eve, too, but there is not the typical overt "Christmas lesson" about the importance of family or sharing or being thankful that appears in other holiday films. So my urgency about posting this before Christmas is not entirely justified...It is not so much the holiday as the fact that this is one of my favorites and I can't wait to do a blog entry about it.

The movie starts with Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) performing in a makeshift Christmas Eve show in the middle of the war zone in Europe in World War II. (The man in the middle is a general. He becomes important later.)

Phil saves Bob's life and they become pals, and after the war ends they pair up to make a successful theatrical team and then very successful producing partners.

While producing and performing a show in Florida, they receive a letter from an old Army buddy asking them to go see his sisters perform and give them some advice. They aren't very excited about the prospect, but they go and are very impressed with the Haynes Sisters. Smitten, even.

And with fans like that, who wouldn't enjoy the show? They sing the song "Sisters, Sisters" which naturally my sisters and I were obsessed with and performed at our school talent shows.

Anyway, Bob likes Betty (Rosemary Clooney), and Phil likes Judy (Vera-Ellen.) The women reciprocate. It is fortunate that they do not both fall for the same sister or the same man. That would make it a very different kind of movie.

Phil and Judy begin conspiring almost immediately to get Betty and Bob together. Phil wants the workaholic Bob to get married so that Phil can get a vacation, and Judy wants Betty to get married so that Judy can be more independent. Betty is sort of a "mother hen" to Judy's "chick."

Phil and Judy have a fabulous dance number on the nightclub patio. Which strangely includes an elevated gazebo, a bridge, a short building with a very danceable roof, and various other spaces and objects which work themselves into the choreography. Oh, and every surface is made of a smooth grey material which is, coincidentally, just perfect for dancing.

Vera-Ellen is an incredible dancer, and Danny Kaye ain't too bad, either. It is a great number to a great song: "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing." (All the songs are Irving Berlin.)

Edith Head designed the costumes, and she made sure that Danny's socks and shoes matched the grey-blue of his suit perfectly; consequently, his legs look long since the line from pant to foot is uninterrupted.

All the gowns are beautiful, though you may notice that Vera-Ellen is always wearing a high neck. Even her pajamas have a stiff mandarin collar. You may also notice her teeny tiny skinny legs...Vera-Ellen was anorexic and the disease made her neck, especially, look bad. I guess it looked much older or really, really thin or something. I don't know, because you never see it in the movies. Sad trivia.

Vera-Ellen was a dancer, so she gets lots of dancing time. Rosemary Clooney, not so hot as a dancer, was a singer, so she gets lots of singing time later on in the movie. It is sort of amusing to watch knowing the actresses' strengths (and weaknesses). Vera-Ellen's voice is dubbed in the film, and Rosemary Clooney only does the simplest dance steps and usually just stands still while Vera-Ellen pivots and dips around her.

Everything is going great at the nightclub until the sheriff shows up and claims that the Haynes Sisters owe money to their landlord. Phil thinks of a plan that will stall the sheriff and allow Betty and Judy to escape the nightclub. Phil gives Judy two train tickets (meant for he and Bob) and begins the rather difficult task of convincing Bob to go along with his scheme. And this is his plan:

They lip synch the "Sisters" song so that the sheriff (in an office in the nightclub) thinks the girls are performing. It is an amusing scene.

Bob and Phil barely get away and catch their train. Phil begins trying to convince Bob to go to Vermont instead of New York City. (The Haynes Sisters are booked at a ski resort in Vermont over Christmas.) The sisters are on the same train: they meet the men in the gorgeous club car, sing a fun song about snow, and Bob is convinced that Vermont is where they should go.

But there is no snow in Vermont! And guess who runs the ski resort? The general from WWII! But since there is no snow, the resort is just about bankrupt. The sisters and the buddies must concoct a plan to save the resort and therefore save the general. Naturally, their plan is to put on a show! On Christmas Eve! Hurray!

The rest of the movie is a lot of wonderful song and dance scenes (rehearsals, ostensibly, and some less extravagant "private" numbers):

Bob, Phil, and Betty sing, and Vera dances in the super-random "Mandy" song.

I always wanted red sequined gloves like she has...And her train detaches!

She was a remarkable dancer. Acrobatic, she does loads of flips down the stairs, very quick, if you blink you might miss her turns and taps, and also balletic and graceful. She could do it all.

They sing about being in the Army:

Danny Kaye makes fun of modern choreography and Vera-Ellen does a frenetic dance with a male dancer who steps in to do more intense dancing when Danny Kaye won't quite do.

Bob and Betty sing to each other.

There is a lovely romantic subplot between the two couples, funny, funny bits, especially between Vera-Ellen and Danny Kaye, and then a dramatic schism which seems to threaten everything...A fake engagement, a colossal misunderstanding about Bob's motives for the show, a blow to the General's dignity...oh my. And still no snow!

This is a serious discussion. But I am always distracted by Rosemary Clooney's bright red lipstick. Wouldn't it get all over her pillow?

Not important.

One of my favorite scenes is Rosemary Clooney singing "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" in a New York City nightclub. Her black velvet dress with the scalloped neckline and mermaid silhouette, never mind the enormous diamond brooch pinned to her butt, is fabulous.

Add silver, sparkly gloves, a pink draped backdrop, white horse statues with feathered headdresses (it is the Carousel Club), and lots of odd, expressionless young men in black turtlenecks doing odd, expressionless motions around her, and you have a classic scene.

Bing Crosby does not actually sing with her in this part of the movie, but it is a nice picture.

Rosemary Clooney (yes, she was George Clooney's aunt) and Bing Crosby were good friends in real life and often sang together. They are great onscreen, too.

So for the Christmas part. The show is on Christmas Eve, and the finale is a Christmas-y number with a bunch of random kids dressed in Santa Claus inspired outfits or tutus. Not sure why the tutus and toe shoes...but I like it.

Surprise--they sing "White Christmas." Interestingly, Bing Crosby had made that song famous in an earlier film, Holiday Inn (1942). It could be a bit redundant--Bing singing "White Christmas" is heavily featured in both films. But he does sing it beautifully, and it is sort of his signature song.

A classic end to a classic musical. Great actors, great songs, great costumes, great plot, and great director (Michael Curtiz, who also directed Casablanca).

Merry Christmas!