UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 6 July 1950 by Loew's Inc. An MGM picture. New York opening at Loew's State: 9 August 1950. U.S. release: August 1950. Australian release: 22 January 1951. 9,206 feet. 102 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Based on story suggestions by Harry Ruby himself, this film lightly chronicles the misunderstandings between two song-writers. One would rather be a magician, the other a baseball player.NOTES: One of MGM's top money-makers of the year. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (lost out to Annie Get Your Gun).COMMENT: Fanciful as it may seem, this film is actually closer to its subject's real lives than most other Hollywood biographies. Kalmar (who was 11 years his partner's senior - oddly enough the same age difference between Skelton and Astaire) died in 1947, but Ruby not only supplied anecdotes for Wells to embellish and acted as technical adviser but even has a bit part (a nice inside joke) as a big league ball-player!This light, amusing story is most ingratiatingly played. Skelton never had a better part. Aside from the embarrass¬ingly maudlin The Clown (1953), it is one of his few forays into straight acting - although the script does wisely allow for a few typical Skelton routines, particularly a most amusing episode in which the bumbling Red wreaks backstage havoc during Astaire's magic act.Many fans complained that Astaire didn't have enough dancing. In point of fact, the knee injury that forced Kalmar into full-time songwriting actually happened. Of course, yesterday's picturegoers (like today's television viewers) didn't give a hoot about facts - no wonder Hollywood took such liberties with "lives". Even so, Fred has at least three delightful routines with Vera-Ellen (not including the rackety "Hoofers At Home" with its nice surprise exit) which he handles with typical grace and style - plus a short but highly inventive solo. And, as might be expected, he rubs up the straight and comedy material - as well as his singing chores - with his usual pleasantly polished finesse.Vera-Ellen displays plenty of charm and dances with ebullient ease. The support cast is unusually strong, featuring some engaging characterizations by such players as Keenan Wynn, Gale Robbins, Debbie Reynolds, Paul Harvey, Harry Shannon and Pat Williams. On the other hand, Gloria De Haven plays her mother too soulfully and with little vivacity, while Arlene Dahl makes Eileen Percy so bland one marvels at her success in Hollywood - but these are piffling criticisms. All in all, the acting is first-rate.By director Richard Thorpe's standards, Three Little Words is a wonder of professionalism. The original exponent of the "Don't make it good, make it Monday!" school of movie-making, Thorpe was hired to cut costs. The MGM brass had little faith in the picture, reasoning that if Words and Music - about the well-known songwriters Rodgers and Hart - barely made money, what chance a biography of Kalmar and Ruby who were hardly household names? Even so, Thorpe handled the assignment with expertise, even drawing a reasonably appealing performance from Vera-Ellen whose unmalleability defeated many a more meticulous director.While money has not been poured into Three Little Words - it's not one of MGM's super-dooper extravaganzas - it's a charming film that succeeds in its entertainment aims quite admirably. It has heart, enthusiasm, vitality, credibility. Always one of Astaire's favorite films, it proves that ultra-lavish production values cannot replace amiable team-work.

Algebra29-784-156266 Fred Astaire won the first Golden Globe Award for actor in a Musical or comedy for this 1950 musical biography. This category has been interesting over the years. Many went on to get the Oscar as well. Skelton was excellent in this as well. Many of the Golden Globe winners for Musical were more dramatic than pure comedy. This film was also nominated for the Oscar for scoring of a musical picture (Andre Previn). Many of the MGM musicals have been represented in awards over the years. It is evident that this was the studio's best genre. These films are always breezy and easy to watch. It is Important to realize the historical accuracy is not spot on, but only a glimpse into the situation. No doubt the acting, showing depth of character, combined with Astaire's usual dancing mastery and singing and charm impressed the Hollywood Foreign Press.

weezeralfalfa Yes, this is one of the more entertaining musicals of the post-WWII era. But, hardly anyone mentions the presence of Gail Robbins. Yet, she sang "All Alone Monday" in 2 settings:first as a nightclub act attended by the 3 main stars, and then as a trial in a stage setting. She also was briefly engaged to Skelton's character(Harry Ruby): the first of two redheads that Skelton's character woos. Unlike Vera-Ellen and Debbie Reynolds, her singing was not dubbed. In fact, she was a singer for a number of Big Bands and singing groups, including 'The Duchess and Her Dukes', was a pinup girl for the GIs, and sometimes toured with Bob Hope. Unfortunately, her film career went nowhere, with just a few bit parts here and there, including perhaps the most entertaining musical of them all:"Calamity Jane". Here,,she comes across as a blend of Rita Hayworth and Martha Raye, in looks and personality.It's clear from the start that Astaire's and Vera-Ellen's characters don't consider her an appropriate mate for Skelton, nor a social or professional equal to themselves.Skelton eventually decides that Arlene Dahl is the right redhead for him, and someone that Astaire and Vera-Ellen feel comfortable associating with. In contrast to Gail's sultry delivery, Dahl is portrayed as primly elegant, most clearly in her memorable slow staircase descent, as if she were a goddess, surrounded by men in top hats and tails, while singing "I Love You so Much". Judy Garland previously made a rather similar, though hurried, descent in "Till the Clouds Roll By" Later, Dahl sings "Thinking of You" to Skelton, cementing their romantic attachment.To my knowledge, this is Dahl's only singing role in her Hollywood career... Gloria DeHaven had a small part playing her mother, singing "Who's Sorry Now". Like Dahl and Robbins, she remained a minor Hollywood actress and eventually turned to various roles on TV. Her dancing and singing talent was given much more exposure in the film "I'll Get By", also released in 1950, in which she costarred with June Haver as a pair of sister singer-dancers.The title song isn't sung in its final form until the very end. The tantalizing possibilities of the tune serves as a running sore point between the two male stars through most of the film, although this has no factual basis. To me, Skelton's character was 95% Skelton and maybe 5% Harry Ruby. Apparently, the real Ruby didn't mind, as he has a bit part as one of Skelton's baseball teammates! Although Astaire commonly incorporated comedy into his musical roles,in this film, he is mostly Skelton's straight man. Although little known, both Skelton and Astaire composed numerous songs, including symphonies by Skelton.Through most of the film, Astaire appears to assume professional and social dominance over Skelton. This relationaship no doubt stems from the fact that the real Ruby initially was hired by Kalmar as a song plugger. Toward the end of the film, Skelton's Ruby is finally accepted as a near equal.Astaire and Skelton sing duets of several songs, most notably "My Sunny Tennessee" and the novelty song "So Long, Oo Long", the latter being my favorite.Of course, Vera-Ellen always made a virtually unrivaled dancing partner for the top MGM film dancers of the day, including Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Danny Kay, as well as being a classic beauty, in a girl-next-door way. But, she reportedly was introverted, from childhood, and this shows through sometimes, between musical numbers.Both she and Astaire have a solo dance routine, as well as several partnered routines.Their routine "Mr. and Mrs. Hoofer at Home" is the novelty dance highlight of the film, while their dances to "Thinking of You" and the standard "Nevertheless" are highlights for grace and elegance.This duo would star in one more musical: "The Belle of New York", this time without significant musical costars, and featuring new songs by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. Although this film has received much criticism, I find it at least as delightful as the present film and presently can be obtained cheaply as part of a DVD musicals set.The association between Astaire and Skelton gets off to a very rocky start, when Skelton's clumsiness turns Astaire's stage magic act into a complete disaster.The second half of the film involves more melodrama as the pair have a falling out for a few years. This manufactured melodrama has no factual basis, and sometimes gets a bit tedious. Of course, in the end,the love aspect of this relationship triumphs and the now 4 stars(with Dahl) join together in a farewell scene: a very common ending to musicals of this era.

hcoursen This film didn't try to do much more than bring us the songs. And that was good. It was wildly anachronistic -- the early number with Astaire and Vera Ella was danced to jazz that had to be some 15 or 20 years later than the date of the film, which at that point would be early 1920s, the age of the Turkey Trot, when bands were still coming out from their military origins. But the later sequence in the capacious ballroom of the ocean liner to "Thinking of You" was lovely. And the shot of the liner was the Normandie, wasn't it? Queen Mary was a four stacker. Vera Ella was a wonderfully acrobatic dancer. Al Schacht WAS a pitcher -- for 3 years (1919-21) for the Senators. The poster who said he was a catcher may have been thinking of Ray Schalk, a hall of fame catcher for the White Sox (including the 1919 nine, though not implicated in the throwing of the Series). And Barris, Rinker, and Bing sang with Paul Whiteman, not Duke Ellington. The MGM color in the 40s and 50s was magnificent -- and this film shows it off superbly. This one is a very enjoyable musical, one of the best of a period that produced some great ones.