When the One You Love (Simply Won't Love Back) In 1944, known as one of the leading directors of musicals of the 30s, director Busby Berkeley put the musical comedy Cinderella Jones, which did not add anything and did nothing to his film career, already fading in those years. The film was released only two years later, in 1946, and today almost sunk into oblivion, and, I must say, quite deservedly.
Singer on the radio Judy Jones (Joan Leslie) learns that she inherited $ 10 million and, as proof that she is the heiress, the girl presents a dried head of some beast that her rich uncle left her.
Now the inheritance is almost in the hands of the girl, but to receive money there is one condition - one must marry a person whose level of intelligence (or more precisely, I.Q.) is not less than 150 points. And this must be done by a specific deadline. To implement her idea, the girl goes to study at an institute where only geniuses study. But Judy’s adventures don’t end there.
Well, the input for the success of this musical was, I must say, solid. First, for the direction and choreography is responsible Busby Berkeley, whose merits are already listed above. Secondly, the plot of the film, although not brilliant, is suitable for creating a successful musical.
Third, for the songs for the film were responsible Jul Stein and Sammy Cann - the names quite deserved in their genre. Fourthly, the main role in the project was announced Joanne Leslie - a talented actress and dancer, perfectly proved herself in such musicals as Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), "The Hard Way" (1943), "Bless Fate"" (1943) and "The sky is the border" (1943), where she was the company of such as Edgender, ,
However, the end result of all this came out, frankly, far from the original expectations as much as Earth before Jupiter. The plot component is immersed through and through in stupid dialogues and equally stupid gags (which for some reason does not cheer at all) - from eating sandwiches with soap instead of cheese and to strokes in the jaw of the fiancé of the heroine Joan Leslie, the charm of which she admires (although it even cheered).
Perhaps the most ridiculous moment of the film is when Joan Leslie is in the water in the company of all the men in love with her (falling there in turn) - one of them even manages to imagine himself to be a Spanish macho (although in fact - an ordinary "glass"), jump on a real horse and fly into the water on it (the horse, of course, will also get rid of the accident).
The efforts of the cast of this film, of course, deserve attention, although hardly anyone was under the power to pull what is happening on the screen at least on the "seeable level". Joan Leslie's charming (vocals dubbing Lowanne Hogan) is both good at playing and dancing. Robert Alda also copes well with his task, looking good in a duet with Leslie.
Julie Bishop in the role of a taxi driver stands out because suddenly sings and dances (which on the screen she did not, in principle). William Prince as Professor Williams - one of the potential husbands of the main character - is not so interesting. Traditionally funny S. Z. Sackall and Edward Everett Horton in the roles older professor and lawyer, respectively.
The musical numbers here are not very interesting in both song and dance quality - but the main problem of the film is that there are very few of them - only four. There is only a rather melodic composition 'When the One You Love (Simply Won't Love Back)' and the dance number 'Cinderella Jones', in which almost the entire cast of the picture dances and the finale of which amusingly beats the ending of the 's tale about Cinderella'. Robert Alda's Story of Cinderella - Is Number One Bestseller'
If we sum up, then before us one of the most failed films in the career Busby Berkeley, which will be interesting only to the most picky fans of musicals. That's all it is. Thank you very much.
5 out of 10