My wife and I are fond of a number of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, especially South Pacific, so we thought we would give this one a try (Hammerstein is here, not Rogers). The Technicolor photography is striking, the desert scenes very good, the secondary characters are good, the lead actors are good, but in spite of that it is rather disappointing.
The songs are really not that good. The plot is rather predictable. Kathyrn Grayson's singing reminds of that of Snow White in the classic Disney animated movie from the 1930s: too sweet, too many trills and "ah-ah-ah"s. Speaking of animation, the plot and feel of the movie remind me of a comic book. Another poster here wrote of the Silver Age of comics, and that this movie seems to fit right in. I see what he means (although the Silver Age was roughly 1955 - 1968). We have a "super hero" (Gordon MacRae) who wears a disguise and has an alter ego. With his glasses, he looks remarkably like Clark Kent. Grayson looks a lot like Lois Lane. There's even a near perfect replica of Jimmy Olson! (Dick Wesson). Too bad Perry White doesn't show up (but there is Ray Collins, soon to join the Perry Mason TV series).
All in all, it has some good features but really seems too much like a B-western, in spite of the A- cast.
-henry
The songs are really not that good. The plot is rather predictable. Kathyrn Grayson's singing reminds of that of Snow White in the classic Disney animated movie from the 1930s: too sweet, too many trills and "ah-ah-ah"s. Speaking of animation, the plot and feel of the movie remind me of a comic book. Another poster here wrote of the Silver Age of comics, and that this movie seems to fit right in. I see what he means (although the Silver Age was roughly 1955 - 1968). We have a "super hero" (Gordon MacRae) who wears a disguise and has an alter ego. With his glasses, he looks remarkably like Clark Kent. Grayson looks a lot like Lois Lane. There's even a near perfect replica of Jimmy Olson! (Dick Wesson). Too bad Perry White doesn't show up (but there is Ray Collins, soon to join the Perry Mason TV series).
All in all, it has some good features but really seems too much like a B-western, in spite of the A- cast.
-henry