It's Always Fair Weather (1955) - Star of the month... Gene Kelly

'It's Always Fair Weather' is a 1955 musical starring Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Dan Dailey, Dolores Grey and Michael Kidd.

Produced by Arthur Freed, the film was written by Betty Comden & Adolph Green.

Cyd Charisse in 'Baby, You Knock Me Out'

Ted Riley (played by Kelly), Doug Hallerton (played by Dailey) and Angie Valentine (played by Kidd), are three ex-GI buddies return from serving in World War II share a drink. Before going their separate ways, they promise to reunite exactly 10 years later at the same place. 10 years later, the trio are reunited and find they are very different people, and neither of them wish to remain friends. The three men are reunited once again after TV producer, Jackie Leighton (played by Charisse) secretly arranges for them to appear on a live TV program.

Musical program

Dolores Gray in 'Thanks A Lot, But No Thanks'

• "Overture" - MGM Orchestra
• "March, March" - Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey & Michael Kidd
• "The Binge" - danced by Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey & Michael Kidd
• "The Time For Parting" - Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey & Michael Kidd
• "10 Year Montage" - MGM Orchestra
• "The Blue Danube (Why Are We Here?)" - Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey & Michael Kidd
• "Music Is Better Than Words" - Dolores Gray
• "Stillman's Gym" - Lou Lubin
• "Baby, You Knock Me Out" - Cyd Charisse & Lou Lubin
• "The Ad Men" - Dan Dailey & Paul Maxey
• "Once Upon a Time" - Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey & Michael Kidd
• "Situation-Wise" - Dan Dailey
• "The Chase" - MGM Orchestra
• "I Like Myself" - Gene Kelly
• "Klenzrite" - Dolores Grey
• "Thanks A Lot, But No Thanks" - Dolores Grey
• "The Time for Parting (Finale)" - 

Song: "I Like Myself" - Gene Kelly (dancing on roller skates)

Song: "Thanks A Lot, But No Thanks" - Dolores Gray

Song: "Baby You Knock Me Out" - Cyd Charisse

Song: "The Blue Danube (Why Are We Here?)" - Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey & Michael Kidd

Song: "The Binge" - danced by Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey & Michael Kidd

Did you know...

• This film was originally conceived to be a sequel to 'On the Town' (1948), and to reunite Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra & Jules Munshin - MGM (now under the control of new chief Dore Schary) did not want to hire Sinatra due to his difficult working reputation, or Munshin, as he was considered unpopular with audiences
• Gene Kelly was forced to shoot the film in CinemaScope, which he felt did not suit screen dancing
• Madge Blake appears uncredited as Mrs. Stamper
• Dolores Gray's film debut
• Cyd Charisse's singing was dubbed by Carol Richards
• Michael Kidd's singing was dubbed by Jud Conlon

Awards nominations

• Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Scoring of a Motion Picture
• Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Story & Screenplay
• Writers Guild of America Award nomination Best Written American Musical

Closing remarks

Gene Kelly dances on air with a pair of rollerksates

'It's Always Fair Weather' is an entertaining MGM musical with some memorable and enjoyable songs. The choreography is excellent, and Donen & Kelly have done their best to tailor the choreography for Cinemascope, which results in a few split screen sequences.

My favourite scene is where Gene Kelly tap dances on roller skates. It's something which I've always wished I could do ever since I first saw this film when I was 14 years old. We also are treated to seeing the dynamic Dolores Gray (fresh from Broadway) shine in her film debut with her showstopping performance of "Thanks A Lot, But No Thanks".

There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)

Star of the Month... Marilyn Monroe

'There's No Business Like Show Business' is a 1954 musical directed by Walter Lang, and starring Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O'Connor, Dan Dailey and Johnnie Ray.

The title is borrowed from the immortal showtune from 'Annie Get Your Gun', and tells the story of vaudeville family, the 5 Donohues: Terrance (played by Dailey), Molly (played by Merman), Tim (played by O'Connor), Katy (played by Gaynor) and Steve (played by Ray). Marilyn plays singer Victoria "Vicky" Hoffman.

From the deep red velvet curtain backdrop during the opening credits, one gets a sense of excitement about what is to come... Ethel Merman and Marilyn Monroe in a vaudeville musical featuring Irving Berlin songs... unfortunately the excitement ends there.

'There's No Business Like Show Business' features some fantastic show stopping musical numbers, however the story is no great, it gets rather boring and runs way too long.

I would consider this to be more of an Ethel Merman film than a Marilyn Monroe film. It is the only film Marilyn made after 1953 in which she plays a supporting role -  it takes almost half an hour for her to appear. It is also one of the only films Marilyn appears in where she does not steal the film. It is Monroe vs. Merman, and as always Merman lands on top! In my opinion, Marilyn was not the right actress to star in this film, and 20th Century Fox would have been better off casting a less prominent star.

Musical highlights

Despite the slow pace of the film, there are a few fantastic big budget musical numbers, including Marilyn singing "Heatwave", and Ethel Merman singing her signature tune "There's No Business Like Show Business" - in fact no one can sing this song quite like Ethel.

Here are some YouTube videos showing my favourite musical moments from this film:

Song: "Heatwave" - Marilyn Monroe

Song: "There's No Business Like Show Business" - Ethel Merman

Song: "After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It" - Marilyn Monroe

Song: "Midnight Choo Choo Goes To Alabam' / Won't You Play A Simple Melody?" - Ethel Merman & Dan Dailey

Song: "Alexander's Ragtime Band" - Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O'Connor and Johnnie Ray

Closing remarks

As I previously said, this film is a big snooze - no surprise it was a big box office bomb upon it's initial release and failed to recover its production cost. Had the film not featured Marilyn Monroe it would be a forgotten film today. 

I would recommend this film to die hard Marilyn or Ethel Merman fans only - anyone else should focus their efforts on a spectacular MGM musical.