It's Always Fair Weather (1955)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Directors:

Stanley Donen
Gene Kelly

Writers:

Betty Comden (story) &
Adolph Green (story) ...

Release Date:

2 September 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Three soldiers meet 10 years after their last meeting in New York again, and find out, that they have litte in common now.

Plot Keywords:

Boxer | Pulling Tablecroth From Under Dishes | Actress | Torn Dollar Bill | Turnstile

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Gene Kelly	...	Ted Riley
Dan Dailey	...	Doug Hallerton
Cyd Charisse	...	Jackie Leighton
Dolores Gray	...	Madeline Bradville
Michael Kidd	...	Angie Valentine
David Burns	...	Tim
Jay C. Flippen	...	Charles Z. 'Charlie' Culloran

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System) (35 mm optical prints) | 4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Sound System) (35 mm magnetic prints)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

From the André Previn, Betty Comden and Adolph Green score, three numbers have been restored on the DVD from Warner Home Video: footage of a Gene Kelly-Cyd Charisse comic-hoofing duet, "Love Is Nothing but a Racket;" film of Michael Kidd entertaining his three movie kids with "Jack and the Space Giants;" and audio of Dolores Gray's "I Thought They Would Never Leave." Also included as a DVD extra is some previously unseen material from the famed garbage-pale dance, "The Binge," teaming Kelly, Kidd and Dan Dailey.

Quotes:

Doug Hallerton: There must be some more dignified way to sell Klenzrite... like you, taking a bath in it, stark naked in Macy's window.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Baby, You Knock Me Out

A Unique Hybrid Of A Musical

Keep in mind that the era of the movie musical was pretty much in the dust when IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER hit the screens in 1955. Yet the story is an odd hybrid for benign musicals, and a rather dark story of three GI's coming home from the war, vowing a loyal, buddy-buddy reunion, then, upon reuniting years later, realizing they have outgrown one another and have virtually nothing in common. There is a reunion dinner at a posh nightclub, and try as they might, hostility and acrimony flare up among the men as they gradually discern they have now little in common. The movie also teams Dan Daily and Michael Kyd with Kelly, a Grade A, winning combination for the few, but excellent numbers, they perform.

However, this movie should be seen for one and one reason only: Gene Kelly's dance on roller skates to one of the most beautiful tunes ever written by Comden and Green. As the story goes, Kelly had been searching for just the right opportunity to dance on skates in a film for years. Betty Comden has said she lived close to Kelly in Beverly Hills and that he had purchased skates years before at a hardware store near-by and that she'd watched Kelly take his daughter skating many times. It's not a stretch that Kelly spent a lot of hours imagining just where and when he'd do a roller skates number as he flew around Beverly Hills on wheels.

Another delight is the very robust and creative "trash can lids" number featuring Kelly, Dan Daily, and Michael Kyd. With a trash can lid stuck to one foot, the trio bounce up and down a street to a snappy melody while still in uniform. For those who thought lanky Dan Daily was "just another hoofer," this number proves he could hold his own with the best of them.

I have heard Comden and Green also relate the story that after the movie opened someone told them they had seen the film in a drive-in. "I knew that the end had come," (for the movie musical) commented Adolf Green.

IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER is very much worth seeing for being one of the last studio movie musicals of its kind. Moreover, the novelty of watching Kelly teamed with Dan Daily and Michael Kyd--the only time those three dancers appeared together--is supremely enoyable. IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER remains underrated to this day and serves as one of the final signposts for the demise of the great screen musical.

Dennis Caracciolo