ROY DEL RUTH

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB. 

USA, 1951.  Warner Bros..  Screenplay by Jack Rose, Melville Shavelson, based on Penrod Stories by Booth Tarkington.  Cinematography by Ernest Haller.  Produced by William Jacobs.  Music by Max Steiner.  Production Design by Douglas Bacon.  Costume Design by Milo Anderson, Marjorie Best.  Film Editing by Thomas Reilly.

Looking in to cash on the success of MGM’s Meet Me In St. Louis, Warner Bros. comes up with its own musical comedy about a wholesome family in turn of the century America. They copy everything right down to the crotchety maid (originally Marjorie Main, this time Mary Wickes) and the patient, hapless father (Leon Ames in both films).  Doris Day plays the precocious teenage daughter with the honeydew voice who romances a serviceman (Gordon MacRae) who wants her to go steady with him. The problem is, how can he count on her fidelity while he’s away serving his army time? Cute songs, charming situations involving the whole family, but its sequel By The Light of The Silvery Moon is an improvement and the more enjoyable of the two.