Van Johnson

  • Thrill of a Romance (1945)

    Thrill of a Romance (1945)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2021) If my notes are correct, Thrill of a Romance is the first film in which MGM had a better idea of what to do with swimming sensation Esther Williams — after being introduced in Bathing Beauty, she here had the benefit of being a proven quantity: an Olympian-level athlete who looked good enough to headline in a new and very specific genre: the aqua-musical. Accordingly, she’s here paired up with Van Johnson (in the first of four films together) and you can see the specific elements of her subgenre being put together. Other than the swimming sequences, the film is a comedy with a few songs added to please musical fans. Opera signer Lauritz Melchior shows up (he’d pop up again in This Time for Keeps), there’s a handsome military officer to act as love interest, and the film goes to the luxurious hotel Monte Belva for much of its shenanigans. Williams herself is captivating under water, acceptable enough above it — she’s not bad (an achievement by itself considering that she wasn’t trained as an actress) but several other stars at the time could have given more personality to the role. Still, it’s an agreeable enough musical — made as World War II was wrapping up, so still very much intent on raising morale on the home front. It’s pleasant and amiable, with Johnson and Williams proving an effective pairing. On the other hand — Thrill of a Romance is not particularly memorable, especially if you’re in the middle of a Williams marathon where they all start feeling like the same movie.

  • Easy to Wed (1946)

    Easy to Wed (1946)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2020) Considering that Libeled Lady is one of the great comedies of the 1930s, I wasn’t sure that a decade-later remake could be all that good. But Easy to Wed turns out to be one of those remakes under the form of a musical comedy, and a much more farcical tone thanks to actors going for laughs over fidelity to the first film. Van Johnson, Esther Williams and Lucille Ball sing and strut their stuff (in and under water, in Williams’ predictable case) to end up making something so pleasantly different from the original that it becomes its own thing. As a bonus, you can see in Ball’s scene-stealing performance the kernels of her later Lucy character. If you like musicals, Easy to Wed is not a bad remake—but be sure to see Libeled Lady for a better movie.

  • A Guy Named Joe (1943)

    A Guy Named Joe (1943)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, May 2020) There’s an unusual blend of elements at work in A Guy Named Joe—a mixture of wartime propaganda, supernatural events, romantic triangle and interesting performers. If you’re coming at this film from first having seen its 1989 remake Always, they it’s going to be pretty much the same things, flaws and qualities included. What’s good about it is the same, and what’s annoying (a reluctance to really lean on the supernatural possibilities of its premise) is the same as well. The indirect actions by the ghostly character on the living are both charming and frustrating in equal measure. At least Spencer Tracy (in full aw-shuck everyman yet skilled professional), Irene Dunne and Van Johnson (in a hard-fought role) are all quite good as the points of the triangle. To its credit, A Guy Named Joe is more than your usual wartime propaganda film, and Dalton Trumbo’s script is finely crafted. Some good special effects (for the time) help round up the picture. I don’t particularly love it, but maybe I would have said otherwise had I seen this first, and Always second.

  • In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

    In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, May 2020) Given how much I like Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner and Buster Keaton and MGM musicals, I should like musical remake In the Good Old Summertime a lot more than the mild liking that I’ve got for it. Compared to everyone else, I’m the curmudgeon going “yeah, but it’s not as good as it could have been.” I strongly suspect that what sets me apart is my lack of affection for Judy Garland in general. Alas, this is a film revolves around Garland, presuming that everyone finds her irresistible. I don’t dislike her—not here, anyway (her decline had begun but wasn’t completely apparent, and there’s a scene early in this film where she lets her hair down and looks remarkably good). On the other hand, the film does put her front and centre of the plot, in which two feuding colleagues strike up an epistolary romance as audiences wait during the entire film for the truth to come out. Updating the time and place from a 1930s leather shop in Vienna to a 1900s musical instrument store in Chicago, In the Good Old Summertime cranks up the singing (inevitable, with Garland around) and dials down the sophisticated comedy in favour of more obvious gags. While I miss Lubitsch’s touch, it’s compensated somewhat by having Buster Keaton make a return to the screen after a long break: he not only designed gags for the movie, but parlayed one complex piece of physical comedy (the split-second destruction of a violin) into an acting role as a klutzy clerk. Elsewhere in the cast, Van Johnson is a decent lead, S. Z. Sakall has a typically good turn and this is technically Liza Minelli’s screen debut—as a three-year-old appropriately cast as Garland’s daughter. While I’m not bowled over by In the Good Old Summertime, it’s generally sympathetic and likable, a decent watch, and it features a few good moments. Just ignore me, as I rant in the corner about wanting more Lubitsch and James Stewart and Buster Keaton.