Call Me Mister

Call Me Happy
HAPPY with peppy Betty Grable musical, HAPPY with the print quality.

CALL ME MISTER takes place in Japan just after World War 2. Betty is touring military bases in a USO-type show (called CATS) with sidekick Benay Venuta when she runs into soldier and ex-hubby Dan Dailey. Grable has two outstanding musical numbers: She begins "Japanese Girl Like American Boy" in a colorful kimono, then segues to navy whites with the Dunhill trio in a terrific tap dance routine. The second is the finger-snapping "I'm Gonna Love That Man Like He's Never Been Loved Before." What's puzzling is that she and Dailey perform only one number together, "I Just Can't Do Enough for You, Baby," an interpretive style dance that was popular in the early 1950s. Good supporting cast features Danny Thomas, Dale Robertson, Frank Fontaine. Plus an uncredited Bobby Short practically steals the show singing "Goin' Home Train." Busby Berkeley is past his prime as he stages the musical numbers, including a...

Not exactly my favorite Betty Grable film but still happy to own it
I really love Betty Grable but this film is not exactly up to par with most of her other films.
The one thing that really bothered me was the casting of Danny Thomas. Like a previous reviewer, I find him to be obnoxious and his scenes overly long. If the DVD had chapters, I'd have to skip over his scenes.

Dan Daily was not one of my favorite of Betty's leading men BUT at least he could dance and be her equal on the dance floor. Most of Betty's other dancing partners were either uncredited people (like choreographer Hermes Pan), ballroom dancers (like Cesar Romero) or men that gamely moved through a routine (like John Payne and Victor Mature). Dan Daily at least hoofed a good routine and had some charm in the process.

Like all films in the Fox Cinema Archives series, there are no chapters, no trailers, no extras of any kind - just the film.

I'm just happy to finally see this and other films in this series finally released on DVD. There are a lot of...

Grable and Dailey Back in Business
Pleasant if mild musical comedy loosely, very loosely based on Harold Rome's stage revue CALL ME MISTER. The film which is set in post WW2 Japan has a better than average plot for a musical. Only two songs remain from the original show: CALL ME MISTER and GOIN HOME TRAIN performed by Bobby Short in his only film appearance. But the main reason for watching the film is the re-teaming of Grable & Dailey. They work so well together. To me the best original song in the film is I'M GONNA LOVE THAT GUY sung by Grable and chorus. Busby Berkeley staged the musical numbers as well as the finale and this is far from his best work. Danny Thomas has a couple of funny routines. The Technicolor print looks fine for a FOX MOD. Grable was coming to the end of her long reign as queen of the FOX lot and her musicals of the early 50's were never as good as her 40s films, although one never tires of her performances. Her next film with Dailey MY BLUE HEAVEN released circa 1952 would be their last...

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