Tuesday, October 1, 2013

I Don't Care Girl



A must for Mitzi fans!
Ths plot frame for this 1953 technicolor musical is the career of the wild girl of the early 20th century, singer Eva Tanguay, seen from the perspective of more than one supposed witness. The screenplay doesn't always make a lot of sense and is full of the sort howling anachronisms typical in period films of the time...not to mention that Eva's Sybaritic life is squeezed into the prim corset of the Hays Code, still in effect through 1968. Despite all this, Mitzi Gaynor was the perfect choice for the role, fitting right in with all the manically sexy choreography and over-the-top costumes--for the latter of which, at least, the real Eva was notorious.
The meat of this movie is not the bogus biography but rather Mitzi's incredible talent. In general, she is the true triple threat -- dancing, singing, and acting -- but, above all, on the musical stage she is a pure genius. In every one of the five or so big numbers she does, she exhibits a different style appropriate to the...

THE WORST WONDERFUL MUSICAL
Must have been a real bore until Jack Cole was called in to stage 3 numbers for the great Mitzi Gaynor. Too bad there are no chapter stops just for these show stoppers. Mitzi says that these are her favorite routines. It`s a shame that they stopped giving Oscars for dance in the late 30`s. These would certainly have been nominated. I never get tired of watching "The Johnson Rag", "I Don`t Care" and "Beale Street Blues". Fox has done a good job with this, but they could have removed the fallen feathers in "I Don`t Care".

Disappointing Musical
FOX really wasted Mitzi Gaynor and put her in one mediocre vehicle after another. THE I DON'T CARE GIRL is no exception. Loosely based on the life of entertainer Eva Tanguay, which purports to tell her story via flashbacks a la RASHOMON. The film suffers from very poor editing where some scenes never make sense. David Wayne appears and disappears and then reappears in the film. There are some fabulous musical numbers mostly choreographed by Jack Cole. Look for Gwen Verdon in one of these numbers. As with other FOX MOD's the color is erratic. At times it looks quite beautiful and at other time seems like too much red. This one is for Gaynor fans only.

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