Tonight's Movie: Springtime in the Rockies (1942)

This is another delightful Betty Grable musical, with a super 20th Century-Fox cast including John Payne, Cesar Romero, Carmen Miranda, and Charlotte Greenwood, not to mention Jackie Gleason, Edward Everett Horton, and last but not least, Harry James and His Music Makers.

The exotic location this time around is a resort in the Canadian Rockies. While the Rockies are only seen via stock footage, the Fox Technicolor, as usual, is gorgeous, as are the gowns and sets.

This is a great example of the Fox musical in top form. Grable sings and dances with both Payne and Romero; Romero is a very graceful dancer. Carmen Miranda does her unique thing; a scene where she transforms a relatively plain white dress into her usual colorful getup is a stitch, and you've got to hear her take on "Chattanooga Choo Choo." The movie pauses for a musical break partway through, with three wonderful Harry James numbers in a row, just because it can. :) (Highlight: Helen Forrest singing "I Had the Craziest Dream.") James and Grable would marry the following year.

SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES is available on VHS. It has a running time of 91 minutes.

There is a rumor there will be a second collection of Betty Grable DVDs in coming months, and hopefully this will be one of the titles included.

Update: The second volume of Betty Grable DVDs never came to be, but SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES is now available in DVD-R format in the Fox Cinema Archives series.