Tonight's Movie: Three Little Words (1950) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

The delightful MGM musical THREE LITTLE WORDS (1950) has recently been released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection.

I've shared here in the past that MGM musicals were among the key films which made me a lifelong classic movie fan.  THREE LITTLE WORDS is a relatively unsung yet thoroughly enjoyable film I especially enjoyed as I was growing up.

In fact, a favorite memory of mine is my parents pulling me out of school just before Thanksgiving to see a matinee of this film at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Leo S. Bing Theater. Watching Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen dancing instead of being in class is a near-lifelong fond memory.

The plot is fairly basic, chronicling the long and sometimes contentious teaming of songwriters Bert Kalmar (Astaire) and Harry Ruby (Red Skelton). Vera-Ellen plays Jessie, Bert's vaudeville partner and later his wife, while lovely Arlene Dahl plays actress Eileen Percy, who falls for Harry after he gets over the inconstant Terry (Gale Robbins).

Besides the beautiful women in their lives, Bert has an obsession with performing magic tricks, while Harry adores baseball.

First and foremost, the movie provides the chance to hear a wonderful catalogue of Kalmar-Ruby songs. Highlights include:

*Astaire and Vera-Ellen's dances "Mr. and Mrs. Hoofer at Home" and "Thinking of You," choreographed by Hermes Pan; to my thinking Vera-Ellen was one of Astaire's finest partners, in both this and THE BELLE OF NEW YORK (1952), which I hope to see on Blu-ray one day.

*Gloria DeHaven portraying her own mother, Mrs. Carter DeHaven, singing "Who's Sorry Now?"

*Debbie Reynolds singing "I Wanna Be Loved By You," dubbed by the actress she was portraying, Helen Kane.

*Gloriously gowned and coiffed Arlene Dahl singing "I Love You So Much."

The movie, filmed by Harry Jackson in Technicolor, is a visual treat, with beautiful set designs and stunning gowns by MGM's great costume designer, Helen Rose.

It also sounds great, with Oscar-nominated scoring by music director Andre Previn; the distinctive "MGM sound" is heard in orchestrations by Conrad Salinger and others.

Astaire and Skelton are both moving at times as they contend with personal and partnership issues; they were each fine actors along with their better-known talents for dancing and comedy. 

When not performing musical numbers, Vera-Ellen and Dahl's functions are mostly portraying supportive spouses, but they're quite charming and nicely convey the way they "get" their husbands in few words.

The supporting cast includes Keenan Wynn, Carleton Carpenter, Phil Regan, Paul Harvey, and, in a tiny role, Beverly Michaels (WICKED WOMAN).

THREE LITTLE WORDS runs a well-paced 102 minutes. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and scripted by George Wells.

The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray print is superb. It's from a new 1080p HD master of 4K scans from the original nitrate Technicolor negatives. I've owned the 2006 DVD since it came out, and while it looked fine, my sense without doing a shot-by-shot comparison is that this Blu-ray is even better. That comes as no surprise given the consistent quality of Warner Archive Blu-rays.

Disc extras include the featurette "Two Swell Guys," imported from the DVD; the Tex Avery cartoon VENTRILOQUIST CAT (1950); the nine-minute Traveltalk short ROAMING THROUGH MICHIGAN (1950); the trailer; and a 15-minute radio promo from PAULA STONE'S HOLLYWOOD.

Like other Warner Archive MGM musical Blu-rays, the disc also includes a song selection menu, which is probably my favorite feature; the menu makes it easy to replay favorite musical numbers at will.

Recommended.

A closing note: The Warner Archive Collection also recently released MGM's Rodgers and Hart biopic WORDS AND MUSIC (1948), which I'll be reviewing in the near future.  (Update: Here is that review!)

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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