Tonight's Movie: The Second Greatest Sex (1955) at Cinecon

I'm a Jeanne Crain fan, so one of the movies I was most delighted to see at Cinecon on Labor Day was THE SECOND GREATEST SEX (1956).

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX is, to my knowledge, not available in any authorized home viewing format. Seeing this Technicolor CinemaScope film in a good print on a large screen was thus a particular treat!

I must have read about the movie in my Jeanne Crain books in years past, but it had escaped my mind that THE SECOND GREATEST SEX is a musical.

Given that, I was quite surprised when the movie began with Jeanne (dubbed by Doreen Tryden) singing "What Good is a Woman Without a Man." (And I have to say, I haven't been able to get this tune, written by Phil Moody and Doris "Pony" Sherrell, out of my head ever since!)

The frankly nonsensical plot has the men of Osake, Kansas, vying with two other towns to be the country seat. Battles between the towns for a safe containing papers authorizing the county seat have kept the menfolk away for extended periods, and Liza (Crain) is thus missing her on-again, off-again boyfriend Matt Davis (George Nader).

The men come home with the safe and Liza agrees to marry Matt, but on their wedding night the townsmen take off again when the safe is stolen.

Liza, inspired by Aristophanes' LYSISTRATA, leads the townswomen in locking themselves into a fort. When the men return they learn the women will only return to town -- and their men -- if the men finally agree to a truce and stay home for good.

Given that the women of the other two towns are also in the fort, one guess how the movie ends...

Was THE SECOND GREATEST SEX a good movie? No, not really. But was it entertaining and interesting for various reasons? Definitely yes.

One of the things which fascinated me was the film's obvious inspiration from both SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) and OKLAHOMA! (1955); in the latter case it was more so inspired by the stage show than the movie, which debuted in theaters almost simultaneously with THE SECOND GREATEST SEX.

Like SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, the movie's central plotline is based around ancient literature.

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX also features big group dance numbers, with Tommy Rall (Frank of SEVEN BRIDES) front and center.

For that matter, Bill Lee, who dubs George Nader, also dubbed Matt Mattox in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, notably in that film's "Lonesome Polecat" number.

In THE SECOND GREATEST SEX the tempestuous relationship of Liza and Matt rather mimics the loving-battling relationship of Curly and Laurey from OKLAHOMA!

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX, like OKLAHOMA!, features a dream ballet, and one of its big group numbers echoes "The Farmer and the Cowman" just a bit.

Wedding night community shenanigans also emulate OKLAHOMA!, only in this case it's chasing after a stolen safe rather than a shivaree. As a musicals fan, I found it fascinating to make these comparisons.

Unfortunately THE SECOND GREATEST SEX does not repeat the success of SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS as an original movie musical, for a variety of reasons, including a weak script by Charles Hoffman and a mostly unmemorable score. In addition to songs by Moody and Sherrell, the title song was by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, and one song was by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer.

A more lively, sharply written script and better supporting characters might have made more of the silly premise, but the end result, directed by George Marshall, is only middling -- and frankly downright weird at some points. That said, I had fun and would watch this 87-minute film again.

Crain is lovely and spunky, Nader is handsome, and I'm always happy to watch Rall dance. His dances include the previously mentioned dream ballet while his wife (Kitty Kallen) sings longingly, wishing he were home.

I also enjoyed Keith Andes (SPLIT SECOND) as the town minister and Mamie Van Doren (GUNS, GIRLS AND GANGSTERS) as the goofy miss who captures his heart.

The supporting cast also includes Bert Lahr, Jimmy Boyd, Mary Marlo, and Paul Gilbert. Look for Barrie Chase as a dancer in the "Travelin' Man" number.

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX was followed at Cinecon by a rarely seen 20th Century-Fox "B" film, CHASING DANGER (1939), starring Preston Foster and Lynn Bari. I reviewed it a decade ago. It was glad to see it in a sparkling print!