This laughably bad musical gets 2 stars just because it's fun to watch in the "What were they thinking?" mode. It's impossibly long. On DVD, in the road show version, it is the death and burial of 172 minutes of your life. Every 5 minutes, another horrible song, usually in the bad music hall style of 60s variety shows. For the beau you get the #1 Macy's mannequin of 60s TV, John Davidson, here named ANGIE DUKE!! (Again, what were they thinking? Angie Duke, a name to be archived for a denim-thonged cutie on the Dukes of Hazzard?) For cheery butler, you get Tommy Steele, grinning insanely and kicking up his heels -- very much like the Lawrence Welk vocalists who smile, smile, smile, smile as they sing. Number after number, all done in an exaggerated, high-stepping, head-tossing style. As I watched it, I dreaded any line of dialogue that might result in another inane song. And by the way, what child wants to sit through this many charmless easy listenin' ditties just to see a few scenes with runaway alligators? In 172 minutes, there's almost no story. Fred MacMurray (pretty good, but he can't do much with a part that has him saying, "Blast!" in every scene) is a Philadelphia millionaire who raises alligators and conducts musical Bible lessons with local marine recruits. His daughter gets engaged to a young New Yorker with an equally boring family. That's pretty much it. A few mysteries: Why did they include the 2 sons(Eddie Hodges and Paul Peterson)? After an early scene where they scare off their sister's suitor (and, of course, perform a cheery, exaggerated song), they vanish. Why were voice doubles used for MacMurray and Greer Garson toward the end? I guess the DVD included a restored scene with a damaged soundtrack. The MacMurray double was notably "off." Good cast in a long, charmless, cheerless stinker.
Review of The Happiest Millionaire
