This is as if one of the Lilliputians had been tapped by Hollywood to top-line The Lemuel Gulliver Story. If that doesn't fly how about Tab Hunter in The Frank Sinatra Story. Th't how ludicrous it is to cast Ann Blyh, a minor talent at best, as a charismatic star of the 20s and 30s. You can see the thinking. Morgan's hey day was the 20s and 30s and by 1941 she was dead, the handful of films she played in weren't being shown on TV so who - of the Hollywood target audience, approx 15 to 25 - is going to say THAT'S not Morgan. By far the best thing about it is the score, as loaded with standards as MGM's Love Me Or Leave Me two years earlier, another tale of a real life singer of the 20s and 30s done wrong by a gangster. Thing is Doris Day was far more credible than Blyth and has a better voice than Gogi Grant. Alan King is effective in support but this isn't a keeper.
Review of The Helen Morgan Story
