Hit the Hay (1945) User Reviews

Judy Canova Sings Opera (Sort Of)

[boblipton · 6/10 · 12 July 2019]

She is the daughter of a renowned opera diva. Ross Hunter -- yes, he did act for a while -- finds her singing Mozart arias while milking a cow at a market. Convinced that she can save his father's foundering opera company, he brings her back and gives her the big build-up, only to discover that she is Judy Canova.

This scattergun lampoon of opera and its backstage politicking was one of the movies Miss Canova made after she made the move from Republic to Columbia. Under the direction of Del Lord, it hits all the tropes that had made her a star on Broadway and the radio: the deadpan hick personality, the real talent, the physical awkwardness, topped off with a burlesque of Rossini's WILLIAM TELL. Its not to my taste, but there is no disguising that this is a well-made vehicle for a star of a type of humor that was very popular at the time. That combination of hick personality and sophisticated vocal ability would find a later expression in Jim Nabors. Is it dead even now?

Miss Canova made one more movie in this cycle, then retired, in favor of a growing family and a popular radio show that ran until 1953. She moved to television, and made supporting appearances in other people's movies, appeared in Broadway shows and road companies. She died in 1983, aged 69.

She sings like a bird but dances like a mule.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 17 December 2015]

Discovered singing while selling fruit, that favorite of all yokels, Judy Canova, takes on legitimate opera. Like what Debbie Reynolds would do for Jean Hagen in "Singin' in the Rain", Canova provides the voice for another performer while the jealous and bitchy Gloria Holden tried to expose Judy, literally singing from the rafters while another performer mouths the words. It's all pretty hokey material but Canova is very funny here.

Hailing Columbia after a few years as the queen of the Republic of Vera Hruba Ralston's husbands studio, Canova had a series of mixed scripts. A funny moment has Judy identifying what appears to be a ripe cantaloupe as a bald man. The whole plot is somewhat absurd and convoluted but thanks to Canova's spunk. That's future movie producer Ross Hunter as Judy's leading man. Grady Sutton adds laughs ad a rather effeminate performer who becomes part of Holden's vengeance.

Judy At Her Lowest Ebb

[JohnHowardReid · 3/10 · 16 May 2008]

No survey of "B" westerns worth its salt would be complete without a tip of the sombrero — or kick of the boot — to Judy Canova, hidalga of the hillbillies. This one is well below even Jughead Judy's perennial low standard, with one of the weakest scripts and some of the most ineffectual direction ever seen.

True, Cowgirl Canova makes an admirable stab at a dual role but ruins even that promise by having her voice so obviously dubbed for the operatic excerpts. Nonetheless, it does make for a rousing montage sequence of "Martha", but that's the high point of this low movie.

The support players try valiantly to make some headway against their piffling dialogue, but to no avail.

Behind-the-camera credits, including photography and art direction, are as lackluster as the script.