Shown tonight on the Turner Classic Film Network, the 1945 version (second of three versions) is the one that most viewers feel is the best of the versions. It happens to be the first musical version (Will Rogers version was actually just a straight film), and is better than the 1962 version with Bobby Darin and Alice Faye. It is a nice score with two (possibly three) standards: "It Might As Well Be Spring", "It's a Grand Night For Singing", and the title song of "State Fair". But there are actually about seven numbers, and they include a ballad sung by Viviane Blaine, and a duet Blaine sings with Dick Haymes (a later song, somewhat reminiscent of "Oklahoma" but about "Iowa" had Charles Winninger, Faye Bainter, and even Donald Meek sing with Blaine and William Marshall).
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were at the beginning of their fantastic Broadway musical career, OKLAHOMA having first been produced in 1943. Most people do not realize this but Oscar Hammerstein was more than just a lyricist (like his predecessor with Rodgers, Lorenz Hart), but also wrote the scripts for the shows. This was to help insure that the songs pushed the story along. Rodgers had long wanted to integrate music and dialog. In the early 1930s, when he and Hart came to Hollywood and worked at Paramount, they had whole sequences in their best work (HALLALUJAH, I'M A BUM, LOVE ME TONIGHT, THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT) that did just that. But this was the total script, not just sections of singing dialog.
It is late August 1945, and the Frake family are preparing to attend the Iowa State Fair. The father (Winninger) has been grooming his great boar "Blue Bell" for the best boar prize, and the mother (Bainter) has been grooming her sweet and sour pickles and her mince meat for the best prizes. Their son (Dick Haymes) is determined to get back at a crooked barker at the fair (Harry - then Henry - Morgan), besides enjoying it with his girlfriend. But she can't attend, due to her mother's illness. The Frake daughter (Jeanne Crain) has a boring boy-friend, a future farmer who wants to build a modernistic farm (Crain tries to be interested but isn't).
Winninger is quite happy to be going, but his friend and feed merchant (Percy Kilbride - who also does a little singing at the start of the film) is a "Gloomy Gus" type, and insists that there may be serious problems ahead. He and Winninger set up a bet (of $5.00 - but this film is set in 1945 after all!) to see if it really turns out to be a totally happy experience for the four members of the family.
The family goes off, and we watch the results of the weekend. This includes the two romances that occur between Haymes and a singer at the fair (Blaine) and Crain with a reporter (Dana Andrews). We watch these adventures, and how the romances bloom, as well as how the parents do with their contests.
Among other things we see Donald Meek as a contest judge who gets the D.T.s and enjoys it. We see Frank McHugh as a song plugger, who turns out to be a decent fellow. We see how Blaine teaches Morgan a lesson. We learn that even big fat boars like "Blue Bell" have sex drives. And we see if Winninger or Kilbride will win that $5.00.
The cast given on this thread is not complete. John Dehner has a small role as a contest announcer, and Emory Parnell is a Congressman addressing the state fair, and Will Wright is one of the judges at the boar contest.
The film is a feel good film - a worthy cinematic follow-up to OKLAHOMA, and worthy of preceding the next stage musical triumph CAROUSEL. As such it is fully deserving of the 10 out of 10 I have given it.
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were at the beginning of their fantastic Broadway musical career, OKLAHOMA having first been produced in 1943. Most people do not realize this but Oscar Hammerstein was more than just a lyricist (like his predecessor with Rodgers, Lorenz Hart), but also wrote the scripts for the shows. This was to help insure that the songs pushed the story along. Rodgers had long wanted to integrate music and dialog. In the early 1930s, when he and Hart came to Hollywood and worked at Paramount, they had whole sequences in their best work (HALLALUJAH, I'M A BUM, LOVE ME TONIGHT, THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT) that did just that. But this was the total script, not just sections of singing dialog.
It is late August 1945, and the Frake family are preparing to attend the Iowa State Fair. The father (Winninger) has been grooming his great boar "Blue Bell" for the best boar prize, and the mother (Bainter) has been grooming her sweet and sour pickles and her mince meat for the best prizes. Their son (Dick Haymes) is determined to get back at a crooked barker at the fair (Harry - then Henry - Morgan), besides enjoying it with his girlfriend. But she can't attend, due to her mother's illness. The Frake daughter (Jeanne Crain) has a boring boy-friend, a future farmer who wants to build a modernistic farm (Crain tries to be interested but isn't).
Winninger is quite happy to be going, but his friend and feed merchant (Percy Kilbride - who also does a little singing at the start of the film) is a "Gloomy Gus" type, and insists that there may be serious problems ahead. He and Winninger set up a bet (of $5.00 - but this film is set in 1945 after all!) to see if it really turns out to be a totally happy experience for the four members of the family.
The family goes off, and we watch the results of the weekend. This includes the two romances that occur between Haymes and a singer at the fair (Blaine) and Crain with a reporter (Dana Andrews). We watch these adventures, and how the romances bloom, as well as how the parents do with their contests.
Among other things we see Donald Meek as a contest judge who gets the D.T.s and enjoys it. We see Frank McHugh as a song plugger, who turns out to be a decent fellow. We see how Blaine teaches Morgan a lesson. We learn that even big fat boars like "Blue Bell" have sex drives. And we see if Winninger or Kilbride will win that $5.00.
The cast given on this thread is not complete. John Dehner has a small role as a contest announcer, and Emory Parnell is a Congressman addressing the state fair, and Will Wright is one of the judges at the boar contest.
The film is a feel good film - a worthy cinematic follow-up to OKLAHOMA, and worthy of preceding the next stage musical triumph CAROUSEL. As such it is fully deserving of the 10 out of 10 I have given it.