Pin Up Girl

Astaire & Rogers it's not. While it was somewhat entertaining fluff, it had few other redeeming qualities. The costumes were ridiculous, distracting and very unflattering. And unfortunately, there really wasn't anything significantly original in the storyline itself. The final number, while impressive in its precision, lacked variety and musical interest, and consequently became boring very quickly, as the same moves were repeated over and over again. One very notable exception was the performance by Frank & Harry Condos (as The Condos Brothers). Their dancing was exceptional and dazzling to watch. If you're looking for simple fluff and diversion - enjoy. Just don't set your expectations too high.

Joe E Brown and Martha Raye were 2 veteran vaudeville performers, as well as film personalities, both known, among other things, for their unusually wide mouths. Both were primarily comedians, but neither is allowed to be funny in this '44 Fox Technicolor. Martha was also a singer and does get to do a couple of solos. She and Betty were last seen together in a film when they were both contracted with Paramount, playing sisters in the '38 B&W "Give Me a Sailor", costarring Bob Hope. In that delightful little domestic comedy, Martha was the star and Betty the supporting actress. Here, the tables are turned, with Betty the star performer and providing most of the comedy, along with occasional inputs from rotund Eugene 'bullfrog' Palette, who plays her office boss.

Unusual for a Grable film, she lacks one of her usual leading or supporting men. Instead, her romantic interest is a rather faceless serviceman in the form of John Harvey. Actually, this was a rather common ploy in musical comedies during the later part of WWII. Other notable Fox examples include "Something For the Boys" and "The Gang's All Here". Perhaps the most extreme example is Warner's "Hollywood Canteen". The idea was to present a 'nobody' serviceman that servicemen could better identify with, as the leading lady's romantic interest.

It sometimes happened in '40s musicals that specialty acts provided the most interesting musical, comedy or gymnastic act, and this is perhaps one of those films.The gaudy roller skating dance act by 'The Skating Vanities', accompanied by Martha's "Red Robins, Bobwhites, and Bluebirds" is certainly the eye candy highlight of this film, and a part of its flag waving aspect. The Condo Brothers also did a couple of nice tap dance numbers, and Betty's dance with Hermes Pan to "Once Too Often" is OK. Later, there is a Viennese waltz scene, with dancers in very fancy classical European dress, preceding and following Betty's rendition of a more contemporary "The Story of the Very Merry Widow".Betty also gets to do a couple other musical numbers, mostly two renditions of "Don't Carry Tales Out of School". The Charlie Spivak Orchestra provided most of the music.

Perhaps the most unexpected aspect of this film is the finale overly long marching drill exercise, with rifles, executed by a sizable unit of WACs, with Betty as their competent drill sergeant. Would have been nice to have had some musical accompaniment, as in Warner's "This is the Army". I guess the message was: If we run short of fighting men to help win this war, we have plenty of fighting women to back them up!

If you want to see the best Grable/Raye musical comedy, I recommend "Give Me a Sailor", as previously detailed. Betty looks even more beautiful at age 21 in that one. The emphasis is much more on comedy than music, with Bob Hope complementing Martha's comedy.

Not bad, not good for a Betty Grable flick. Story, like all the Fox musicals on the 40's is silly, but sometimes silly can be charming. PIN-UP GIRL focuses on Betty of course and those "million" dollar legs. The story of a want-to-be showgirl who is doing steno work could have somehow worked better with more fluid writing. A couple of good dance numbers, but nothing spectacular. Nice to see old timers Martha Raye and Joe E. Brown, but Martha plays a real witch in this one and takes the shine off her comedic talent. Too bad. Story itself does not focus and what happened to her girl friend, Dorthea Kent, who is in the first part of the movie, then is dropped like a hot potato. Her presence was missed as she was a good side kick to Betty. If you're a Betty Grable fan, and you must be to be reading about this movie, there are others a lot better. Too bad they're not available on DVD. By the way, the DVD transfer is quite nice.

A girl from the Midwest breaks into show biz, becoming the toast of returning servicemen, but has to disguise herself in the process.

Not one of Grable's better musicals, but still has its share of entertainment. Grable's sparkling, of course, and the Technicolor is great, along with the costuming. The trouble is the tunes are forgettable, while the curtain-closer of girls doing close-order drill goes on about 5-minutes too long. I must say, however, the girls manage a precision that would be the envy of a company of Marines.

Now no one takes the storyline of a musical as anything more than a rack to hang the musical hat on. Here, however, the storyline is kind of dumb when Lorry (Grable) fools everyone just by putting on eye-glasses! Now, I'm prepared to believe a lot for movie's sake, but not that the Grable figure or blonde tresses can be disguised just by putting on a pair of glasses. Then too, leading man Harvey is a nice guy, but a little short in the charisma department. On the other hand, there's the incomparable pairing of Martha Raye and Joe E. Brown, in a battle of comically over-sized mouths. Anyway, except for a couple flat dialog scenes, there's enough overall energy to lift the spirits of wartime audiences, while there's always the incomparable Grable for the rest of us.

Note that the legendary Hermes Pan is the guy dancing with Grable in the wild "Once Too Often" number. He was the guy who worked with Fred Astaire to choreograph and practice most of his dance numbers in the 30's Fred-and-Ginger films.