Year:
1954
Studio:
Paramount Pictures
Feature:
3/5
DVD:
2/5
White Christmas is a classic holiday musical. The basic plot is that
Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye), relatively
famous entertainers after World War II, want to stage a benefit concert
for their old divisional commander, Major General Thomas Waverly
(Retired) (Dean Jagger). The trick is that they want to invite as many
of the old men of the 151st Division as possible without the general
finding out.
Actually I guess that's not really the main plot, though it is the
focus of the second half of the movie. The main plot is Phil trying to
find a girl for workaholic Bob. That girl turns out to be Betty Haynes
(Rosemary Clooney), who along with her sister Judy (Vera Ellen) make up
the performing duo of The Haynes Sisters.
Chasing the sisters leads the duo to Vermont where General Waverly runs
an inn. Bob and Betty have chemistry but they're slow about it. Phil
and Judy conspire to bring the two together. Misunderstandings threaten
to break up the two lovers but it all ends happily.
The movie has a lot of musical numbers. There are singing routines,
singing and dancing, and dancing routines. Some routines really don't
advance the story at all but I guess that's what they did back then.
Luckily it's a two hour movie so even with all the singing and dancing
there is a good amount of plot. In fact, take out the musical numbers
and you'd still have a good romantic comedy, if a bit short.
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The DVD has a
17-minute featurette with actor biographies and history of the movie
and some comments from the only surviving main cast member (at the
time, 2000), Rosemary Clooney. Audio commentary for the movie is also
provided my Clooney, and although she tends to just enjoy the movie and
make the usual "ooh that was good" sort of comments, she does talk a
bit about the other actors and the production.
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