Best Foot Forward

We're lucky that Lucille Ball was in this fun little musical or it may have never seen the light of day on video or DVD. Aimed at the younger audience, this film is full of swing music and an energetic young cast and would be good even if a lesser actress than Lucy had played her role. Of course Lucy did not become a superstar until television, and worked her way up from bit roles in the thirties (notably in Stage Door), to featured and co-starring roles in comedies and the occasional noir; she became known as "the Queen of the B's"). At first considered merely glamorous, here she showed her gift for comedy that would later take her far.Best Foot Forward had already been a hit musical on Broadway in 1941, and most of the principal cadets and girls here were taken from the Broadway cast. In an unusual move, the studio had them playing different roles than they did on stage, even though it hardly mattered since the roles were fairly interchangeable. For example, Bud's two buddies are Hunk Hoyt and Dutch Miller and they mainly offer comic support., and don't have developed character traits. But the ever-mugging Kenny Bowers played Hunk on the stage, but Dutch here. It goes the same for the girls except for Nancy Walker who created her comic persona as the unfeminine "blind date" in the stage musical. Because of the War, the setting was changed from a College to a Military Academy.The movie is the work of the early "Freed Unit", producer-composer Arthur Freed and his extremely talented staff who would make most of MGM's great musicals of the 40's and 50's, peaking with Meet Me In St. Louis and Singing In the Rain. The group here, including Charles Walters as choreographer was working on the Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musical Girl Crazy at about the same time and it has much the same swing feeling, though with Tommy Dorsey instead of Harry James. The songs are fun from the opening Wish I May in which all the cadets welcome the visiting girls to the campus to the big dance number The Three B's, led by the girl trio of June Allyson, Gloria De Haven and Nancy Walker in their first movie roles. Even Lucy has a solo song with You're Lucky.The big hit was Buckle Down Winsocki, a college fight song, odd in that in this musical there is no Big Game, or sports at all. It's played at the beginning as the titles roll and at the end is sung by Tommy Dix ("Bud Cooper") in the Graduation scene. That's really him singing, too. Despite a baby face and relatively high speaking voice, he sang in a deep, booming baritone; sort of the Rick Astley of his day.The plot is as lightweight and trivial as can be, probably the weakest element in the mix, but this was always conceived as a minor musical and was never meant to be Oklahoma! The film has a high level of craft and energy and is definitely worth a look.

Released by MGM in 1943 and directed by Edward Buzzell, "Best Foot Forward" was the screen adaptation of the highly successful Broadway musical/comedy of the same nameLucille Ball portrays herself in the film as a motion picture star, whose last few films didn't do very well at the box office. She receives an invitation from a young fan, Bud Hooper (Tommy Dix), to be his date for the prom at his school, Winsocki Military Academy. Convinced by her opportunistic manager that she needed the extra publicity, she accepts the invite. Hooper tells his girlfriend and original prom date, Helen (Virginia Weidler) that he is sick in bed so Ball could be his date for the prom. Problems and comedy ensues when Helen shows up at the school unexpectedly to care for her "sick " boyfriend.Although the plot is a bit flimsy, its the music and comedy that makes this film so enjoyable. Ball is just wonderful, and it is a delight to see her interacting with her young costars while she brilliantly spoofs her own image. Tommy Dix was in a number of films in the 1940s, but his powerful voice was not really used in this film until the last song of the movie. Kenny Bowers was spot on as Hooper's hammy roommate,"Dutch", as was William Gaxton as Ball's inept publicity agent. A special mention goes to Chill Wills as a bumbling newspaper man.The young supporting women in this movie were absolutely wonderful. June Allyson, Nancy Walker, and Gloria De Haven would all go on to be major stars. Unfortunately, this would be the last movie for MGM stalwart, Virginia Weidler. After growing up in front of the camera, Weidler was unable to successfully transition into more adult roles. After this film, she practically vanished into obscurity.Nancy Walker, who made a career out of self-depreciating humor, steals nearly every scene she is in. Walker, DeHaven and Allyson team up for the show-stopping number, "The Three Bs", and are backed by Harry James and his orchestra.The musical score was written by songwriting team Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine. Although this was their first musical score for a film, it wouldn't be their last. They also wrote the score for "Meet Me In St Louis".Although it is certainly not the best musical film in the MGM catalog, it most certainly was one of its most enthusiastic. If you aren't looking for anything deep, and just want to have an hour or two of simple entertainment, this movie is worth a look.Trivia---The back lot and set used to film "Best Foot Forward" was also used to film the 1947 college musical, "Good News".Cast-Lucille Ball-----------Lucille BallElwood Bud Hooper------Tommy DixJack O'Reilly----------William GaxtonDutch------------------Kenny BowersHelen Schlessenger-----Virginia WeidlerNancy(The Blind Date)- Nancy WalkerMinerva----------------June AllysonEthel------------------Gloria DeHavenHunk-------------------Jack JordanMiss Delaware----------Beverly TylerChester Short----------Chill WillsMajor Reeber-----------Henry O'NeillMiss Talber------------Sara HadenCapt Bradd-------------Donald MacBrideCol Harkrider----------Morris AnkumMrs Dalyrimple---------Nana BryantHarry James and his Music Makers.

After watching another film I saw a clip from this film so I bought this is region 1 so if you have a multi region dvd player and you like mgm films this could be a good film for you also fast delivery even if it did come from usa

Lovely color dvd about military collage in the 1940s Lucile Ball looking great and Harry James Band a bonus

Thrilled with purchase; a pleasure doing business.

BEST FOOT FORWARD EINE SPITZEN COMEDYMUSICAL MIT LUCILLE BALL , HARRY JAMES+ ORCHESTER , u.v. a. MEHR DIE EINFACH TOP ENTERTAINMENT DER 40er JAHRE IST , KANN SIE NUR JEDEM EMPFEHLEN DER LUCILLE BALL FAN IST, ODER AUF SWING MUSIK STEHT, DER IST HIER BESTENS AUFGEHOBEN ! EINFACH TOP !!

hindsight, should have looked for the CD vs the DVD. not that the DVD is bad, just VERY obvious and somewhat 'very' predictable and 'old'.. the music is GREAT and overall, the movie is definitely not bad, just prefer the music!