The Moviegoer

Technicolor musical fans will get what they deserve in the latest Betty Grable extravaganza. "Meet Me After the Show." Experienced addicts may be able to tell this picture from her last one, but the time-worn Grable formula remains unchanged--the picture consists of five lavish dance scenes glued together with just enough plot to give the show some semblance of continuity.

Taken as a group, the dance routines break with monotony only twice. Soon after the start of the picture the audience undergoes a number called "Betting on A Man"--a song that can only be described in terms of suffering. Its lyrics take the form of contrived baby talk, and Betty Grable spits them out as if they were wads of gum. The second unusual number comes when she is supposedly stricken with amnesia and reverts to her old profession of vaudeville acting. At this point the picture takes a turn for the better; she sings "It's a Hot Night in Alaska," a Dixieland piece and the show's best scene. The action between scenes then speeds up with the introduction of "Hemingway," a slap-happy sailor who speaks only in wisecracks of nautical slang. That's about it: the picture ends in a standard ballroom scene where the men wear black masks and clutch flaming candelabras.

Second on the double bill is "Basketball Fix" with John Ireland, the straight story of a college basketball player in the clutch of gamblers. Unfortunately the story is all too true, but the athlete is played by such a naive teenager that the movie loses touch with reality.