The Belle of New York

Glossy and tinseled, the two features now playing at Loew's State and Orpheum are both based on a primer book conception of American life, a rosey landscape which precludes the appearance of any squalor or the portrayal of any emotional conflict. Each movie was denuded of dramatic meat for a different reason. One, a propaganda-type film scheduled for release around Brotherhood Week, was sterilized to make the American flag shine more brightly. The main feature, The Belle of New York, is a musical and therefore should not need any dramatic merit.

But it should have something else. Tuneful songs, original sets, and pretty faces are enough to make a good musical. The only thing either colorful or entertaining in this musical is Fred Astaire's dancing. His singing and acting are coarse and mawkish, while his skinny co-star, Vera-Ellen, shows even less talent.

These two, together with Marjorie Main and Keenan Wynn, prance through a script which seems a flimsy, somewhat gruesome takeoff on Guys and Dolls, since it concerns the attempts of a playboy to win the hand of a prissy Salvation Army-type girl. Regrettably, The Belle of New York lacks both the Broadway characters and the amusing lyrics of Guys and Dolls, and there is nothing substituted for them.

The second feature, It's a Big Country, looks like The Voice of America illustrated. Featuring a handful of MGM's top stars, including Ethel Barrymore and Frederic March, the movie contains a string of eight vignettes which, for the most part, stress Brotherhood and America the Beautiful. Obviously, this represents an attempt by Metro Goldwyn Mayer to win a medal from some organization or another. Actually, the studio is doing more harm than good. It is much more valuable to show the American people what is wrong with this country than to merely pat them on the back.