Good News (1947)

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Good News...what can I say about this movie? It's one of my favorites!
The story is about Connie Lane (June Allyson) and Tommy Marlowe (Peter Lawford). Tommy is the big man on campus, why he's captain of the football team! Then he meets Pat McLellan (Patricia Marshall) and she couldn't care less. She only wants a man for his wealth *ahem* of culture! So While Tommy is trying to figure out how to win Pat he meets Connie. And, well that's really where it starts get interesting.
The B plot is about Bobby Turner ( Ray McDonald) and Babe Doolittle (Joan McCracken). Babe is dating football player Beef (Sadly I can't remember that actor's name!) but she's crazy about little ol' Bobby, who's scared to death of Beef!
Oddly enough, the very first time I watched it I hated it. I thought it was one of the worst movies ever made! But, it got under my skin. It grew on me. The story really is pretty cute, and the acting is great and well, you have to give Mr.Lawford credit for singing because it was most definately not his strong point! The dancing is also very good, I only wish there was more! And it really is pretty funny to see everyone run around in the 1940's version of the 20's (it was still terribly, terribly, terribly, 40's. No matter how many times they called the girls flappers, it didn't change the fact.) Something else fun, on the DVD they included two numbers from the movie version that came out in the 20's. I don't know exactly how to describe them, so I won't.
If you want to watch a light (and I do mean light!) musical, This one is great! And really, I personally don't think you can go wrong if Peter Lawford is in it...his er, unique singing voice I think only makes him more charming!

P.S. For all of you Mel Torme fans, he has a small role in the film as Danny. He sings a couple of songs and even has a few lines! A couple of them are pretty funny too! May 8, 2008

Catchy Tunes; Light & Breezy

The singing voice of Peter Lawford will not blow you away; there are no huge stars in this movie; yet, the songs, witty Comden & Greene script, and energy of the performers make it an often overlooked gem of the MGM Musical library. June Allyson leads the way as a totally believable college girl who must work her way through school and doesn't get the man until the end. Peter Lawford gives a nice performance and dances up a storm as the college football star. The picture is incredible; razor sharp and bursting with technicolor splendor. Mel Torme has a small part, and although his singing adds a nice touch to the movie, it's hard to believe him as a college student. A few nice extras; one deleted musical number which denies Patricia Marshall another solo turn (but rightfully so; it would only have slown down the nice pacing of the film), a theatrical trailer, and two numbers from the 1930 version. Although the two numbers are very dated, they are fun to watch, and it's a shame they couldn't put the entire movie on this disc. October 15, 2007

Old movies for young children

When my granddaughter was practicing her French one day, it reminded me of the movie Good News which I saw when I was a young girl. I thought how refreshing it would be for my grandchildren to see a good old fashioned musical with lots of laughter and fun. I wasn't wrong. The girls enjoyed it (more than the young boys) and everyone watched it to the inevitable end when boy gets girl. No foul language, no killings, no blatant SEX scenes. Just good fun. March 8, 2007

The MGM glory-days!

Count the number of dancers in those spectacular dance sequences. It is amazing. Every student at Tate College must have danced in them. The "Pass That Peacepipe" and final "Good New" numbers I have on constant re-run, never tire of seeing them. January 10, 2007

picture good;quality bad

I gave myself a headache trying to watch this d.v.d
It should have been a most enjoyable movie but the quality of the d.v.d was so bad it was unwatchable.
(I must say here that the fault was in the d.v.d not the d.v.d player as I have not had a problem watching d.v.d's before. or since.
I think something should be done to ensure quality of production when running off d.v.d's. January 3, 2007

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