ada the leading man is my tpye

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

mark.waltz For their second venture together, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II headed from the plains of Oklahoma to the farmland of Iowa where country folk prepare for the state fair, pop Charles Winninger certain that his prize hog will be top dog, mom Fay Bainter certain that her mince meat is certain to make the judges' eyebrows raise, and their children (Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes) hope that under the carnival night lights, they'll find romance. "It Might as Well Be Spring", the pretty Ms. Crain sings, and through this Oscar winning song, you see her hopes and dreams, and along with her, you long for her to find them. This, of course, is an adaption of the Philip Stong novel and a remake of a very popular 1933 film which starred the Fox studios sweetheart Janet Gaynor and Will Rogers, the most popular man in America at the time. There would be a third version of the tale, still with Rodgers and Hammerstein's songs attached, in the 1960's, but this middle version is probably the most ed.Like their previous teaming, Richard and Oscar wrote a tribute song to the state they were praising, and "All I Owe Ioway" is a rip-rousing tribute to one of the gateways to the west. They also contributed a wonderful song celebrating young and old love, with the entire cast singing the merriment of the state fair in "It's a Grand Night For Singing". Of course, the non-singing Crain and Dana Andrews (as the city slicker reporter Crain falls for) are dubbed, but you do get to hear the remainder of the cast's real voices, including Vivian Blaine who would go onto Broadway legendary status with her nasally Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls", here playing the fair's leading lady in a musical show whom Haymes gets to romance.There's also a nice homage to Rodgers and Hammerstein's next Broadway show, "Carousel", as carnival and amusement park rides of all kinds are utilized as part of the action. There's also humor in watching the preparation of ma's mincemeat and judge Donald Meek's reaction to it, which is priceless. Every moment of this home-spun musical is pure joy, and it will be difficult for repeat viewers not to sing along. It's unfortunate that a Broadway version of this show didn't have a long life, but fortunately a recording of that show (utilizing a few songs from lesser known Rodgers and Hammerstein shows) was made. Animal lovers will delight in the sequence where two hogs involved in the contest begin having a conversation here, and you can just imagine the one hog saying to the other, "Lord, what fools these mortals be...."

edwagreen This wonderful film of 1945 gave us the Oscar winning song "It Might As Well Be Spring," written so beautifully by Rodgers and Hammerstein and sung utterly well by Jeanne Crain, our film's heroine.Basically, a story of rural life with the annual state fair in the urban locale, the picture provided some very comical time for our pigs Esmeralda and Blue Boy. We have love blossoming between the animals as a backdrop to the love by the Crain character and Dana Andrews, a reporter at the fair. While I loved the film, let's not kid ourselves. Andrews were terribly miscast. Musicals were not his forte. The following year he gave a superlative performance in the Oscar-winning "The Best Years of Our Lives," and was Oscar ignored.Faye Bainter and Pa Kettle's Percy Kilbride gave ample in this delightful film.You'll know that spring has sprung when you see this endearing film.

wes-connors Iowa farmer's daughter Jeanne Crain (as Margy Frake) and her singing brother Dick Haymes (as Wayne Frake) go to an annual "State Fair" and find romantic partners. She attracts older "Des Moines " reporter Dana Andrews (as Pat Gilbert) and he finds singer Vivian Blaine (as Emily Edwards) attractive. Only one of the couples can marry. A lengthy rural ing cast is headed by mincemeat-making mother Fay Bainter (as Melissa Frake) and hog-minding father Charles Winninger (as Abel Frake)."It Might as Well Be Spring" / "That's for Me" was a big double-sided top ten hit recording for Mr. Haymes, but you won't hear him sing it here. Everything about this film is pretty and colorful, but the overall impression is simply that it's all fluff. "State Fair" really comes across as an average diversion. The Rodgers and Hammerstein soundtrack songs, while certainly not bad, seem like half a collection; when compared to the duo's other musicals, the songs don't advance musical art in their customary way.***** State Fair (8/29/45) Walter Lang ~ Jeanne Crain, Dick Haymes, Dana Andrews, Vivian Blaine

funkyfry A few issions first off -- I haven't seen the later or earlier versions, and I'm a bigger fan of Rodgers' work with Lorenz Hart than I am of the Hammerstein stuff, though I do appreciate it for what it is I guess. This is not a movie that you should try to read too hard into, after all. It's not quite as complex as some of his earlier work like "Oklahoma!" and "Show Boat." But it has some very nice songs, appealing actors playing wholesome characters, very saturated 30s technicolor photography, so basically some people are going to know they hate it within 5 minutes and everyone else will have a good time. I'm one of the people who likes it.The story is very simple -- it's about a family going to the Iowa State Fair (in a time that feels like a strange mix of past and 30s present), where the mom (Fay Bainter) and dad (Charles Winninger) are trying to win prizes and son (Dick Haymes) and daughter (Jeanne Crain) find dubious love. Crain is paired with a newsman played by Dana Andrews and Haymes with a band-singer played by Vivian Blaine.A first look at the scenario tells you that it's a sort of culture-clash -- big city folks falling for country guy and gal. There's a confrontation between the son and a male band-singer (Percy Kilbride, I believe) where all this tension comes to a head, and his relationship with the lady singer cannot continue because of the melodramatic intervention of a previous marriage. However the probable marriage of the Andrews and Crain characters at the end implies the possibility of reconciling the country/town old/new dichotomy.The score isn't really their best as some have noted, but taken on its own it is better than most movie soundtracks. R/H didn't have a whole lot of time to write this one, they basically did it I think in between "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel" because "OK" was a Theater Guild show and they didn't make much money off it at the time, they only made money when the production closed up and the film was made. Crain's character is very much like Laurey in "Oklahoma!" and the elimination of the negative social element of the already married woman aligns in a softer way with the death of Judd Fry in that play or the self-sacrifice of Julie in "Show Boat." This is one of the only parts of the play that probably rings false for modern audiences, because it was obviously designed to fit a certain type of melodrama and these days we would hardly consider a previous marriage a total roadblock to a new marriage. By our standards the son could be criticized for abandoning her, but I guess in the morals of his time it would have been dishonorable for him to pursue a married woman.This film fits very comfortably into the Americana of Oscar Hammerstein, less serious than "Show Boat" and "Carousel" but more convincing than his European adventure with "Sound of Music" or his Siamese "The King and I." I know Hammerstein wanted to stretch out, and definitely Rodgers did some of his best music for "King", but this is the type of story that I think he's best at.As far as the performances, they're pretty much all great. Winninger in particular made me laugh in a lot of his scenes, and Fay Bainter is just wonderful too. Great chemistry between them makes their casting perfect. Winninger's scene where he weeps tears of joy over his pig being victorious reminded me of his famous scene in "Show Boat." Crain was lovely and suitably innocent on screen. Andrews and she have pretty good chemistry, a lot more than Haymes and Blaine. Perhaps that's intentional -- you could even argue that Hammerstein wanted us to feel that the characters were too similar to each other for their romance to work in the long term. They're both phenomenal singers, they're both very willful and confident. Crain's character on the other hand is a bit of a shrinking violet by today's standards I guess, she's "vulnerable." And Andrews is very good at playing a protective type of male, you get the feeling that he could give her more direction while she could organize his life. That sounds sexist but I think it's possibly what Hammerstein was trying to say.