Starring Judy Garland. This musical Western is from her mid-pushing-to-late years at the studio. Her romantic lead, John Hodiak, is not an actor I've come to know very well, although he had some other high-profile appearances in Lifeboat and Battleground. He came to prominence at least partly because so many big-name actors were off at war. The same thing happened with Gregory Peck, but he made a much more substantial career out the opportunity. I think it didn't help he and Preston Foster were both wearing similar mustaches. The first couple of times I saw the movie, I had a bit of trouble telling them apart! I did like the bit where he lets Garland know he's aware the story she's telling is Longfellow, that he's not just some hick rube.
Angela Lansbury transitioned very quickly from semi-sexpot roles like here and Gaslight to matronly roles. She played Elvis' mother in Blue Hawaii when she was in her mid-30s and only about eight years older than him! They dubbed her singing voice for some reason, though I'm sure she would have been just fine.
Interesting to see Ray Bolger appearing prominently alongside Garland in the "Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe" number, although their characters barely interact for the rest of the film, given of course, that he's the Scarecrow, and she's Dorothy. I wonder if the powers that be knowingly placed them together in a couple of closeups as a kind of Easter egg, or if the same people worked together so often in MGM's Golden Age, that nobody even thought twice about it.
And you feel bad about Chill Wills' character having to beg Garland NOT to marry him, because ... why? Because it would make her look like a heel if she was the one doing the begging? Although they do establish that Hodiak wrote the letters she fell in love with, so by old movie tropes, that made him her soul mate.
Angela Lansbury transitioned very quickly from semi-sexpot roles like here and Gaslight to matronly roles. She played Elvis' mother in Blue Hawaii when she was in her mid-30s and only about eight years older than him! They dubbed her singing voice for some reason, though I'm sure she would have been just fine.
Interesting to see Ray Bolger appearing prominently alongside Garland in the "Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe" number, although their characters barely interact for the rest of the film, given of course, that he's the Scarecrow, and she's Dorothy. I wonder if the powers that be knowingly placed them together in a couple of closeups as a kind of Easter egg, or if the same people worked together so often in MGM's Golden Age, that nobody even thought twice about it.
And you feel bad about Chill Wills' character having to beg Garland NOT to marry him, because ... why? Because it would make her look like a heel if she was the one doing the begging? Although they do establish that Hodiak wrote the letters she fell in love with, so by old movie tropes, that made him her soul mate.