Word: levante
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...Symphony (Sun. 8:30 p.m., NBC). Soloist: Oscar Levant...
...picture itself, it really is a fine job. Riches and ornament are lavished upon it but something sets it apart from the ordinary brassy Technicolor revue: possibly the plot, possibly the staging, possibly the perennial wisecracks of Oscar Levant. But however you look at it, credit will eventually bounce back on Astaire and Rogers. Cast as a bickering husband-wife stage team, these two leap, slide, and tap their way through scene after scene of pleasant comedy and wonderful dancing, and what's more, seem to enjoy...
...romantic Gershwin tunes which used to lift and carry their pictures along. Nevertheless, what is left makes much better entertainment than most cinemusicals. Except for a few slow spots, e.g., a flat-footed Scottish number in kilts and some noisy, slashing attacks on a concert grand by Pianist Oscar Levant, the show moves along at a lively clip...
Jeanne Grain has sensitive eyes, but she uses them with as little restraint as a ham singer's tremolo; her considerable charm needs good direction. All Dan Dailey needs is a good picture. Oscar Levant gets along all right, good show or bad, with his peculiar brand of vinegar. One obvious tip for those who make would-be "nostalgic" musical movies: the old arrangements for the old songs are fully as nostalgic as the melodies. Frequently the fancy new arrangements are terrible; always, they sabotage the nostalgia...
...Brien and the Andrews Sisters, and the photographing had been done in technicolor, the picture could have been billed as an extravaganza. As it is it isn't even colossal, but there are times when it activates a grudging smile, and once or twice even a warm chuckle. Levant's cynicism is two-dimensional: in his role and for his role. This, by all accounts, is a good thing, taking the mind off the pins and needles of a sleeping leg. Dan Dailey carries the burden of the show, and proves his worth as a song and dance...