Here Comes the Groom (1951)

It is a performances centric movie

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

If you were told that a movie was produced and directed by Frank Capra and starred Jane Wyman, Bing Crosby, Franchot Tone and Alexis Smith you might be forgiven for having great expectations. Sadly there is only one thing great about it and that is an operatic performance by a teenage Anna Maria Alberghetti. AMA plays a teenage war orphan in Paris who was up for adoption and when Bing Crosby, playing a journalist involved with the placement of orphans, fails in his first attempt at placing a child with prospective parents and discovers that the husband is a conductor of a major orchestra, he strongarms the couple into listening to AMA. They are transfixed as they should be and when they discover she is blind they are hooked, since she will be a great concert performer. Ugh! The rest of the movie is almost that bad, save for the operatic performance, though many of the stars are adequate. The absolute low point for me was a series of cameos taking place on the airplane bringing Bing and some prospective adoptees to the States. During the flight he breaks out into song and low and behold Louis Armstrong, Dorothy Lamour, Phil Harris and the insufferable Frank Fontaine were all on the plane with him and ready to perform. How anyone could ever have laughed at Fontaine (and his Crazy Guggenheim character) is a mystery for the ages.

"Here Comes the Groom" is the sort of schmaltzy fluff that Bing Crosby did best. While I am quick to admit that this is a very slight film, it is also a very, very enjoyable film. Deep? Nah--but fun.The film begins with Bing hanging out with a bunch of cute orphans in post-war France. He's supposed to be coming back to the USA to marry his fiancée (Jane Wyman) but he cannot leave the kids in a lurch--particularly two cute kids who he plans to adopt. The only trouble is that after he's done all the paperwork to bring them to America, he's returned so late that his girlfriend has called off the wedding and is now planning to marry her boss (Franchot Tone). You really can't blame her too much--Bing never told her he'd be late or why he'd be late. In other words, she wasn't feeling very appreciated.There is a problem with Bing not getting married, however. In order to adopt the kids and keep them he MUST get married...and quick. Bing isn't about to try to find another girl and he really does care about Jane, so he's determined to break up the engagement and marry her himself. Here is where it gets interesting--Bing tells Franchot and Franchot actually allows him a chance to win her back. After all, if she isn't 100% ready to marry him, why not let her marry Bing? Where all this ends is very predictable--but a film like this always is. Along the way, you have some nice comedy (particularly the portions with Alexis Smith) and really nice songs--and it's quite enjoyable and cute. Perhaps it's too cute and saccharine for some--I could understand that. But, if you don't mind and are looking for an old fashioned family film, it's well worth your time.

If you like fun, whimsical, mostly predicable plots that involve a couple of well-known stars, then pop in Here Comes the Groom. Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman aren't exactly Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, but they definitely made a great team in this Capra vehicle. It doesn't matter this is a patchwork quilt of other movie plots, (The Philadelphia Story, for instance,which der Bingle did his own way with Grace Kelly), it's a cute little bit of cinema fun that had me grinning and even out right laughing in parts. Some will slice and dice the movie for editing and extraneous bits, yet movies from this era, as ones from today, were sometimes supposed to be fluff. So enjoy this one in the cool, cool, cool of the evening, or any time you want a lift and a smile.

"Here Comes the Groom" is a better than usual musical. It's overriding virtue is the cast. Crosby is, as usual good. Wyman is extremely good as a musical star--after "Johnny Belinda," she here shows she can play virtually anything. Franchot Tone is also quite good.However, the best performance comes from Alexis Smith, looking more glorious than ever and displaying a wonderfully relaxed and natural talent for comedy. Too bad she didn't really come into her own until 1971 and the legendary Broadway show "Follies.""In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" is the best and best-known song in the score. I wonder what Wyman could have done in a good Broadway musical.