Three Little Words (film)

Three Little Words

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Produced by Jack Cummings
Written by George Wells
Starring Fred Astaire
Red Skelton
Vera-Ellen
Arlene Dahl
Music by André Previn
Harry Ruby
Cinematography Harry Jackson
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • July 12, 1950 (1950-07-12) (U.S.)
Running time
 102 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,470,000[1]
Box office $4,526,000[1]

Three Little Words is a 1950 American musical film biography of the Tin Pan Alley songwriting partnership of Kalmar and Ruby and stars Fred Astaire as lyricist Bert Kalmar, Red Skelton as composer Harry Ruby, along with Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl as their wives, with Debbie Reynolds in a small but notable role as singer Helen Kane. The film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was written by Academy Award winning screenwriter George Wells, directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Jack Cummings. Harry Ruby served as a consultant on the project, and appears in a cameo role as a baseball-catcher. It was the third in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers; it was preceded by Till the Clouds Roll By (Jerome Kern, 1946) and Words and Music (Rodgers and Hart, 1948) and followed by Deep in My Heart (Sigmund Romberg, 1954).

Cast

This warm and engaging[2] film was one of Astaire's favourites, [3] possibly because of the nostalgic vaudeville connection. As Hollywood film biographies of the period go, it takes fewer liberties with the facts than usual, and Astaire and Skelton's onscreen portrayal of the partnership is considered psychologically accurate,[2] and is complemented by a mutual chemistry, some quality acting by both, and some fine comedy touches by Skelton.[3] Unusually for Hollywood songwriting biographies of this period, two of the songs, "Thinking of You" and "Nevertheless", became major hits on the film's release, reaching first and second place respectively, in the U.S. charts.

In recognition of his acting performance, Fred Astaire was awarded the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy in 1951.

Key songs/dance routines

This film provides an object lesson in how to integrate the many songs and dances seamlessly and naturally into the script - a principle first introduced into the Hollywood musical by Astaire as far back as 1934. Hermes Pan collaborated with Astaire on the choreography which takes the opportunity provided by Vera-Ellen's technical prowess[3] to showcase dance routines notable[2] for leg kicks, lifts and - Hermes Pan's innovative combination of the two - the hurdling lift, first invented for "The Yam" number in Carefree (1938). These routines are contrasted with some choreographically primitive numbers typical of vaudeville c. 1920. The spirit of the partnered dances expands on the theme of marital contentment previously explored in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) and the prior year's The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). Vera-Ellen's singing voice was dubbed[2] by Anita Ellis.

Contemporary reviews

Box Office

According to MGM records the film earned $3,019,000 in the US and Canada and $1,507,000 elsewhere, resulting in a healthy profit of $1,252,000.[1]

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mueller, John (1986). Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films. London: Hamish Hamilton. pp. 300–311. ISBN 0-241-11749-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Astaire, Fred (1959). Steps in Time. London: Heinemann. p. 296.
  4. 1 2 Billman, Larry (1997). Fred Astaire - A Bio-bibliography. Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 127–130. ISBN 0-313-29010-5.
  5. ↑ "AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-13.
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