I Love Melvin (1953)

I Love Melvin (1953)

In director Don Weis' (and MGM's) energetic, much-neglected, but formulaic light-weight musical romantic comedy, it was a deliberate effort to reunite two of the three main stars of the hit movie Singin' in the Rain (1952) - Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds.

On a budget of 1ドル.3 million, the film failed at the box-office, with revenues of 1ドル.3 million (domestic) and only 1ドル.9 million (worldwide).

• in the opening to the title sequence, an unidentified backstage performer, in front of her marquee-styled mirrror, inscribed the film's title - in bright red lipstick - on a mirror
• the opening number - "A Lady Loves (To Love)" was performed by a dancer in a purple feathered-costume with a black-top-hatted male chorus (led by Robert Taylor, in a cameo); the number was revealed to be a daydream when the dancer, who envisioned herself as a star, was shaken awake by her mother - Mom Schneider (Una Merkel): ("Come on, get up, it's late!")
• the musical's two eventual lovers were:
  • Judy (Schneider) Leroy (Debbie Reynolds), the ambitious Broadway musical chorus girl-dancer and aspiring actress
  • Melvin Hoover (Donald O'Connor), a lowly, clumsy assistant who worked for ornery Look Magazine photographer Mergo (Jim Backus)
• the two first met while both were daydreaming; Judy was thinking about meeting her true love; they bumped or collided into each other in Central Park after walking along two sides of the same tall hedge; Judy was on her way to a dance rehearsal; they sang the song "We Have Never Met, as Yet" together
• Judy's Broadway theatre show, Quarterback Kelly, was advertised with her pictured on a poster for the show; the performance included an amazing, acrobatic sequence titled "Saturday Afternoon Before the Game", in which Judy portrayed the inflated, light brown pigskin football!
• Melvin watched the show from backstage, and afterwards as Judy was leaving with her dull and boring beau-suitor Harry Flack (Richard Anderson), the pompous son of a wealthy owner of a paper box company, Melvin approached; he boasted and exaggerated his importance as a Look Magazine photographer, with flattering claims about himself; he impressed Judy and led her to believe that he was very famous; he convinced her to have him take photos for a two-page spread, although his magazine boss would most likely not publish her photos
• in Judy's living room, Melvin took photographs of her in various poses both backstage and in city life; there were shots of Judy vacuuming, ironing, washing her hair, and visiting NYC sites; afterwards, Judy and Melvin performed the deceptively-simple dance duet "Where Did You Learn To Dance?"
• although Judy and Melvin were becoming well-acquainted, Judy's father Frank "Pop" Schneider (Allyn Joslyn) was pressuring her to spend more time with the well-to-do Harry and marry him; to gain Judy's affection, Melvin promised that he would do his best to put her on the magazine's cover
• Melvin made a crazy romp through the travel agency sections of the Look Magazine offices while singing "I Wanna Wander" - and entered into various locales and personas (via changing backdrops, props and quick costume changes)
• Melvin also demonstrated his roller-skating (and tap-dancing) talents in a park gazebo (he posed on lamp posts and stomped the ground - in homage to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain ) to entertain Judy's younger sister Clarabelle Schneider (Noreen Corcoran) who had just finished singing "Life Has Its Funny Little Ups and Downs" with him
• in the "If I Had a Million Dollars" sequence, the film's second dream sequence, Judy fancifully danced (iwith a trio of beret-wearing Gene Kellys and top-hatted Fred Astaires) - and afterwards imagined that she was receiving an Oscar award

• to deceive Judy and to keep her from marrying Harry, Melvin convinced his boss Mergo to help create a fake issue of Look Magazine, with Judy's photograph on the cover; Judy was so thrilled that she impulsively called off wedding plans with Harry; however, Judy and her family soon learned that the real covers of the magazine over the next few weeks did not feature her picture
• due to being revealed as a fraud and liar, Melvin became dejected and ashamed, abandoned his job, and disappeared for three weeks; Judy declared her love for Melvin, and the police began searching for him
• in the wish-fulfillment ending, he awoke back in Central Park on one of the benches; he discovered that Judy HAD been put on the cover of Look Magazine and an inside article was written about him, and beseeching him to come back: "Melvin Where Are You?"
• the happy conclusion was orchestrated by Judy to identify him, entice him to come out of hiding, and bring them together
• [Note: As a tiie-in to the film, Look Magazine featured the film's photo of Debbie on its April 7, 1953 cover.]