(1949, Dir. Buster Keaton, Robert Z. Leonard)
Give me every variation on The Parfumerie, and give it to me now! This sort-of-musical romantic comedy follows the same basic anonymous-penpals-real-life-rivals-turned-lovers plot as the play The Parfumerie, the Broadway musical She Loves Me, and films The Shop Around the Corner and You've Got Mail. Yet In the Good Old Summertime wasn't boring. Garland and Johnson's chemistry kept me very entertained, despite already knowing almost every turn the story was going to take. The ensemble cast of the music store employees (S.Z. Sakall, Spring Byington, Clinton Sundberg, and Buster Keaton) played very well as a fun, watchable unit. Lillian Bronson was charming as Aunt Addie, and Marcia Van Dyke was sweet and clueless as Louise Bronson. The movie had its low points too: the violin subplot could have been interesting, but fell a little flat, and the musical interludes, while very well-done and enjoyable, did nothing to move the plot along and sometimes went on longer than they should've. But this movie was simply a lot of fun. The physical comedy bits landed well, the dramatic-irony-filled plot bounced along well, and all the romantic buildup paid off wonderfully in the end. Was this movie predictable? Yes. But it was a great time nonetheless. 8/10 Amboy Harps.
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AuthorEileen here, writing reviews for film class. Archives
April 2018
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