Four Jills in a Jeep
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Actor: Kay Francis, Martha RayeBrand: Fox
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-10-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Four Jills in a Jeep
DVD Review: When the sum of the parts adds up to a great DVD (with uncommon contextual interest)
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm surprised at the luke-warm reception given this DVD by previous reviewers--even to the extent of sniping at the script for being inaccurate in its portrayal of the romantic entanglements in a story based on the four leading actresses' USO tour. I too regret the ending, or rather "post-closure" circumstances, though any criticism of them seems quite beside the point. Carole Landis (the handsome, leggy blonde from Eau Claire, Wisconsin) who sparked the tour (performing tirelessly even when she became infected by malaria) and who was responsible for the semi-biographical book of the same title and year (1944), sadly did not realize her dream of show business stardom in the years immediately following the war. In fact, she committed suicide before her 30th birthday. Similarly, the sprightly and charming Mitzi Mayfair, Dick Haymes' love interest and the "Jill" with a striking resemblance to Judy Garland, appears to have fallen off the map not long after the release of the film.
On a more felicitous note, this is a delightful WW II "B" movie musical with a difference. Thanks to recent, uncommon efforts to "restore" the film (not merely to "transfer" it to digital but to "reconstruct" all of the clarity of the visuals and audio of the master print), the DVD plays like a fresh, pristine representation of the original. It's as though the print were struck yesterday. Dick Haymes not to mention Betty Grable, Jimmy Dorsey, Martha Raye and Phil Silvers (!) all look and sound at their best. Moreover, the DVD comes with special features, including a soundtrack that eliminates all dialog and reproduces only the film score. There are also side-by-side comparisons of the "transferred" digital print with the "restored" print. And for good measure the producers have even included some "out-takes," scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor.
If your sole criterion is a tightly assembled "plot" or an arresting "story" full of Hitchcock surprises or modern-day graphic sensationalism, forget about this one. The story is no more than an "excuse" for some great music (note the purposeful, responsive camera work and cutting during the Dorsey swing number, which is an instrumental jazz number played in full--a rarity in movies of any period), some of the era's most notable performers (including not just the glamorous Grable but the glutzy Raye and the sophisticated Kaye Francis), and one of the period's great songwriters: Jimmy McHugh. Additionally, it's a window into an era whose notion of entertainment was clearly worlds apart from the decades to follow (the viewer can make his own judgments about its substance compared to, say, later Elvis musicals).
Belonging in the "curious": Martha Raye's version of "Mr. Paganini"--is it funny because of her slapstick schtick or because by now some of us are all too aware of Ella Fitzgerald's tour de force version of the song? In any case, it's immediately followed by Dick Haymes doing a romantic ballad that, however undistinguished as a song, serves to demonstrate why vocally he was considered by many the chief rival of Frank Sinatra.
In the category of "things you may not have known": Martha Raye, besides proving a perfect foil for Charlie Chaplin in the latter's controversial talking picture, "Monsieur Verdoux," had not only a big mouth but a talented one. In fact, a few years ago the Smithsonian Institute released a box of the best tunes along with the best performances available among the recordings from tunes belonging to the "Great American Songbook" (primarily the "standards" composed by Berlin, Kern, Gershwin, Arlen, Rodgers, Porter, etc.). For "Body and Soul," the most frequently recorded song of all time (see the website "standardsdotcom," which ranks the top 1000 tunes by number of recorded performances), the recorded performance chosen to represent the song's melody and lyrics was by guess who? (Or don't. If you don't know, you'll never guess right.) The answer: Martha Raye. Given all of the great big band divas to come out of the so-called "Swing Era," it's not all that surprising that Martha chose to follow her comic muse, but truth be told, she was a good musician and had a lovely, vibrant vocal quality.
Memorable scene: Mitzi Mayfair, a talented hoofer with an expressionless but sufficiently charismatic face and ingratiating smile to make you wonder why this was her only film, entranced by a 3rd Dick Haymes' musical valentine while she's smoking a cigarette (think a young Judy Garland in the same situation). She doesn't miss a puff or a pass--maybe a minor Oscar performance at that! (in the immediately ensuing scene she's the helmeted recipient of Haymes' kissing her in a trench with explosives overhead).
They sure don't make 'em like this any more.
Description of Four Jills in a Jeep
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