Wabash Avenue (1950)
8/10
Grable leads knock out chorus line
25 February 2010
Ruby Summers (Betty Grable) plays the main attraction at a Chicago burlesque theater run by Mike Stanley (Phil Harris), when Andy Clark (Victor Mature) an old acquaintance, shows up. Set around the turn of the century, with references to Oscar Hammerstein and the suffragette movement (a scene with Margaret Hamilton playing the leader of a militant band intent on wiping out these kinds of establishments leads her girls into Harris' club). The film has numerous musical numbers with Grable dressed up in some stunning outfits, as she sings and dances across the stage backed up by knock-out chorus line girls. The arrival of Harrigan (James Barton) as a heavy drinking tap dancer, energizes an already fast paced film. Phil Harris' part as the slightly crooked owner of the club is great as he and Mature outmaneuver each other for Grable, who looks great in the outfits, with the whole thing glamorized by lush Technicolor.
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