At his best, Cole Porter wrote some wonderful musicals. *Panama Hattie* was not one of them. It ran for 500+ performances in the early 1940s, in large part because Ethel Merman starred. It produced no great songs. Perhaps the closest was "I've Still Got My Health."
Still, MGM decided to turn it into a movie, granted with a good but not great cast: Ann Southern, Dan Dailey, Red Skelton, Virginia O'Brian, etc. All fine performers, but not A-level stars in 1942. The result is a mixed bag.
For me, the best thing was one of the inserted numbers, Lena Horne singing "Just One of Those Things" from a different Porter show. (Her other inserted number, late in the movie, "The Sping," is a waste of time and talent.) Ann Southern is much better in "Lady Be Good" from the same period. Most of the rest left me uninterested.
The last number, a patriotic number meant to inspire moviegoers to buy war bonds on their way out of the theater, is a complete dud. That sort of thing had been, and would be, done so much better in other movies made during the war, but here it's a flop.
If you have something to keep you busy, like arranging your sox, this might be good background sound. Otherwise, it's pretty much of a waste.
Still, MGM decided to turn it into a movie, granted with a good but not great cast: Ann Southern, Dan Dailey, Red Skelton, Virginia O'Brian, etc. All fine performers, but not A-level stars in 1942. The result is a mixed bag.
For me, the best thing was one of the inserted numbers, Lena Horne singing "Just One of Those Things" from a different Porter show. (Her other inserted number, late in the movie, "The Sping," is a waste of time and talent.) Ann Southern is much better in "Lady Be Good" from the same period. Most of the rest left me uninterested.
The last number, a patriotic number meant to inspire moviegoers to buy war bonds on their way out of the theater, is a complete dud. That sort of thing had been, and would be, done so much better in other movies made during the war, but here it's a flop.
If you have something to keep you busy, like arranging your sox, this might be good background sound. Otherwise, it's pretty much of a waste.