So many Golden Age Hollywood bio-pics start at the end, with some sort of testimonial dinner setting up a flashback to cover the whole story, this structural device is a genre on its own.* As here, with this largely forgotten film about a largely forgotten singer (Jane Froman). A surprisingly big deal in its day with one Oscar, five noms, (including the two femme leads); the year’s #11 grosser; TechniColor; plus 20th/Fox’s Darryl Zanuck assigning it to fave scripter Lamar Trotti. Susan Hayward (dubbed by Froman) has an easy rise up the Hit Parade, but the real drama is saved for the second half of the pic when ONE: she’s seriously injured on a WWII flight to entertain the troops in Europe, and TWO: when she falls hard for pilot (Rory Calhoun) but won’t break with loyal hubby David Wayne. Unexpectedly, the big drama involving her leg injury (other than the great Thelma Ritter as a wisecracking nurse) takes a backseat to the adult behavior attempted on the villain-free romantic triangle. If only director Walter Lang weren’t such a friction-free megger! And if only the film didn’t climax with an interminable States of the USA medley that merges seamlessly into a reprise of her signature tune at the big testimonial. Like a built-in encore we didn’t ask for. Otherwise, standard stuff.
DOUBLE-BILL: *There’s nothing inherently wrong with the full-life flashback bio-pic. For a WWII example you can’t do better than James Cagney in Michael Curtiz’s YANKEE DOODLE DANDY/’42. Froman even sings George M. Cohan’s iconic ‘Give My Regards to Broadway.’
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Nice little dramatic showcase for a very young Robert Wagner as a fan, and then a wounded soldier boy.
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