Lovely to Look At (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Mervyn LeRoyRelease Date(s)
1952 (October 14, 2025)Studio(s)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Warner Archive Collection)- Film/Program Grade: B-
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: C+
Review
MGM scored big bucks and a Best Picture Oscar with An American in Paris in 1951. They also did well with a remake of Show Boat, with a score by Jerome Kern. Hoping to mine the same vein of box office gold, the studio used the stars of Show Boat, the setting of Paris with sets recycled from An American in Paris, and another Kern score in the lush Technicolor musical Lovely to Look At.
Partners Al Marsh (Red Skelton), Tony Naylor (Howard Keel) and Jerry Ralby (Gower Champion) are having no success trying to raise money to produce a Broadway show. Suddenly, Al gets surprising news that he has inherited part ownership of a Parisian fashion salon. He and his partners figure that if Al sells his share of the salon, they’d have enough money to mount their show. They set out for Paris, their hopes high, bringing along Al’s girlfriend, showgirl Bubbles Cassidy (Ann Miller).
In Paris, they discover that the salon, Roberta’s, is in financial straits. Co-owners Stephanie (Kathryn Grayson) and Clarisse (Marge Champion) have done their best to keep the salon in business but can’t meet the demands of creditor Max Fogelsby (Kurt Kaszner) for repayment of a loan. Al and his partners convince Fogelsby that if they could produce an extravaganza in Paris combining music and dance with fashion, the show would transfer to Broadway and solve everyone’s money woes.
This continental variation on “let’s put on a show” benefits from a wonderful score by Jerome Kern, sumptuous gowns by MGM’s resident fashion designer Adrian, and a lush, often gaudy extended finale. Grayson’s crystalline soprano and Keel’s macho baritone do justice to the songs but as on-screen lovers, they don’t generate much heat, and seem distracted or even bored. They duet on You’re Devastating; Keel sings Lovely to Look At to Grayson, his image appearing to her in four dressing room mirrors; and Grayson solos on the beautiful Yesterdays and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Grayson is stiff in her role and seems to come into the story only when a song is needed. The screen chemistry they shared so believably in Show Boat is gone. Keel comes across as stuffy and seems an odd partner for Skelton and Champion, who both look more relaxed.
Red Skelton, who was cast in several MGM musicals around this time, offers comic relief but lacks the inventiveness of some of his later TV work. During the finale, his character serves as a bumbling master of ceremonies tripping over props, bumping into curtains, and nearly knocking over performers. The slapstick is pure cornball and elicits raised eyebrows more than laughs. The only non-singing, non-dancing performer, he’s charged with being funny, but the script by George Wells and Harry Ruby lets him down.
Ann Miller and Marge and Gower Champion infuse a needed shot of solid showmanship to their numbers. Miller solos on the semi-naughty I’ll Be Hard to Handle dressed in sparkles and feathers and performs one of her lightning-fast tap numbers. The Champions have fun in a dressmaker’s studio with I Won’t Dance. Even as Marge protests, “I won’t dance, don’t ask me,” the couple perform a cheery routine around and through dress racks and rolling mannequins. The number peps the film up considerably. They also score with their lush, ethereal duet to an instrumental version of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Starting in a cafe, the shot tightens as a breakaway set moves away to reveal a star-studded dreamlike universe that seems to go on forever. Camera work in this sequence is especially artful as high angles accentuate the couple’s graceful moves.
Zsa Zsa Gabor has a small role as Zsa Zsa, Fogelsby’s girlfriend and passionate lover of champagne. She has little to do but laugh and sip the bubbly, but her delicate beauty is enough to light up the screen.
The piece de resistance of Lovely to Look At is the long fashion show finale staged by Vincente Minnelli. Scores of models flaunt luxurious outfits designed by Adrian amid constantly moving scenery carried by costumed extras. The Champions once again take the stage with a sultry, jazzy routine, making use of the sets to soar through doors, climb walls, and leap across the stage. Technicolor is milked to full advantage with bold primary hues dominating the sets while the gowns display a broad palette. A budget of $100,000 was allocated for the 40 gowns showcased (equivalent to $1,222,550 today). Skelton’s clowning during this number is a distraction and disrupts the sense of sheer elegance that’s required.
Lovely to Look At is a remake of the 1935 musical Roberta, which starred Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were the secondary leads. That film was based on the 1933 stage play of the same name. Lovely to Look At altered the plot from both the play and the prior musical to emphasize comedy and retain some of the best songs. MGM bought the remake rights from RKO in the mid-1940s, planning to make a Technicolor version, but the project languished and Roberta was kept out of circulation for several years.
Director Mervyn LeRoy assembled a first-rate cast, but the story is a rehash of trite musical comedy plots for musicals given some flair with the Paris setting and the high-fashion finale. It’s interesting to note that the same year Lovely to Look At was made, Singin’ in the Rain was also being filmed—one dominated by multiple stars and visual excess, the other based on an engaging story, lots of humor, and classic musical numbers. Singin’ in the Rain was the greater winner at the box office while Lovely to Look At made only a small profit.
Lovely to Look At was shot by director of photography George J. Folsey on 35mm film with spherical lenses, finished photochemically by Technicolor, and presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.37:1. The Blu-ray is sourced from a new 4K scan of the original Technicolor camera negative. It’s pristine, with sharp details. Complexions are rendered naturally, and both Grayson’s and Miller’s make-up enhances peachy skin tones. Miller’s lavender showgirl costume in the I’ll Be Hard to Handle number and Marge Champion’s ball gown in the Smoke Gets in Your Eyes dance are standouts. The color palette is broad and includes myriad hues in the gowns showcased in the finale, and vibrant tones in the sets. The backlot fills in for actual Paris locations. There’s a bit of special-effects flair when Howard Keel sings to Kathryn Grayson from four different mirrors, and Gower Champion incorporates considerable athletic flair in the finale.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio. English SDH subtitles are an option. Dialogue is clear and easily understood. Only one person in the film speaks with a French accent—a hotel employee in New York who translates the letter to Al informing him that he’s inherited a share in a Paris couture salon. The musical numbers feature lovely arrangements for the ballads and upbeat tempos for the novelty songs. The mono soundtrack doesn’t allow the musical numbers to be heard at their optimum, but the orchestrations are quite good.
Bonus materials on the Blu-ray release from the Warner Archive Collection include the following:
- Have You Ever Wondered? (9:53)
- Dog Trouble (7:57)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3:17)
Have You Ever Wondered? – In this Pete Smith Specialty starring Dave O’Brien, beliefs are comically spoofed in staged scenarios. A woman driver’s ability is compared to a man’s; a fellow is shown eating foods together that usually aren’t eaten that way; methods of getting the right gumball out of a dispensing machine are explored; the origin of the phrase “Knock on wood” is traced back to caveman times; and techniques are shown to keep a toupee in place.
Dog Trouble – In this 1942 Technicolor MGM cartoon directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Tom the cat chases Jerry the mouse directly into sleeping bulldog Spike. Unhappy at having his slumber disturbed, Spike chases Tom, much to Jerry’s amusement. With a common foe, the two traditional enemies join forces to get Spike into trouble. With Spike no longer a worry, Tom and Jerry go back to their usual mischief.
Lovely to Look At isn’t one of MGM’s better musicals. It’s lavishly produced, features astonishing production design and costumes, classic Jerome Kern melodies, and some fancy footwork by Ann Miller and Marge and Gower Champion. Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel, the Jeannette McDonald and Nelson Eddy of the 1950s, deliver their songs well but never look comfortable together. Red Skelton hams it up mercilessly, failing to give the picture the comedy lift it could use. The film is worth seeing if only for the splendid dance numbers and that huge production number finale.
- Dennis Seuling