Radio singing star, Eve Porter, wants a vacation during her show's summer hiatus, but her manager and press have booked her for additional work. She refuses and goes to Las Vegas. When she finds them there hunting her down, she manages to escape them by hiding in the car of a newspaper reporter. She comes out of hiding while he is driving, but everything she says is misconstrued, making him believe that she is a recently-escaped convict, "The Singing Widow". He plans to use this as a story to get back into the good graces of his editor. Through some comic mishaps, he learns who she really is. He then decides to take her back to Hollywood to collect the reward for her return. But now love has entered the mix, and must be resolved with his job and her engagement to another.
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I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
A slight variation on the plot of It Happened one Night, this B musical is a chance to see Ann Miller in a mostly comic role with a few songs. Instead of an heiress however, she is a radio star desperate for a vacation who runs out on her agent and end up traveling with reporter William Wright who happens to think that she is a murderess. Sound like a plot line from I Love Lucy with guest star Elsa Lanchester? I wonder if that plot was borrowed from this, because it's closer to that more than it is the 1934 Oscar winning Best Film. Annie doesn't do much dancing here, and her singing while obviously her isn't as brassy as its was in other movies and particularly later on Broadway.at over just an hour running time, the speeds by like a night on the road, and it was perfectly charming. Annie would have better luck on Silman supporting roles in the big MGM musicals, but during her brief time as a leading lady at Columbia, she proved that she was a Alltalent to be reckoned with. Don't even try to compare Annie and Wright to Colbert and Gable, as they give this enough of a twist to make it stand out on its own.
Over-worked radio star Eve Porter (Miller) escapes celebrity whirlwind by falling into cross- country car of reporter Ward Williams (Wright) who mistakes her for a serial killer. Hi-jinks ensue, along with several songs.Ann Miller starred in a number of these low-budget wartime musicals. All that I've seen are entertaining and sprightly, thanks to her general sparkle and likability, and I expect all made money— (Columbia knew what it was doing). This one is not front rank—the songs are undistinguished and without Ann's trademark toe-tapping zip. The romance, however, is a cute mix-up where Ward mistakes Eve for a serial killer, of all things. Wright is an obscure leading man who unfortunately died young (38). Here, he makes a good reporter but rather bland male lead for the lively Miller. One notable feature—the hair-do's of that time. I'm wondering how long it took the ladies to coif all their hair into the elaborate buns and curls that Ann, for one, sports. I don't think there's been any style quite like it since. Anyway, someone at Columbia deserved a bonus for the cutest movie title of the year, one I certainly couldn't resist.
Poor Ann Miller . . . what was she thinking when she wanted to headline, instead of co-star, in a flick? Not content with being one of M-G-M's sturdy, yeoman supporting players, she somehow opted for this Columbia remake of It Happened One Night . . .and for that one commenter who opined, " . . . probably the original was better!" he/she needs to take Classic Hollywood Films 101 and brush up on one of the great comedies of all time. And turning that magnificent film into a musical really is someone's idea of a joke. The remake of THIS "musical," You Can't Run Away from It, is hardly any better; that is unless you like the warbling and mugging of June Allyson. Skip this one . . . William Wright is really a poverty-stricken excuse for Clark Gable and who can come close to to matching the comedic talents of Claudette Colbert? The original IHON swept the Oscars in 1935; the crew on this one is just possibly capable of sweeping the floor! . . . and WHO dubbed Ann Miller's voice?
This film has not been shown in so long that I thought maybe it was one of the lost films that are so often talked about. Recently Turner Classic Movies showed a fairly good print, so they must have gotten it out of Columbia's vault.This remake of "It Happened One Night" changes the plot enough to suit Miller's talents, but retains a few of the original plot devices. However, don't judge this film by the original. This one is strictly fluff to showcase Miller, who even though a "B" star, made plenty of money for Columbia in films like this.Miller doesn't dance at all in the film, but she does a creditable job singing four songs, and looks great (at age 22!). In her autobiography, Miller mentions good reviews she got for her singing, so I'm assuming that she didn't need dubbing. In all of her films, her singing voice sounds the same, not that this is any proof.The title must have been chosen to insinuate more to the audience than is actually delivered. Nevertheless, if you like just looking at Ann Miller, you'll enjoy this film. After all, it's only one hour long.
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