The only reason I'm giving this an 8 is or Ray Milland's fair representation of playing the drums in the opening sequence, I was impressed with that.. He *mostly* hit the skins at the same time the sound hit the speakers, and if he was actually playing the trap kit I would not be surprised.
As for being a musical remake of 1937's "The Awful Truth" - Well, "In the Good Old Summertime" was not a very good re-make of "The Shop Around The Corner" either, even though it has some good Judy songs in it- Or, "High. Society" for "The Philadelphia Story"- The originals of those romantic comedies were fine just the way they were, and did not need to be remade, especially the worst one of the 50's - "Bundle of Joy" (Remake of the hilarious "Bachelor Mother").
I never understood why, in the 50's, when there were so many innovations in film: Widescreen, Stereo Sound, and Comfortable Theatres... that story-wise they had to regress back to the late 30's and re-hash films that had already worked once, with performances by actors and actresses whose performances could not ever be reproduced.
Even so, there are a couple of things in this that are swell, for one thing Jane looks great and is on no lost weekend with Ray. The music is also good, the songs are actually well chosen and appropriate. Finally, Aldo Ray is almost as good as "The Hick" as Ralph Bellamy was in the original.
So after getting over my initial revulsion of having to sit through yet another musical remake, I'd say this film is OK, especially for Columbia, which seems to fork out a good movie once every 5 years (true for the 50's as well as the 2000's)- But that little bit with Ray Milland playing Drums just about makes up for anything bad about the film.
As for being a musical remake of 1937's "The Awful Truth" - Well, "In the Good Old Summertime" was not a very good re-make of "The Shop Around The Corner" either, even though it has some good Judy songs in it- Or, "High. Society" for "The Philadelphia Story"- The originals of those romantic comedies were fine just the way they were, and did not need to be remade, especially the worst one of the 50's - "Bundle of Joy" (Remake of the hilarious "Bachelor Mother").
I never understood why, in the 50's, when there were so many innovations in film: Widescreen, Stereo Sound, and Comfortable Theatres... that story-wise they had to regress back to the late 30's and re-hash films that had already worked once, with performances by actors and actresses whose performances could not ever be reproduced.
Even so, there are a couple of things in this that are swell, for one thing Jane looks great and is on no lost weekend with Ray. The music is also good, the songs are actually well chosen and appropriate. Finally, Aldo Ray is almost as good as "The Hick" as Ralph Bellamy was in the original.
So after getting over my initial revulsion of having to sit through yet another musical remake, I'd say this film is OK, especially for Columbia, which seems to fork out a good movie once every 5 years (true for the 50's as well as the 2000's)- But that little bit with Ray Milland playing Drums just about makes up for anything bad about the film.