Red Skelton doesn't have to pander exhaustedly to an audience's collective funny bone for big laughs: his smudgy, rubbery face and double takes are amusing even when taken out of the screwball format. Here, director George Sidney has Skelton doing a ballet number complete with tutu, outwitting a Great Dane while dressed in drag, and mugging outrageously in a pantomime bit poking fun at a lady's morning ritual. All this while a reedy-thin plot--about a lovestruck man following his would-be wife to an all-girl college--plays out absentmindedly, with much of the emphasis on live bands, Latin American rhythms, singing and dancing, and organ music. There's also Esther Williams in and out of the swimming pool; her first major movie role as Skelton's true love was probably meant to show off her girlish pluck, yet she treats Red so poorly, he seems better off without her. Skelton, whose tight smile and worried little grimaces remind one of Robin Williams in his youth, is such an ingratiating presence that one can almost overlook the nastiness behind the narrative--that the entire faculty is against having him at the school and is conspiring to throw him out. The music helps plug up the holes, and the color production shimmers with that unmistakable 1940s glamor, but there are very few laughs here. *1/2 from ****