In 1953, while so many good musicals, and not just at MGM, are integrating their scores, plots, and production designs, this Paramount oddity is a real throwback. All the songs, by a variety of hands, are "diegetic," i.e., stage-presentation numbers that have nothing to do with plot. Which may be just as well, since the plot is such a schizophrenic affair. It's about mom Agnes Moorehead (in an uncharacteristically humorless, uninteresting performance) squiring her four daughters to the Yukon in 1898, not aware that their dad has been murdered, and their falsely blaming saloon owner Gene Barry for it. The motivations are as scattershot as the intended 3D effects; when prettiest daughter Rhonda Fleming ends up with Barry, Moorehead glows with delight, even though she's hated him for most of the movie, because, well, it's time for fadeout and we need a happy ending. Teresa Brewer, with the best songs, is spunky and appealing, and Guy Mitchell, with a lovely voice, is more effective than he was the following year in another odd Paramount musical, "Red Garters." The tone's now-somber, now-boisterous, and the western and musical motifs do not blend well.
Review of Those Redheads from Seattle
