Review of Isn't It Romantic

This somewhat tedious musical comedy from director Norman Z. McLeod has at least one supreme virtue, namely the intoxicatingly beautiful photography by Lionel Lindon. Lindon is the only Hollywood photographer I know who managed to rise from his grave and direct the photography of two movies after his death. Lindon died in 1971, yet supposedly directed photography on a TV movie, "Don't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready" in 1977, and then made another TV movie, "The Meanest Men in the West" in 1978. The answer to this conundrum is probably that Lindon photographed these TV films before he died, but for some reason (Censorship? Tied up in legal proceedings?) the films were not aired until six or seven years later. Getting back to our musical comedy, Isn't It Romantic?, aside from Lindon's alluringly beautiful black-and-white photography, the movie has not a great deal to recommend it. Not only is the script somewhat tedious, plot-wise, but equally hackneyed and uninspired in its characterizations. And as for the interminable and super-boring dialogue… The movie looked so promising from its credits too. Hard to believe that Veronica Lake, Billy De Wolfe, Roland Culver and Pearl Bailey could deliver such lackluster performances! And alack and alas, the songs are equally uninspired! In short, "Isn't It Romantic?" is anything but romantic. In fact, it's almost a total bore!