It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Bring Your Smile Along (1955) – Musical #780

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Blake Edwards

Starring:
Frankie Laine, Keefe Brasselle, Constance Towers, Lucy Marlow, William Leslie, Mario Siletti, Ruth Warren, Jack Albertson, Barrie Chase (uncredited)

Plot:
New England high school teacher Nancy Willow (Towers) wants to try her hand at becoming a lyricist and goes to New York City for three months to see if she can succeed. While staying at the same boarding house, she meets composer Marty Adams (Brasselle) and singer Jerry Dennis (Laine) who are looking for a lyricist. She overhears their music, jots down a lyric and forms a friendship with them and they write a few songs together. However, their working relationship is hindered when Marty falls for Nancy, who has a boyfriend (Leslie) back home at the high school where she works.

Trivia:
• First feature film of Constance Towers, who has an “introducing” credit
• Director Blake Edwards’s first feature film.
• Blake Edwards and Richard Quine wrote this film specifically for singer Frankie Laine. This was his fifth feature film role, but the first time Laine didn’t play himself.

Highlights:
• Constance Towers singing
• Frankie Laine in an acting role
• Technicolor cinematography

Notable Songs:
• “Bring Your Smile Along” performed by Frankie Laine
• “If Spring Never Comes” performed by Frankie Laine
• “Don’t Blame Me” performed by Constance Towers
• “Mama Mia” performed by Frankie Laine

My review:
Today, classic film fans and Criterion Collection lovers largely know Constance Towers for her off-beat roles in Samuel Fuller films, such as THE NAKED KISS and SHOCK CORRIDOR. I feel her musical theater career is often overlooked, especially because we didn’t get many musical film roles from Towers, so this week’s Musical Monday offers a rare treat to see and hear Towers sing!

This rarity was a feature film debut for Constance Towers and for director Blake Edwards.

The plot follows high school teacher, Nancy (Constance Towers) who is putting her teaching career on hold for three months so she can see if she can make it in New York City as a lyricist. She leaves behind her fiancé David (William Leslie), who is also a teacher at the school. When she finds a place to stay at a boarding house, she meets composer Marty Adams (Keefe Brasselle) and singer Jerry Dennis (Frankie Laine), who are in need of a lyricist. The three collaborate successfully, building Jerry’s stature as a singer. There’s one problem, Marty falls for Nancy, complicating their working relationship.

BRING YOUR SMILE ALONG (1955) is a charming, pleasant film filled with great songs.

Towers glitters and while she gets to sing, I do wish she got to sing more songs. Because the real musical star of this film is singer Frankie Laine, as the movie was written by Blake Edwards and actor-writer-director Richard Quine specifically for Laine.

While I’ve heard Laine sing dozens of times, this was the first time I’ve seen him act in a feature film role, that was more than a singing cameo. This was a fairly rare acting role for Laine — only one of two — as after a brief acting stint, he decided to focus more on his singing career. This is a bit disappointing, because Laine is really charming in this. There is a scene where Laine performs with a group of kids and his mannerisms and talking reminded me of Bing Crosby’s film roles. I’m not sure if this was intentional on the writers part or not.

The only downside of this film to me is Keefe Brasselle, as I’m really just not a fan. Ever since I watched him in the Eddie Cantor biopic, he hasn’t done much for me. I just wish she had a better leading man than him.

It is also an interesting film since this was Blake Edwards’s directorial debut as he worked with his mentor, Richard Quine.

“I recognized very early on that [directing was] where the control was. And it was more fun for me, too,” Edwards is quoted by his biographer.

Now you may be asking, “How can I see this film?” and searching on Netflix or Prime upon closing this tab. I’m sorry to say, as of Sept. 2024, you won’t find the movie there. It appears the last time it was shown on Turner Classic Movies was in 2009, and it hasn’t had a DVD or VHS release that I could find. So how did I watch it? A seller on eBay, and if you’re eager to see it, you can find it there too. Though I’ll caution you, the first five minutes, the sound wasn’t synched but thankfully it all worked out. As I’ve mentioned — not all movies are easy to find. Most aren’t! So sometimes you have to do some sleuthing to find the films you really want to see.

Overall, I really enjoyed BRING YOUR SMILE ALONG, and it’s an interesting curio as it kicked of the directorial career of Blake Edwards. It’s also film with pleasant songs and a fun plot.

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