Musical Monday: The Stars are Singing (1953)

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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:
The Stars are Singing (1953) – Musical #848

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Rosemary Clooney, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Lauritz Melchior, Bob Williams, Tommy Morton, Fred Clark, John Archer, Mikhail Rasumny, Lloyd Corrigan, Red Dust the Dog, Ross Bagdasarian (uncredited)
Themselves: Don Wilson

Plot:
Katri Walenska (Alberghetti) is a stowaway on a ship from Poland to the United States. She jumps off the ship and swims to shore, searching for family friend, opera singer Jan Poldi (Melchoir), with the authorities hot on her trail. Katri, however, doesn’t realize the serious trouble she is now in. While looking for Jan, Katri finds entertainers, Terry Brennan (Clooney), Homer Tirdell (Homer) and Buddy Fraser (Morton) who devise a way for Katri to stay in the country.

Trivia:
• Rosemary Clooney’s first film
• Final feature film of Lauritz Melchior
• Only feature film of Bob Williams
• As an inside joke, Rosemary Clooney performs her 1951 hit song, “Come On-a My House.” The song’s co-writer, Ross Bagdasarian, appears in the film as she’s performing the song.
• The film’s world premiere was held in Rosemary Clooney’s hometown of Maysville, Kentucky.
• The working title was “Reach for the Stars.”

Highlights:
• Rosemary Clooney singing her theme song “Come On-a My House” and then saying she won’t sing it, because it will never sell a record.

Notable Songs:
• “Come On-a My House” performed by Rosemary Clooney
• “Vesti la Giubba” performed by Lauritz Melchior
• “Because” performed by Lauritz Melchior
• “Ah, Forsè lui che l’anima” performed by Anna Maria Alberghetti

My review:
There are some movies that aren’t much to speak of, but play an influential role in the career of its stars. This week’s Musical Monday is one of them.

In THE STARS ARE SINGING (1953), Anna Maria Alberghetti plays Katri Walensk, a young girl from Poland trying to travel to the United States. She’s a stowaway on a ship and jumps off the ship and swims to shore, searching for family friend, opera singer Jan Poldi (Melchoir), with the authorities hot on her trail. Katri, however, doesn’t realize the serious trouble she is now in. While looking for Jan, Katri finds entertainers, Terry Brennan (Clooney), Homer Tirdell (Homer) and Buddy Fraser (Morton) who devise a way for Katri to stay in the country.

Already a successful recording star, this film was Rosemary Clooney’s acting film debut. Though it’s her first film, the plot truly revolves around Clooney, who plays a plucky and spirited character. A highlight is hearing Clooney perform her theme song of “Come On-a My House” and then her dismissing the song and saying, “This will never make it.”

Paramount Pictures was trying to build Clooney as the next Betty Hutton, according to Bosley Crowther’s New York Times review. Crowther praises Clooney and dismissed the rest of the film as “claptrap of the most reckless and uninspired sort.”

I adore Anna Maria Alberghetti and love to see her in these films, but it’s an unfortunate display of her talents. Alberghetti was 17 and had a beautiful voice, but had a poorly written character and frankly made lots of dumbfounded faces.

“Miss Alberghetti, in pigtails and a blank, depressing look, sings one aria from “La Traviata” and a couple of folksy popular songs,” Crowther wrote. He’s not wrong.

Lauritz Melchior first appeared in MGM films when Louis B. Mayer wanted the studio to be high class. Here he plays an entirely different role of a drunk. We don’t get as much of an opportunity to hear his wonderful voice like we do in the MGM films.

As for the rest of the stars, they would’ve been better off left off the cast. This film would have been much better had we had Clooney, Alberghetti and Melchoir and not these two other dopes played by Bob Williams and Tommy Morton, who are EXCRUTIATINGLY bad.

You may be thinking, I’m not familiar with Williams or Morton. That’s because both unsurprisingly were not in very many films.

Bob Williams does this supposed comedic number THREE TIMES (THREE TIMES!!) with a dog, Red Dust the Dog, and it’s painfully unfunny.

“ Mr. Williams with his woe-begone pooch repeats and repeats a comedy routine that is disspiriting the first time around,” Crowther wrote. I’m glad we agreed.

Another bright spot is to see character actor Lloyd Corrigan, who is maybe one of the only good performers in the film. I would’ve liked to see more of that.

The thing is, Anna Maria Alberghetti is lovely and has a beautiful voice. It’s a shame she didn’t have better opportunities than this film.

THE STARS ARE SINGING truly could have better with fewer actors. It’s a shame this wasn’t better.

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