The Merry Monahans

US (1944): Comedy/Musical

Musicals of this era, especially backstage ones, were formulaic, but this had a twist. Monahan (Jack Oakie) is tricked out of marrying his love (Rosemary DeCamp). Years later, abandoned by his wife, he is a hit act with his two teen-aged children (Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan). The widowed DeCamp with daughter, Ann Blyth, comes back into his life but another marriage is thwarted. Meanwhile, O'Connor romances Blyth. It is a treat to see Blyth in one of four films she made this year, her first in Hollywood and just before her star turn in Mildred Pierce (1945), but the real star is O'Connor. At the ripe old age of 19 (his first film was in 1937 at the age of twelve), he here displays his expert talents as hoofer and crooner and a perfectly honed sense of comic timing. He is the real star of the film, which is homey and entertaining. This is for all fans of the backstage musical but especially those of Blyth and O'Connor. (Arne Andersen, IMDb)

· Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture) 1944: Hans J. Salter

1 nomination