Down to Earth
Rita Hayworth really was a screen goddess in the late 1940s--so why not cast her as Terpsichore, the goddess of dance? That's the premise of this splashy Technicolor musical, which borrows some devices (and cast members) fromHere Comes Mr. Jordan. Rita descends to earth to inject authenticity into a Broadway show about Terpsichore, posing as an actress and turning the head of impresario Larry Parks (then in the brief moment between hisJolson Storysmash and his blacklisting). This leads to an overblown, pretentious out-of-town tryout, an amusing sequence that predicts the highbrow disaster inThe Band Wagon. In general, this film is funnier than its reputation, although it doesn't add up to anything and the song score is tepid (with one delightfully weird number where Rita considers bigamy with Parks and dancer Marc Platt). And Rita? Very creamy looking in a series of lavish gowns--and hardly down to earth.--Robert Horton