Somebody Loves Me (1952) User Reviews (16)

Benny And Blossom

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 November 2009]

For Betty Hutton's last film with Paramount and her next to last appearance on the big screen altogether she plays the fourth and last of four real people she was cast in her career as. Betty plays Blossom Seeley vaudeville and musical comedy star who was still performing when this film was made. Betty's other real life characters on screen were Annie Oakley, Pearl White, and Texas Guinan. However unlike Seeley, the other three women were deceased when films about them were made.

Not only was Seeley still around, but so was her husband Benny Fields who was in ill health pretty much at that time. And one guy who is not mentioned at all in the film is Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Rube Marquard. He was Blossom Seeley's second husband, she had two of them before she met Fields. That part of the story is not told, but her first husband was a gentleman named George Kane whom she left for Marquard. The notoriety of baseball and show business was equivalent to Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe in that time and Alex Rodriguez and Madonna in the present day. Marquard used to appear with her in vaudeville and he outlived both Blossom and Benny living to the ripe old age of 93 and dying in 1980.

But that was all in the past when most of this film's action takes place. Blossom is a big star who decides to expand the act by hiring a trio to perform with her that includes, Ralph Meeker, Sid Tomack, and Henry Slate. But Meeker wants to make it a duo.

Meeker's part as Benny Fields is poorly written and should have been played by a singer. It would have been great had Betty Hutton got Frank Sinatra as she wanted. Meeker's part is written as a heel, but Fields and Seeley were an established team still known in 1952. Sounds like the writers and director couldn't figure out how Meeker should come across. The unknown singer they got for Meeker sounded reasonably like Benny Fields.

And Blossom Seeley's style was as brassy as Betty Hutton's was so her casting was no stretch. In fact Betty and her numbers are the best thing about Somebody Loves Me. Starting with the title song, the score is made up of period standards plus three new songs by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

There is a short that Warner Brothers made of the two of them right around the time they were introducing The Jazz Singer. It's the only record of their act around and I did do a review of it. I remember as a lad watching the Ed Sullivan Show and seeing Blossom Seeley performing well into the Sixties. I appreciate now that I saw one of vaudeville's last remaining stars still performing in her seventies. You can also see Blossom in the Russ Columbo film, Broadway Through A Keyhole where she has a supporting role.

Though Rube Marquard was edited out of Blossom's life for this movie, probably at his request, and Ralph Meeker is miscast, Somebody Loves Me is definitely a film that Betty Hutton's fans will enjoy.

Those Crazy, Mixed-Up Kids!

[boblipton · 6/10 · 29 January 2018]

Did Ralph Meeker do his own singing in this movie? He had been a music major in college, so it's possible, and rendered more likely to my twisty mind because his singing voice is nothing at all like his speaking voice. Anyway, this movie starts off in 1906, with Betty Hutton as Blossom Seeley about to debut, but the San Francisco Earthquake intervenes. After a brief interlude in which a temperamental star tries to steal "Toddling the Todalo", she becomes a great star herself and in a couple of minutes and one medley, we get to the armistice and Mr. Meeker; another half hour and they get married, but he isn't standing for being "Mr. Seeley", so he has to be a big success on his own, making everyone miserable.

Like many another biopic the amount of truth in this picture is debatable. The point is to hear those good old songs, which had fallen out of favor, and they're well performed, with some nice choreography. More than that, this was an attempt to recast Betty Hutton's screen image. She had come into the movies fourteen years earlier as a jitterbug wailing "Dipsy Doodle", but for the past seven years, Paramount had taken notice of the fact that she was over 21. She's definitely an adult in this movie, and quite lovely and talented, but this was the last movie on her Paramount contract.

Strictly for musical / early vaudeville buffs; possibly unendurable for others

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 15 September 2020]

I was tempted to say that it's also for fans of Betty Hutton, who is in noticeably great shape and fashions some fabulous costumes, but I am a fan of Hutton and I barely made it through; there is almost no story, the dramatics are perfunctory, and the never-ending songs enter one ear and exit the other. ** out of 4.

Betty Hutton ... Sensational

[drednm · 14 July 2012]

In her last major film, Betty Hutton gives a great performance in the story of Blossom Seeley, a legendary star of the early 20th century.

Subduing her usual bop character for the more sedate style of Blossom Seeley, Betty Hutton perfectly captures the mood and pace of the teens and 20s. Singing some great standards and few new songs, Hutton exudes warmth and an era long gone. Blossom Seeley was a major star of the early 20th century, one of the biggest vaudeville stars.

Seeley made a few film appearances, her best being a Vitaphone short in 1928 with Benny Fields. This short film is available on DVD.

Hutton looks great, sings great, and turns in a boffo performance. Ralph Meeker is dubbed and seems uncomfortable in a musical. Solid support from Robert Keith, Billie Bird, Sid Tomack, and Henry Slate.

Sadly, this was the end of Betty Hutton's studio career in Hollywood. She made this film the same year as starring in THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. She made several TV specials and guest appearances but appeared in only one more film: 1957's SPRING REUNION. One of the biggest stars of the 40s, she was tossed aside by the studio system.

Hutton's performance in this films ranks among her best. Worth a look to see one great star impersonating another great star.

Somebody Loves Me

[sophieoscarcat · 8/10 · 10 October 2006]

Betty Hutton sings all or part (medleys) of about 18 songs, the final documentation of Hutton at her best. The film biog was certainly routine and Ralph Meeker, a non-singer, dubbed, was miscast. He had a role somewhat like that of James Mason in Star is Born but nowhere the talent. He was dubbed with a Bing Crosby-like singing voice that also did not fit. Hutton was a spitfire in the dramatic scenes but Meeker was weak. I have read that the role was offered to Frank Sinatra but he was otherwise engaged in a film. What a different film it would have been. Sparks would have flown rather than the sparks coming only from the magnetic, truly one of a kind star, Betty Hutton. She did have vocal cord surgery and it left her not at all diminished and rather with more 'color.' As the years wore on her voice fragmented too rapidly because of the surgery, leaving her with little range by the late 1950's. Still, as of a few years ago on TCM when she was interviewed in depth, she was funny, poignant, incredibly honest and forthright. I have everything I can get on Betty - an incredible talent, never to be seen again.

Far far away from the best

[pacificgroove · 3/10 · 14 December 2010]

At the time I'm writing this, late 2010, there are 6 glowing reviews of this film on IMDb, all seem like they are written by the same person, a big Betty Hutton fan and fan of this film. Netlix recently put this on their watch instantly list and I watched about half.

Somebody Loves Me is completely undistinguished, barely mediocre, far from Hutton's best, and lightyears inferior to Singin' In The Rain, made the same year. Hutton sings well, but the songs are a bore, mostly very old fashioned material. The script is third rate; at least Warners, and occasionally MGM, made well written and emotionally moving musical bio's; this one is bland.

Ralph Meeker is badly miscast, he brims with dangerous macho sex appeal, perfect for Mike Hammer, all wrong for this picture. And he "sings" several songs; the vocal double is a complete mismatch, though if you'd wanted someone to imitate Bing Crosby, the singer was just about perfect.

Betty's costumes are gorgeous, but the rest of the production, including musical numbers, looks cheap.

One interesting aspect, Hutton plays a character who is somewhat of a prima donna, demanding and self absorbed. Apparently this is a mild version of the real Betty Hutton.

Her last big film and one of her best

[timmauk · 10/10 · 10 April 2001]

Betty Hutton was one of the greatest musical performers of her day. Not only did she sing great but she could be funny/serious at a drop of a hat. This was her last major film before she walked out of Paramount(her studio) and eventually left movies.

Here she is playing stage star Blossom Seeley. The acting is good and the script is typical for a Bio-pic. A nice little story with some good musical numbers. I saw this one many years ago and enjoyed it. Maybe the reason it didn't do so well at the Box Office is because she is playing an almost all dramatic role here. If you have seen any of her other films, you know that Betty Hutton is best loved for her comedic talent.

If you love Betty Hutton, then this is a must see(8/10). If you want something to pass the time with, and you like musicals, then you might enjoy this one(6/10).

one of Betty's best

[tday-1 · 10/10 · 20 December 2006]

Betty's last major film for her home studio Pararmount was one of her best. Her acting is toned down,her singing is warm and mellow. Vocal surgery had kept her from the shouting type of singing she did so in a way this was a more mature role for her. Ralph Meeker is good as her husband Benny Fields. The sets,costumes and color are very lush and typical of the big studio's fifties product. Billy Bird is a riot as Betty's companion. Ironically,in real life Blossom Seely did retire so Benny Fields could be the star of the family but his career fizzled and he retired a year later,also. There was a soundtrack issued at the time but it hasn't resurfaced. I never was a big fan of Hutton's but thought her role in this film was very good.

Betty In Blossom

[gmoffatt · 10/10 · 8 May 2006]

This was Betty Hutton's last major film at Paramount and she gave her all playing Blossom Seeley. She looked beautiful and was singing better than ever. Blossom worked with Betty on the songs and movements. If Paramount ever releases this film on DVD, it would be a good idea to track down some of Blossom's early musical shorts and include them. Blossom's partner, Benny Fields, is played by Ralph Meeker and he does a fine job with his numbers. His singing is dubbed by Pat Morgan, but it's a good match. Betty wanted Frank Sinatra. Great idea. Too bad it didn't happen, but everything turned out quite well and it's one of my favorite movies starring my favorite bombshell. There are nearly 20 songs and maybe someday there will be a decent soundtrack released on CD. The 10 inch LP that RCA put out at the time was a very sloppy mix of Paramount studio tracks and RCA studio sessions. You can hear the splices.

A terrific movie, and a terrific Hutton!

[constanceg58 · 10/10 · 14 May 2008]

Somebody Loves Me is a terrific vehicle for Betty Hutton, who in turn elevates an undistinguished script by being simply sensational in each musical number of the film. She is gorgeous in this movie, and her singing was never better, especially the title song plus 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans", "San Fransisco Bay", "Rose Garden" and "Dixie Dream".

As everyone knows, Betty Hutton has no peer in belting out a song, but she also has the most amazing ability to sing a torch song or a ballad in such a way as to break your heart. She was always under-appreciated--probably because her films didn't benefit from the big budgets that MGM put into their musicals--but if you watch 'Somebody Loves Me', I think you'll agree that no one was better in making entertaining musicals.

God bless her soul.

Hutton always entertains

[earlytalkie · 25 October 2011]

This film is noted as the last of the big Betty Hutton films before her first "retirement" from the spotlight. The story is a biography of the famous Vaudevillian Blossom Seeley and her husband Benny Fields. What really distinguishes this film is the soundtrack of Betty's singing of a bushel of old-time songs in her inimitable style. She acts with her usual panache. Ralph Meeker plays Benny Fields in much the same way that John Lund played Betty's paramour in "The Perils of Pauline." Billie Bird is a standout as Essie, Blossoms' friend and confidant. Betty would come out of her "retirement" to play in the 1957 film "Spring Reunion" and then appear in the 1959-60 CBS sitcom "The Betty Hutton Show."

Enjoyable

[llewis001 · 8/10 · 9 May 2015]

Without making comparisons, I've always delighted in this film -- and I saw it when it was first released. Betty Hutton does an excellent job without the need for "Murder He Says" or "His Rocking Horse Ran Away" kinds of songs, singing with a style that seems to me to be historical Seeley. Some say that Ralph Meeker's singing voice was dubbed, yet IMDb indicates on the "Soundtracks" section that his songs were sung by Ralph Meeker. I read somewhere that Meeker in school had studied music theory somewhere along the line. Whosever voice it is, the style seems to be quite like Benny Fields' style. Fields, as I remember, was a big, seemingly athletic kind of guy and Meeker, IMO, fits the mold quite well. The music from the era is fun. For me, the movie is always enjoyable to view.

Somebodies loved her

[weezeralfalfa · 9/10 · 4 June 2017]

WARNING: This film includes a musical number done in blackface. If that offends you, avoid this film or shut your eyes during this performance.

This musical romance is practically the only Hollywood film I know of(aside from "With a Song in my Heart) where the music is virtually non-stop from beginning to end, occasionally interrupted by segments of the drama, which is mainly about the growing relationship between performers Blossom Seeley(Betty Hutton),and Benny Fields(Ralph Meeker). This film was meant as a tribute to these two popular entertainers during their early careers, beginning with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Betty sings solo or with Ralph for most of the songs, with Ralph getting the occasional solo. According to other reviewers, his singing was dubbed, perhaps also his piano playing?

For those put off by Betty's frequent mugging and "overacting" in many of her films, you can be assured that she keeps this to a minimum here, perhaps in deference to the singing style of Blossom.

Henry Slate and Sid Tomack represent a couple of performing partners of Benny when Blossom discovers him. They join Blossom's team for a short while, with their comical musical performances.

Jack Benny briefly appears, his main function being to announce the marriage of Blossom and Benny Fields. Later, these 2 get a "Good luck" telegram from Jack, sent COD. That's in keeping with Jack's public image of being extraordinarily stingy.

When Betty(Blossom) complains about Benny's periodic disappearing act because he wants to show he can make it on his own, confident Billie Bird quips that her problem with her husband was that he wouldn't run away.

Many of the songs were only briefly sung. However, the blackface production was rather lengthy...The film ends with Betty and Ralph singing the title song, previously composed by the Gershwins.

See it in color at YouTube.

Quite a story line

[rderrico · 10/10 · 13 July 2021]

Some decent twists and turns. Worth watching.the acting, storyline are solid. Hutton is excellent and likable.

Ghost Singer

[cfolsen-19635 · 30 April 2019]

The singing voice of Benny Fields was filled by Canadian singer Pat Morgan. Pat was not very well known outside of Canada. He was frequently on radio and TV. He was featured on CBC shows "Some of those days" and the "Music Hall" show that alternated with the "Irish Rovers" show.

Lots of people love Betty Hutton

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 12 April 2023]

Betty Hutton burst on to the Hollywood scene about ten years before she made this biopic. She had a meteoric rise and fall at Paramount. By most accounts, including her own, she was notoriously difficult to work with on set. Probably because she was a perfectionist...well, that, and she could be insecure.

Despite her personality flaws, Hutton was a bonafide talent. Adept at song, dance and comedy, her hyperactive performance style went over like gangbusters with the public.

Paramount put her in a series of musical comedies and romantic comedies in the 1940s. A lot of these productions were hits at the box office, even if they were mostly forgettable. Arguably, her greatest films came at the end of her heyday, in the early 1950s.

Today people remember Hutton for the work she did on loan to MGM in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. And for a memorable collaboration with Fred Astaire in LET'S DANCE. As well as her starring role in Cecil DeMille's Oscar winning spectacle THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. She was coming off these career highs when she was assigned to do SOMEBODY LOVES ME. But this would be her last starring vehicle at the studio.

Hutton wasn't pushed out at Paramount for the reasons other people were pushed out. She had not actually run her course, she was not past her prime. In fact she was in the middle of a lucrative contract. She left Paramount because she was embroiled in a dispute with upper management over the type of material and treatment she was getting. In frustration, she did what Alice Faye had done at Fox at the height of her popularity...she walked out.

When you walk out on the big kahunas in Hollywood, you usually pay the piper. And Betty Hutton did. After leaving Paramount, she was blackballed and her career quickly lost momentum. She would be lucky to get hired in low-budget independent films, or to find sporadic work on TV in the years that followed. Some of Hutton's downfall involved her off-screen addictions, but that's another set of issues. She retreated from the limelight, though she never lost her zest for performing and entertaining.

As a big budget biopic, SOMEBODY LOVES ME is a decent enough effort. Hutton is cast as an old-time vaudeville star named Blossom Seeley who made a name for herself in the 1910s and helped bring jazz and ragtime into the mainstream. Seeley formed a team with another singer of the era, Benny Fields, whom she married. Seeley & Field's partnership is chronicled in the movie, and there are some nice moments...such as a sequence with Jack Benny who used to perform in the same places as them.

For the role of Benny Fields, Paramount borrowed Ralph Meeker from MGM, a surprising choice to costar opposite Betty Hutton. Surprising because Meeker was a disciple of the Method (he had been directed by Elia Kazan on Broadway, when tapped to fill in for Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire). Meeker's acting style couldn't have been more different from Hutton's if you tried.

Also, Meeker was not exactly musically inclined, and the role of Benny Fields requires musical talent. Despite these obvious discrepancies, Meeker does manage to register a fair amount of chemistry alongside Hutton, so it's not a total wash...and SOMEBODY LOVES ME was a hit for Paramount.

Musical biopics were in vogue in the 1940s and early 1950s. Hutton had previously played Texas Guinan in INCENDIARY BLONDE. Audiences liked to be reminded of their favorite old-time entertainers from yesteryear...people like Texas Guinan, Al Jolson, Blossom Seeley and Benny Fields. It was escapist entertainment for moviegoers who were needing a nostalgia fix.