OK, first, let's get the unimportant things out of the way. The 1945 musical remake of "State Fair" is indeed as corny as one might imagine (appropriate, perhaps, considering that Iowa, where the film transpires, is, according to the state song, "where the tall corn grows"). But it also features a cute story, concerning a farm family's visit to the eponymous fair; some sweet and unfailingly catchy tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein; gorgeous, supersaturated Technicolor filming; and some amusing characters and situations. Now, then, for the important stuff: Jeanne Crain. Oh my gosh, IMDb viewers, you cannot believe how incredibly beautiful Ms. Crain is in this movie; truly, the idealized representation of the all-American girl, and the quintessence of pulchritudinous muliebrity. Her Margie Frake character just might be the prettiest gal I've ever seen in a movie, and she makes this musical, for me, something very special. That same year, Crain appeared in the Gene Tierney vehicle "Leave Her to Heaven," and managed the near-impossible task of even looking better than Tierney at her best. Why our GI's during WW2 hung up pictures of the comparatively dowdy Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth in their lockers, instead of Jeanne Crain, is a mystery to me. Anyway, if you think I'm going overboard here, rent out "State Fair" one night and put it to the test. If you don't find yourself freezing the images of Jeanne Crain a half dozen times to admire her remarkable looks, I would suggest a visit to your local doctor, as you might be half dead...
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ferbs5423 June 2005
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videonut-223 December 2001The simpleness, and wholesomeness of this film makes it a treat to watch. The music and songs make it even more enjoyable, and the beauty of Jeanne Crain in this film would make your eyes water. A rare film with Dick Haymes who was always underrated as a singer. I feel lucky to have a VHS copy of this film.
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B2431 January 2005One of the first movies I saw as a child was this great musical. As I see it again from time to time, I remember well all the great tunes, and especially the singing voice of Dick Haymes when he was at his height. To my mind only Bing Crosby of all the best male big band singers of their day equaled Haymes in either vocal quality or style. It was a shame his personal life was such a mess.
The story, centered as it was on Iowa, is very Middle America in more ways than one. When "The Music Man" came out some years later, it brought to mind this precursor of sorts. I confess I found the 1962 version of "State Fair" much less appealing, apart from Alice Faye's more or less cameo appearance as the mother. Then there is the unfortunate substitution of Texas for Iowa. And Pat Boone could never even come close to singing like Dick Haymes. Choose this one instead. -
A wonderful look at an America we will never see again-tuneful, romantic and a Happy Ending! State Fair never claims to be the end all and be all, just a sweet look at the tradition of the State Fair put to music. This movie (and the ensuing Broadway Musical) stand on their own next to Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, King and I, Sound of Music, etc.
Jeanie Crain and Dana Andrews play their scenes so effortlessly, you forget its just a 3 day romance. Dick Haymes and the eternal Vivian Blaine have a chemistry that works much better then the Pat Boone version.
I recommend this movie to anyone who wants a break from the tired old action/violence/cheesy comedies of today-it's as much an image of summer as cotton candy and candy apples! -
moonspinner5510 December 2005Philip Strong's book about annual Iowa State Fair attracting a good-hearted farming family was previously filmed in 1933, but this version added a musical score by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II (Hammerstein also penned the screenplay) and, despite some lags, is a wholesome entertainment with colorful Leon Shamroy cinematography. Fay Bainter looks a little old to be the mother of two post-pubescent youngsters (and she acts more like their grandmother anyhow), but Jeanne Crain is lovely as the moony-eyed lass who falls for newspaperman Dana Andrews. Best sequence involves Henry Morgan as a dishonest carnival barker--it's really only the scene that has an edge to it--but the direction and the pacing are tight and the musical numbers well-enough staged (the songs themselves are an iffy lot, with a large reliance on old-fashioned phrases like "it's dollars to doughnuts" that make one's teeth ache). Remade again in 1962, with Pamela Tiffin in Crain's role (the best sequence in that version--the mincemeat contest--is done much more smoothly and slyly here). **1/2 from ****
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JoeytheBrit9 November 2005This is one of those breezy mid-forties musical romances that would never be made today because it would never find an audience, but which is still loved by a reasonably large core of classic movie/musical fans. Featuring the only original score by the celebrated musical duo of Rodgers & Hammerstein, the songs are surprisingly nondescript. Even Oscar winner "It Might As Well Be Spring" fades from the memory quickly. What the film does have going for it is its lush use of technicolour, its upbeat tempo, the ravishingly beautiful Jeanne Crain, and a relatively young and problem-free Dana Andrews.
The story is pure Americana hokum, nothing more than a convenient totem around which the players sing and dance. Ma (Faye Bainter) and Pa (Charles Winninger), Frake head off to the State Fair to enter their pickles and mincemeat and boars into its competitions while son Wayne (Dick Haymes) and daughter Margy (Crain) tag along and get themselves involved in romantic situations with a singer (Vivian Blaine) and a streetwise reporter (Andrews). Wayne falls in love, Margy falls in love, Ma and Pa are already in love, even the boar falls in love.
Dana Andrews sings only a couple of lines in this film, and it's a strange thing to see. Apparently his voice was dubbed even for these few lines, which is ironic, because Andrews was actually a classically trained singer. He and Crain work well together as an odd couple city boy and farm girl but Crain looks so hot in a big-girl-in-a-little-girl's-dress sort of way that you can understand a city slicker like Pat Gilbert falling for her. With her vivid red lips and cover girl looks, she looks too glamorous to be a farm girl but you get the impression that was the producer's idea. She was the 'wholesome' fantasy while redhead Blaine, who invites Margy's brother back to her apartment after she has chased off the guests at her party, was the more earthy actuality. She's married and she blows him out in the end, resulting in one of mainstream Hollywood musical's more bizarre endings when Wayne simply picks up with the hometown girl he was so willing to dump just a couple of scenes before. How that one got by the censors is a mystery it's almost as if a couple of scenes have mistakenly been left on the cutting room floor. Donald Meek makes a humorous appearance, and studio drifter Frank McHugh wanders over from Universal for a welcome visit. In fact, everyone gives a reasonable performance here, which helps make the strictly sentimental nonsense on offer vastly more palatable than it might otherwise have been. -
luciferjohnson5 January 2005This R&H isn't shown very often, and I can see why. It has two lovely (and several other minor) songs, some good performances but just isn't in the same class as South Pacific, Oklahoma, or any of the other R&H movies for that matter. Not unpleasant viewing by any means, but disappointing. It lacks the dramatic punch of the duo's other movies, and reminds me a bit more of the fluffy 1930s musicals that Rodgers used to write with Hart.
On the plus side are two great numbers: It Might as Well be Spring and It's a Grand Night for Singing. The latter is one of the best R&H waltzes. Another huge plus is Dick Haymes, who made far too few films.
The two romantic subplots (Haymes-Blaine and Andrews-Crain) are weak. Haymes is unconvincing as a farm boy who dumps his hometown sweetheart in favor of a singer who turns out to be married (I said there was a spoiler here.... ) At the end, in a two-second scene, he is back with his old flame. It just isn't a particularly believable or satisfying resolution. Andrews plays an ambitious newspaper man who has some kind of job opportunity out in Chicago. His romance with Crain is more believable, but not by much. At least Andrews is cast well as the newspaperman, which is more than I can say for Haymes.
I did like the cute comic subplots with the pig and the home-cooking competition, which really capture the atmosphere of country fairs. Donald Meek is funny as hell as a tipsy food-taster. -
albirmike21 June 2005I first saw this film in 1945, when I was completing 5 years in the Royal Navy. I was stationed in Kure , Japan, (5 miles from Hiroshima). We were the first British naval personnel to land in the area after the end of WW2, and services and accommodation were very primitive. When things started improving, we got our first film, "State Fair" with the gorgeous Jeanne Crain 'singing the Oscar winning song "It might as well be spring" The wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein also provides opportunities for Dick Haymes and Vivian Blaine to exercise their tonsils.This happy film never flags; if its the mincemeat or Hampshire Boar competitions, the family have a ball.Look out for a wonderful cameo performance from Donald Meek as the aforementioned @mincemeat' judge. I have watched this film at least a dozen times, the last time last week on DVD and it never bores.
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funkyfry23 February 2008A few admissions first off -- I haven't seen the later or earlier versions, and I'm a bigger fan of Rodgers' work with Lorenz Hart than I am of the Hammerstein stuff, though I do appreciate it for what it is I guess. This is not a movie that you should try to read too hard into, after all. It's not quite as complex as some of his earlier work like "Oklahoma!" and "Show Boat." But it has some very nice songs, appealing actors playing wholesome characters, very saturated 30s technicolor photography, so basically some people are going to know they hate it within 5 minutes and everyone else will have a good time. I'm one of the people who likes it.
The story is very simple -- it's about a family going to the Iowa State Fair (in a time that feels like a strange mix of past and 30s present), where the mom (Fay Bainter) and dad (Charles Winninger) are trying to win prizes and son (Dick Haymes) and daughter (Jeanne Crain) find dubious love. Crain is paired with a newsman played by Dana Andrews and Haymes with a band-singer played by Vivian Blaine.
A first look at the scenario tells you that it's a sort of culture-clash -- big city folks falling for country guy and gal. There's a confrontation between the son and a male band-singer (Percy Kilbride, I believe) where all this tension comes to a head, and his relationship with the lady singer cannot continue because of the melodramatic intervention of a previous marriage. However the probable marriage of the Andrews and Crain characters at the end implies the possibility of reconciling the country/town old/new dichotomy.
The score isn't really their best as some have noted, but taken on its own it is better than most movie soundtracks. R/H didn't have a whole lot of time to write this one, they basically did it I think in between "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel" because "OK" was a Theater Guild show and they didn't make much money off it at the time, they only made money when the production closed up and the film was made. Crain's character is very much like Laurey in "Oklahoma!" and the elimination of the negative social element of the already married woman aligns in a softer way with the death of Judd Fry in that play or the self-sacrifice of Julie in "Show Boat." This is one of the only parts of the play that probably rings false for modern audiences, because it was obviously designed to fit a certain type of melodrama and these days we would hardly consider a previous marriage a total roadblock to a new marriage. By our standards the son could be criticized for abandoning her, but I guess in the morals of his time it would have been dishonorable for him to pursue a married woman.
This film fits very comfortably into the Americana of Oscar Hammerstein, less serious than "Show Boat" and "Carousel" but more convincing than his European adventure with "Sound of Music" or his Siamese "The King and I." I know Hammerstein wanted to stretch out, and definitely Rodgers did some of his best music for "King", but this is the type of story that I think he's best at.
As far as the performances, they're pretty much all great. Winninger in particular made me laugh in a lot of his scenes, and Fay Bainter is just wonderful too. Great chemistry between them makes their casting perfect. Winninger's scene where he weeps tears of joy over his pig being victorious reminded me of his famous scene in "Show Boat." Crain was lovely and suitably innocent on screen. Andrews and she have pretty good chemistry, a lot more than Haymes and Blaine. Perhaps that's intentional -- you could even argue that Hammerstein wanted us to feel that the characters were too similar to each other for their romance to work in the long term. They're both phenomenal singers, they're both very willful and confident. Crain's character on the other hand is a bit of a shrinking violet by today's standards I guess, she's "vulnerable." And Andrews is very good at playing a protective type of male, you get the feeling that he could give her more direction while she could organize his life. That sounds sexist but I think it's possibly what Hammerstein was trying to say. -
bkoganbing26 April 2007I've no doubt that on the strength of the blockbuster hit that Richard Rodgers&Oscar Hammerstein had with Oklahoma which was still running on Broadway as this film was being made, that Darryl F. Zanuck offered the team the chance to contribute the songs for a remake of State Fair. Oklahoma in fact was a rural setting and so was Iowa for this second telling of the adventures of the Frake family at the Iowa State Fair.
What today's audiences don't appreciate was that in 1946 the Iowa state centennial was being celebrated. Some bright individual at 20th Century Fox must have realized that and a nice musical technicolor remake of the Will Rogers classic State Fair would be a can't miss at the box office. Providing of course Mr. Zanuck could assemble the talent.
Though the 1933 cast boasted people like Louise Dresser, Lew Ayres, and Janet Gaynor in support of Will Rogers, the accent there was very much on Rogers as it was HIS picture. Here the accent is on the younger generation. Charles Winninger and Fay Bainter play the older Frakes taking their prize hog, Bainter's mince pie, and children Dick Haymes and Jeanne Crain to the Iowa State Fair. Haymes and Crain, together with Dana Andrews and Vivian Blaine as the respective romantic partners carry the film here.
Rodgers and Hammerstein had a lot on their plate back in the day. Besides Oklahoma, Hammerstein was involved in creating a musical version of Bizet's Carmen which became Carmen Jones as we all know. He and Rodgers had another musical open in 1945 that was Carousel and became another American classic. When 20th Century Fox signed them for State Fair, according to a recent biography of Dick Rodgers, they never went west. Rodgers did his music from his estate in Connecticut and Hammerstein wrote the lyrics from his Doylestown, Pennsylvania farm. I guess they met in New York and express mailed the songs to Zanuck in Hollywood.
They put together a real nice score, one song It Might As Well Be Spring won the Oscar for Best Original Song from a film. The rest of the score ain't too shabby either with Isn't It Kind of Fun and That's For Me also sung beautifully. My favorite however is It's a Grand Night for Singing, a song so absolutely infectious you will be singing it yourself for days after watching State Fair.
Andrews and Crain were dubbed by other singers, but Dick Haymes and Vivian Blaine were seasoned musical performers. Haymes recorded all four of the songs above in an album for Decca that sold very well. Haymes had a smooth, but strong baritone and if scandal hadn't blown his career up a few years later, who knows to what heights he might have risen.
Every version of State Fair has something to recommend it. There was even a pilot done in the middle Seventies for a television series based on the time honored Frake family saga. For me however this one cops the prize. -
gavin69423 September 2015Farm family Frake, with discontented daughter Margy, head for the Iowa State Fair. On the first day, both Margy and brother Wayne meet attractive new flames; so does father's prize hog, Blue Boy.
I really liked this film from the opening shots. The first song is great, and includes the phrase "dollars to doughnuts", which I always thought was a strange one. Now I know where it comes from. After that, it sort of goes downhill. Most of the songs are rather dated, and the overall romance stories are cheesy. Granted, this is supposed to be a stage musical, so it has to be rushed a little... but it seems off.
I really liked the pig, though. More pig and more catchy tunes and this would be a definite winner. -
harry-766 March 1999This trip to the "State Fair" is a fun-filled vacation. It's all there: mother's mince meat pie, father's prize winning hog, and the children's bouts of romances, all wrapped in a tuneful Rodgers & Hammerstein score and tied with a Technicolor bow. The cast is excellent, the songs great, and the direction and production values high. What can one say? They sure don't make 'em like this any more. It's easy to see why -- after this, who can top it?
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State Fair is a cute, innocent movie that presents a world long-since passed. The characters are sufficiently endearing, and the simple story is entertaining enough, but the music is forgettable-even though my mom recognized some of them and "It Might as Well Be Spring" won an Academy Award. I'm happy to have seen this classic musical, but I think it will soon pack up and leave my memory like a fair departing from the fairgrounds, leaving only a few scattered remnants behind.
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wes-connors15 January 2011Iowa farmer's daughter Jeanne Crain (as Margy Frake) and her singing brother Dick Haymes (as Wayne Frake) go to an annual "State Fair" and find romantic partners. She attracts older "Des Moines Register" reporter Dana Andrews (as Pat Gilbert) and he finds singer Vivian Blaine (as Emily Edwards) attractive. Only one of the couples can marry. A lengthy rural supporting cast is headed by mincemeat-making mother Fay Bainter (as Melissa Frake) and hog-minding father Charles Winninger (as Abel Frake).
"It Might as Well Be Spring" / "That's for Me" was a big double-sided top ten hit recording for Mr. Haymes, but you won't hear him sing it here. Everything about this film is pretty and colorful, but the overall impression is simply that it's all fluff. "State Fair" really comes across as an average diversion. The Rodgers and Hammerstein soundtrack songs, while certainly not bad, seem like half a collection; when compared to the duo's other musicals, the songs don't advance musical art in their customary way.
***** State Fair (8/29/45) Walter Lang ~ Jeanne Crain, Dick Haymes, Dana Andrews, Vivian Blaine -
Not like the other R&H musicals - its ten years older, for a start. It has Jeanne Crain, young and pretty and as fluffy and fun as she was in Margie - and a more perfect fit for the other roles you would not find (Vivian Blaine in another great film musical role to rival Miss Adelaide, Dana Andrews (an odd choice but who else could you imagine?), Dick Haymes in great voice, Fay Bainter and her mincemeat, Charles Winniger and his prize pig). It is a gooey pleasure something similar to eating chocs when you know you really shouldn't ... highly recommended - great tunes. And avoid the remake with Pat Boone and Ann-Margret. No comparison. This is the one to watch - 56 and still fantastic.
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Steffi_P29 May 2012It is some testament to the growing stature of the movie musical in the 1940s that Rodgers and Hammerstein, then revitalising the stage musical in a way not seen since the death of Ziegfeld, decided to turn their hands to a piece for the screen. State Fair had been a popular non-musical movie back in 1933, a simple yet touching love story that Rodgers and Hammerstein could adapt with very few changes in what looked like a simple case of "add songs, create hit".
Individually both members of the duo had worked in film before, so the format was not unfamiliar, and they are prepared to make concessions to it. Of all the Rodgers and Hammerstein pictures produced by Fox State Fair is the shortest by a considerable margin. The epic musical that would appear in the mid-50s (boosted primarily by the adaptations of Rodgers and Hammerstein's big stage works) was still an unknown concept. Nevertheless, they seem keen to make the most of the cinema's possibilities. At one point, a snatch of singing becomes an internal monologue, something that doesn't really work on stage (although having said that it never really caught on in the movies either). Apart from this, all the usual Rodgers and Hammerstein touches are there, with songs that move the story along emotionally and tonally rather than semantically. "It Might as Well Be Spring" is integrated into the background scoring and becomes an illustration of Jeanne Crain's confused dissatisfaction.
This is also one of the earliest musicals in which non-singing actors would be dubbed by professional vocalists. In later years this would be done a lot because the studio wanted the right performer for each role more than they wanted someone who could sing. Strangely though there is nothing special about Jeanne Crain or Dana Andrews, both of whom were dubbed here. The best player is surely Fay Bainter, the archetypal mother figure in numerous 40s movies. She is full of endearing, twitchy mannerisms, as in her hesitation over adding more liquor to the mincemeat. There's also a nice little supporting part from sweet old man Donald Meek as one of the judges.
State Fair is undoubtedly a nice-looking picture. At this point Technicolor was still quite a special thing, but it was beginning to become standard for musicals. The colours here are rich and vibrant without being garish, the screen filled with subtle pinks, blues and natural greens. Director Walter Lang handles the scenes with poise and delicacy. His staging of "It Might as Well Be Spring" is simple yet beautiful, slowly closing the camera in on Jeanne Crain as the shadow of the trees teases across the image. His arranging of the crowds is excellent too, often keeping people moving rhythmically but realistically, and forming careful patterns to draw our attention to the stars in the foreground.
Good as it looks and sounds, State Fair is ultimately a rather flat experience. Apart from the fact that this version has songs, its 1933 counterpart was better in almost every aspect. The earlier movie was certainly far more intensely romantic. Even the songs in State Fair are far from Rodgers and Hammerstein's best, the delicate charm of "It Might as Well Be Spring" being the only example up to their usual standard. The movie's one real asset can be summed up in Craine's sudden anger that the ultra-modern farmhouse proposed by her bespectacled suitor would have "nothing useless". In other words, she yearns for the purely decorative things in life. State Fair, with its fragile beauty and quaint frippery wrapped around a rather mundane slice of Americana, is a purely decorative movie. -
vincentlynch-moonoi12 September 2013As a number of people have pointed, this is not one of the GREAT Rodgers & Hammerstein...and it was originally produced for the film, as opposed to their other musicals that were first produced for Broadway and then later moved to the big screen. But while not great, it's darned good in an old-fashioned sort of way.
The story revolves around a rural family who is getting ready to go to the State Fair. Mother will put her mincemeat and dill pickles up for judging. Father his prize hog. The son will go looking for a new love, and the daughter for her first real love. One will find what they are looking for, another will settle for the love back home.
Jeanne Crain was almost always a delight on the big screen, and is no less so here. Will she find her first real love? Incidentally, Crain's singing performance here is dubbed, and in my view, by a not very good singer. Dana Andrews is decent as the sophisticated reporter she sets her sights on. Dick Haymes plays the brother, and he displays his very nice singing voice. Vivian Blaine is who he falls in love with. I like Blaine, but here her red hair just didn't look real. Charles Winninger is adorable as the father. Fay Bainter wonderful as the mother...although she certainly had better roles. Donald Meek plays the tipsy mincemeat judge. Frank McHugh has a crucial role with little screen time. Percy Kilbride plays a character not unlike most that he played in his career. Harry Morgan has a brief role as a carnival barker.
In terms of songs, "Our State Fair" is catchy, as is "Isn't It Kind of Fun?". But the two standouts are "It Might as Well Be Spring" and "It's A Grand Night For Singing".
It's all very pleasant, though not spectacular. Certainly worth a watch, and the DVD set I have also has the later remake with Ann-Margaret and Pat Boone (which is less successful, although I love the song "Sweet Hog Of Mine" with Tom Ewell). If you like musicals, it's worth watching. -
kz917-112 June 2017Not quite as good as Oklahoma though.. But this movie definitely has some spellbinding numbers that gets everyone up and dancing.
The last musical set in Iowa that I can recall was The Music Man. This one tries and entertains for the most part. Love and unrequited love abounds! There have been various versions with different casts as well. I am interested to see some of those! -
Shown tonight on the Turner Classic Film Network, the 1945 version (second of three versions) is the one that most viewers feel is the best of the versions. It happens to be the first musical version (Will Rogers version was actually just a straight film), and is better than the 1962 version with Bobby Darin and Alice Faye. It is a nice score with two (possibly three) standards: "It Might As Well Be Spring", "It's a Grand Night For Singing", and the title song of "State Fair". But there are actually about seven numbers, and they include a ballad sung by Viviane Blaine, and a duet Blaine sings with Dick Haymes (a later song, somewhat reminiscent of "Oklahoma" but about "Iowa" had Charles Winninger, Faye Bainter, and even Donald Meek sing with Blaine and William Marshall).
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were at the beginning of their fantastic Broadway musical career, OKLAHOMA having first been produced in 1943. Most people do not realize this but Oscar Hammerstein was more than just a lyricist (like his predecessor with Rodgers, Lorenz Hart), but also wrote the scripts for the shows. This was to help insure that the songs pushed the story along. Rodgers had long wanted to integrate music and dialog. In the early 1930s, when he and Hart came to Hollywood and worked at Paramount, they had whole sequences in their best work (HALLALUJAH, I'M A BUM, LOVE ME TONIGHT, THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT) that did just that. But this was the total script, not just sections of singing dialog.
It is late August 1945, and the Frake family are preparing to attend the Iowa State Fair. The father (Winninger) has been grooming his great boar "Blue Bell" for the best boar prize, and the mother (Bainter) has been grooming her sweet and sour pickles and her mince meat for the best prizes. Their son (Dick Haymes) is determined to get back at a crooked barker at the fair (Harry - then Henry - Morgan), besides enjoying it with his girlfriend. But she can't attend, due to her mother's illness. The Frake daughter (Jeanne Crain) has a boring boy-friend, a future farmer who wants to build a modernistic farm (Crain tries to be interested but isn't).
Winninger is quite happy to be going, but his friend and feed merchant (Percy Kilbride - who also does a little singing at the start of the film) is a "Gloomy Gus" type, and insists that there may be serious problems ahead. He and Winninger set up a bet (of $5.00 - but this film is set in 1945 after all!) to see if it really turns out to be a totally happy experience for the four members of the family.
The family goes off, and we watch the results of the weekend. This includes the two romances that occur between Haymes and a singer at the fair (Blaine) and Crain with a reporter (Dana Andrews). We watch these adventures, and how the romances bloom, as well as how the parents do with their contests.
Among other things we see Donald Meek as a contest judge who gets the D.T.s and enjoys it. We see Frank McHugh as a song plugger, who turns out to be a decent fellow. We see how Blaine teaches Morgan a lesson. We learn that even big fat boars like "Blue Bell" have sex drives. And we see if Winninger or Kilbride will win that $5.00.
The cast given on this thread is not complete. John Dehner has a small role as a contest announcer, and Emory Parnell is a Congressman addressing the state fair, and Will Wright is one of the judges at the boar contest.
The film is a feel good film - a worthy cinematic follow-up to OKLAHOMA, and worthy of preceding the next stage musical triumph CAROUSEL. As such it is fully deserving of the 10 out of 10 I have given it. -
SnoopyStyle6 July 2022Each member of the Frakes family is headed for the Iowa State Fair. This has original music from Rodgers and Hammerstein. "It Might as Well Be Spring" did win an Oscar. My best description is pastoral. It's nice, pretty, but there is nothing exciting. It's old fashion, clean cut, and safe. I don't like Wayne. Otherwise, I'm not that invested in any particular family member. The fair is interesting in itself but it is mostly done on a sound stage. If only it could be done with the real thing, that would be historically interesting.
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Palymede-125 April 2005Let me start by saying this film is not meant to make you think long and hard about the problems of the world. It is a 'feel-good film'in the best sense of the phrase. The songs are, perhaps, not as instantly memorable as those from other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, such as Oklahoma or The Sound Of Music, but they are wonderful in their own right. "It Might As Well Be Spring" won a well-deserved Oscar and "It's A Grand Night For Singing" will have you humming right along. Jeanne Crain, lovelier than ever, gives a top performance as the restless daughter, wanting something 'more' though with no idea what 'more' is. Dick Haymes tackles the role of the son handily, with some very fine singing to go with it. Fay Bainter, all warmth and kindliness in another of her patented mother roles makes you wish she were your mother. Charles Winninger, surely one of the best character actors ever, brings the necessary comic ability to the role of the father, completely preoccupied with his prize hog. Vivian Blaine plays the band singer who catches the son's attentions at the Fair and does some nice singing on her own and in a couple of duets. Dana Andrews, something of a shock in a musical plays Jeanne Crain's love interest and shares tremendous chemistry with her, making their love story believable. This film is a pretty Technicolor musical that will leave you with a song in your heart and a happy feeling to go with it.
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To begin with, "State Fair" was not adapted from a stage musical; it was adapted from a non-musical 1933 film, which was in turn adapted from a novel by Phil Stong. Years later, "State Fair" WAS re-adapted into a Broadway musical, and promptly flopped.
Maybe it was the way it was adapted, but the 1945 film is still a great disappointment, especially in comparison to Rodgers and Hammerstein's great classics. There is a good reason for this. The composer-authors of a musical generally have less creative control over a film musical than over a stage one, a notable exception being "Gigi", over which Lerner and Loewe had almost total control. Film musicals of the 1940's were generally treated like assembly-line products, and the composer and lyricist/librettist merely like expendable hired hands who could easily be replaced. It was the studio which often suggested the subject matter of a musical, and studios nearly always played it safe.
Rodgers and Hammerstein had total creative control over their shows on Broadway, and the same applies to the film versions of their shows, but they did not have total control over this film. That is why "State Fair" feels more like a typical sappy musical of the 1940's than a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, and why it does not use all of the stage techniques they were so famous for, although Hammerstein did write the screenplay. The storyline is blah, the characters are sickeningly wholesome stereotypes, not all the songs are integrated into the story, and instead of there being eighteen or nineteen songs, there are only six, because the film runs only slightly more than ninety minutes. (The cast, with the hilarious exception of Donald Meek as a pie-tasting judge, is just as bland as everything else; several of them have been much better in other films.) The songs are nice, but that is all they are, just nice, not beautiful. -
TheLittleSongbird22 August 2011This is not the best Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical, however State Fair is still a truly lovely film. The plot is rather fluffy and lacklustre, but the characters are charming and the R&H tunes while not among their best are still wonderful. State Fair looks beautiful, with the photography lavish and Crain especially looking absolutely stunning in her costumes. The film is lovingly directed, has a corny but appealing script and it moves sprightly too. Nothing to complain about the performances either, Jeanne Crain is breathtaking and Dana Andrews is a more than dashing and competent leading man. As much as I loved Harry Morgan, Dick Haymes and Vivian Blaine, my favourite support performance is Charles Winninger who steals every scene he's in. Overall, a lovely movie and well worth watching. 9/10 Bethany Cox
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cgvsluis16 December 2022This is a feel good Rogers and Hammerstein musical about a wholesome Iowa farm family and their week at the Iowa State Fair. The mom is competing in the mincemeat and pickle preserves, the dad has entered his senior pig Blue Boy, the daughter seems to have spring fever and some serious doubts about wanting to be tied down to her local beau who has some interesting ideas about modernizing the farm including all linoleum floors, and the son whose girlfriend is unable to attend the fair due to her ailing mother.
The family arrives at the fair and Blue Boy starts to have issues, mom's nervous about the competition, the daughter Margy (Jean Crain) meets a newspaperman named Pat (Dana Andrews) and the son Wayne (Dick Haynes) gets his revenge on the ring toss barker (Harry Morgan) and meets a lovely songstress named Emily Edwards (Vivian Blaine).
The kids spend the week enjoying the attractions of the fair and falling in love. It's not until he competitions are over that their parents get to let their hair down and take part in the fun.
This is a wistful musical that celebrates wholesome middle America traditions. Highlights include the Dick Haynes number, "Maybe you'll never be the love of my life...isn't it kind of fun holding hands, according to a sweet and corny custom." and the roller coaster ride when Margy meets her newspaper man.
This was a sweet, feel good musical without a lot of conflict or a heavy moral message. I would love to see the 1930's version with Will Rogers. I recommend this film to musical fans and romantics out there, especially those who like a touch off nostalgia. -
dougandwin18 August 2004I believe there has been three movie versions of "State Fair", and I have seen the last two, and the 1945 version is so far in advance of the latest one, one can really understand how bad that one is!! This is as corny as you can get, with the major part of the plot being whether the pig gets well enough to win the Blue Ribbon (I am going to spoil it for you - he does!). Having said that, I enjoyed the film for what it is - very light entertainment with some good songs delivered by Dick Haymes and Vivian Blaine. Jeanne Crain is very pretty, while Dana Andrews really had nothing to do. The best in it were Charles Winninger (he owns the pig!) and Fay Bainter who wins the cook-off. There is a small cameo role by Donald Meek, who always used to be good for a laugh. Watch it if you want some light-hearted corn, and the colours are pretty, BUT do not bother with the Alice Faye/Tom Ewell version, as it is sooooo bad!