Hit the Hay

19451945
ApprovedApproved
1h 2m

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Fortunio Bonanova, Judy Canova, Gloria Holden, Ross Hunter, and Doris Merrick in Hit the Hay (1945)

Comedy

Two opera-company promoters persuade a singing farm-girl, Judy Stevens, to pose as an opera singer. This arouses the ire of an easily-aroused opera singer who threatens to expose Judy as a f... Read allTwo opera-company promoters persuade a singing farm-girl, Judy Stevens, to pose as an opera singer. This arouses the ire of an easily-aroused opera singer who threatens to expose Judy as a fraud. So, Judy sings the opera in swing-time and yodels the high notes of the arias, all t... Read allTwo opera-company promoters persuade a singing farm-girl, Judy Stevens, to pose as an opera singer. This arouses the ire of an easily-aroused opera singer who threatens to expose Judy as a fraud. So, Judy sings the opera in swing-time and yodels the high notes of the arias, all to rousing ovations and the opera company is saved from bankruptcy.

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

YOUR RATING

Director
- Del Lord
Writers
- Charles R. Marion(original screenplay)
- Richard Wells(original screenplay)
- Henry Hoople(additional dialogue)
Stars

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Soundtracks
Il barbiere di Siviglia
(uncredited)
Music by Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by Cesare Sterbini

User reviews3

Review

Top review

6/10

Judy Canova Sings Opera (Sort Of)

She is the daughter of a renowned opera diva. Ross Hunter -- yes, he did act for a while -- finds her singing Mozart arias while milking a cow at a market. Convinced that she can save his father's foundering opera company, he brings her back and gives her the big build-up, only to discover that she is Judy Canova.

This scattergun lampoon of opera and its backstage politicking was one of the movies Miss Canova made after she made the move from Republic to Columbia. Under the direction of Del Lord, it hits all the tropes that had made her a star on Broadway and the radio: the deadpan hick personality, the real talent, the physical awkwardness, topped off with a burlesque of Rossini's WILLIAM TELL. Its not to my taste, but there is no disguising that this is a well-made vehicle for a star of a type of humor that was very popular at the time. That combination of hick personality and sophisticated vocal ability would find a later expression in Jim Nabors. Is it dead even now?

Miss Canova made one more movie in this cycle, then retired, in favor of a growing family and a popular radio show that ran until 1953. She moved to television, and made supporting appearances in other people's movies, appeared in Broadway shows and road companies. She died in 1983, aged 69.

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