Happy Go Lovely (1951)

When a stuffed shirt millionaire gets mistaken for a penniless reporter, it's a comical delight in Happy Go Lovely. The beautiful Vera-Ellen is a dancer in a theater troupe, headed by the always hilarious Cesar Romero, but they don't have any money to put on their show. By chance, Vera-Ellen gets a ride to a rehearsal from David Niven's chauffeur, and Cesar thinks she's intimately involved with millionaire Niven himself! Naturally, with one of his leading ladies dating a rich man, Cesar plans to exploit him and get backing for the show. When does the meet-cute tagline come in? You'll have to keep watching to find out.Happy Go Lovely is absolutely delightful, but as cute as the premise is, it wouldn't have risen above B-movie stature without the talent of its three leads. David Niven is pure comic genius, and paired against Cesar Romero, the battle of the frazzled is hilarious to watch. And, as I always say, it's a great bonus to watch two beautiful people fall in love with each other. The Niv is as handsome and studly as ever, and Vera-Ellen gets to show off her beautiful figure and incredible legs. She sings and dances, and her cuteness rubs off on Niv's character, letting his sweetness shine through as the movie continues.It's not the most well-known backstage musical out there, but it's awfully cute. Unless you actively dislike The Niv or Vera-Ellen-I can't imagine why anyone would-there's no reason why you won't love this darling little romantic comedy. It's sweet, funny, and has plenty of eye candy!

This dull attempt at eye candy casts Vera-Ellen as an American dancer performing in Edinburgh who gets mistakenly linked to a local businessman (David Niven). It's a totally predictable movie. Cesar Romero, as the nervous impresario, is the only reason to watch it. In fact, I kept wishing that Romero would start acting like his interpretation of the Joker on "Batman"! But seriously, there's no reason to waste your time on "Happy Go Lovely". Ridiculous movies should be fun, like "Killer Klowns from Outer Space". Yes, it's partly that I've never been into romantic comedies or musicals. I usually heckle these sorts of movies like on "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

I find this movie very enjoyable. The plot is simple and easily digestible, the humour is light and clean, and because the storyline involving mistaken identity is quite common, I find myself looking forward to how this movie flesh this story out. Turns out to be very nice. The performance of the female lead is admirable; her portrayal of an innocent, naive girl trying to fabricate some white lies to David's sophisticated role was very charming. I also find Vera's dancing very, very well done. I find myself drawn to her toes as she pranced about the stage effortlessly and flawlessly.For those who have had enough of profanity-filled movies of today, you will enjoy this movie thoroughly.

Happy Go Lovely is a waste of everybody's time and talent including the audience. The lightness of the old-hat mistaken identity and faux scandal plot lines is eminently forgivable. Very few people watched these movies for their plots. But, they usually had some interesting minor characters involved in subplots -- not here. They usually had interesting choreography and breathtaking dancing and catchy songs. Not Happy Go Lovely. And Vera-Ellen as the female lead played the whole movie as a second banana looking desperately for a star to play off it -- and instead she was called upon to carry the movie, and couldn't do it. The Scottish locale was wasted. Usually automatically ubiquitous droll Scottish whimsy is absent. The photography was pedestrian. The musical numbers were pedestrian. Cesar Romero gives his usual professional performance, chewing up the scenery since no one else was doing his part, in the type of producer role essayed frequently by Walter Abel and Adolph Menjou. David Niven is just fine, and no one could do David Niven like David Niven. At the end of the day, if you adore Niven as I do, it's reason enough to waste 90 minutes on Happy Go Lovely. If not, skip it.