Let's Be Happy

Last updated

Let's Be Happy
Let's Be Happy (1957 film).jpg
Original three sheet poster
Directed by Henry Levin
Written by Dorothy Cooper
Screenplay by Diana Morgan (screenwriter)
Based onJeannie (1940 play)
by Aimée Stuart
Produced by Marcel Hellman
Starring Vera-Ellen
Tony Martin
Robert Flemyng
Cinematography Erwin Hillier
Edited byEdward B. Jarvis
Music by Nicholas Brodszky
Angela Morley
Production
companies
Marcel Hellman Productions/
Associated British Picture Corporation [1]
Distributed by Associated British-Pathé [2]
[3]
Release date
  • 9 May 1957 (1957-05-09)
[4]
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Let's Be Happy is a Technicolor 1957 British musical film starring Tony Martin, Vera-Ellen and Robert Flemyng and directed by Henry Levin. [1] It was written by Dorothy Cooper and Diana Morgan in CinemaScope. This film was an updated remake of Jeannie (1941), starring Barbara Mullen, which itself was based on the stage play Jeannie by Aimée Stuart. [4]

Contents

The film was Vera-Ellen's final film; she later withdrew from public life after the death of her daughter, Victoria Ellen Rothschild. [5] The film is also Tony Martin's final appearance in a movie musical, although he later made a cameo appearance in Dear Mr. Wonderful , a 1982 film. [6]

Let's Be Happy premiered in London on 9 May 1957. [4]

Plot

Jeannie McLean is 28 and lives in rural Vermont. Inheriting a few thousand dollars from her Scottish-born grandfather she was looking after in his old age, she decides to travel to Scotland to see her ancestral country.

On the journey by air and train, Jeannie finds herself continuously near Stanley Smith, a brash washing-machine salesman from Idaho. Having been closely monitored and controlled by her grandfather, she's hesitant to accept his help. However, Jeannie ends up asking for Stanley's aid a few times. His extroverted ways help her through various difficulties such as experiencing turbulence without becoming too nervous, getting through customs and getting seated in the dining car.

Jeannie finally reaches Edinburgh (during the Festival). Losing her room she'd expected to have in a boarding house, she seeks Stanley in his hotel. As he's sorting out her room, the impoverished landowner Lord James MacNairn, who has overheard them talking and believes that she is wealthy, introduces himself.

When Jeannie catches out Stanley in a lie, taking out a red-headed model to dinner instead of her as agreed, she breaks off their friendship and accepts James' attentions. After they sightsee in Edinburgh, Jeannie gets herself spruced up in a beauty salon, then splurges on a designer gown.

Stanley still follows her around, with the pretty French redhead in tow, including taking seats right behind James and Jeannie at the ballet, and inviting them to join him and the model in a restaurant. However, still sore at him, she disregards his invitation.

James takes Jeannie to see Loch Lomond, then to a family wedding of her distant relative and finally to his family home - a huge castle. However, he is restricted to a very small wing of the castle with his housekeeper Miss Cathie, and the rest of the building is open to the public.

James asks Jeannie to marry him, but before she can answer him Stanley approaches them. She tells him she's engaged and he leaves upset. When James learns that she has spent all her inheritance which was only a few thousand, he confesses he originally wanted her for her money but now really does love her. However, now knowing that he is needing someone with money, she turns him down.

Jeannie returns home to Vermont, but Stanley, having made a major sales coup, tracks her down. After declaring his love, he proposes and she accepts.

Cast

Production

Location filming took place in Edinburgh and other locations in Scotland, Paris, and Thirlestane Castle which serves as Lord James' country house. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Age of Innocence</i> 1920 novel by Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her eighth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine Pictorial Review. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Appleton & Company. It won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the prize. Though the committee had initially agreed to give the award to Sinclair Lewis for Main Street, the judges, in rejecting his book on political grounds, "established Wharton as the American 'First Lady of Letters'". The story is set in the 1870s, in upper-class, "Gilded Age" New York City. Wharton wrote the book in her 50s, after she was already established as a major author in high demand by publishers.

<i>Blind Date</i> (1987 film) 1987 film by Blake Edwards

Blind Date is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger. Blind Date earned mostly negative reviews from critics, but was a financial success and opened at number one at the box office.

<i>Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love</i> 1994 American TV series or program

Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love is a 1994 American made-for-television comedy film, a sequel to the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds, and the final installment in the Revenge of the Nerds series.

<i>The Mating Season</i> (film) 1951 film by Mitchell Leisen

The Mating Season is a 1951 American comedy-drama romance film directed by Mitchell Leisen, and produced by Charles Brackett from a screenplay by Charles Brackett, Richard Breen, and Walter Reisch, based on the play Maggie by Caesar Dunn. The ensemble cast stars Gene Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins, and Thelma Ritter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Cadell</span> Scottish actress (1884–1967)

Jean Dunlop Cadell was a Scottish character actress. Although her married name was Jean Dunlop Perceval-Clark she retained her maiden name in the context of acting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Flemyng</span> British actor

Benjamin Arthur Flemyng, known professionally as Robert Flemyng, was a British actor. The son of a doctor, and originally intended for a medical career, Flemyng learned his stagecraft in provincial repertory theatre. In 1935 he appeared in a leading role in the West End, and the following year had his first major success, in Terence Rattigan's comedy French Without Tears. Between then and the Second World War he appeared in London and New York in a succession of comedies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clan MacTavish</span> Highland Scottish clan

Clan MacTavish is an Ancient Highland Scottish clan.

<i>Chronicles of the Canongate</i>

Chronicles of the Canongate is a collection of stories by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1827 and 1828 in the Waverley novels series. They are named after the Canongate, in Edinburgh.

<i>The Battle of the Sexes</i> (1959 film) 1959 film

The Battle of the Sexes is a 1959 British black and white comedy film starring Peter Sellers, Robert Morley, and Constance Cummings, and directed by Charles Crichton. Based on the short story "The Catbird Seat" by James Thurber, it was adapted by Monja Danischewsky. A timid accountant in a Scottish Tweed weaving company cleverly bests a brash modern American efficiency expert whose ideas threaten his way of life.

<i>Happy Go Lovely</i> 1951 film by H. Bruce Humberstone

Happy Go Lovely is a 1951 British musical comedy film in Technicolor, directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Vera-Ellen, David Niven, and Cesar Romero. The film was made and first released in the UK, and distributed in the US by RKO Radio Pictures in 1952.

<i>Carnival in Costa Rica</i> 1947 film by Gregory Ratoff

Carnival in Costa Rica is a 1947 American musical film directed by Gregory Ratoff and written by Samuel Hoffenstein, John Larkin, and Elizabeth Reinhardt. It was released in Technicolor by Twentieth Century-Fox. Dick Haymes, Vera-Ellen, Cesar Romero, and Celeste Holm starred as two pairs of lovers who try to thwart an arranged marriage at Carnival time in Costa Rica.

<i>Hotel for Dogs</i> 1971 book by Lois Duncan

Hotel for Dogs (1971) is a children's novel by Lois Duncan. It was adapted into a film of the same name by Nickelodeon Movies for DreamWorks Pictures, released on January 16, 2009. When the book was originally released in 1971, Andi's name was Liz, and Friday's name was Sadie. The book was re-released December 1, 2008, to promote the film with the names changed.

<i>Jeannie</i> (film) 1941 British film

Jeannie is a 1941 British romantic comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Barbara Mullen, Michael Redgrave, and Albert Lieven.

<i>A Touch of Larceny</i> 1959 British film

A Touch of Larceny is a 1959 black-and-white comedy film produced by Ivan Foxwell, directed by Guy Hamilton, and starring James Mason, George Sanders and Vera Miles. The film co-stars Harry Andrews, Rachel Gurney and John Le Mesurier, and is based on the 1956 novel The Megstone Plot by Paul Winterton, written under the pseudonym Andrew Garve.

<i>A Day to Remember</i> (1953 film) 1953 film by Ralph Thomas

A Day to Remember is a 1953 British comedy drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring an ensemble cast including Stanley Holloway, Donald Sinden, James Hayter and Bill Owen.

Johnny on the Run is a 1953 adventure film directed by Lewis Gilbert. It was produced by the Children's Film Foundation

<i>You Gotta Stay Happy</i> 1948 film by H. C. Potter

You Gotta Stay Happy is a 1948 American romantic comedy film directed by H.C. Potter and starring Joan Fontaine, James Stewart and Eddie Albert. It was distributed by Universal-International and produced by Karl Tunberg. The film was written by Karl Tunberg and Robert Carson and was released on November 4, 1948. The story tells of a marital ruckus that causes pilot Marvin Payne to become enmeshed in the world of New York heiress Miss Diana Dillwood.

<i>In the Meantime, Darling</i> 1944 film by Otto Preminger

In the Meantime, Darling is a 1944 American drama film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Arthur Kober and Michael Uris focuses on a wealthy war bride who is forced to adjust to living in spartan conditions in military housing during World War II.

The Shepherd's Calendar (1829) is a collection by James Hogg of 21 articles, most of which had appeared in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine since 1819. They are set in, or deal with aspects of, the Scottish Borders, in particular Hogg's native Ettrick Forest.

References

  1. 1 2 "Let's Be Happy". BFI. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  2. Holmes, Su (2005). British Tv & Film Culture in the 1950s: Coming to a TVv Near You. Bristol UK & Portland, Oregon: Intellect. p. 227.
  3. Let's Be Happy at the American Film Institute Catalog
  4. 1 2 3 "Let's Be Happy - Stylish Strictly showgirl pop art by Art & Hue". Art & Hue.
  5. Lobosco, David (21 December 2012). "A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: VERA-ELLEN: THE LATER YEARS". A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  6. Maslin, Janet (21 December 1983). "Lilienthal's 'Mr. Wonderful'" via NYTimes.com.
  7. "Let's Be Happy". REELSTREETS. Retrieved 13 May 2021.