Call Me Madam (1953)

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

My observations on this movie: Never saw George Sanders singing or dancing before (even if the singing is dubbed, lol). He did a great job. I never saw him with a European (pseudo??) accent before. It was a lot of fun.Vera-Ellen so sweet. She made a very nice Princess Royal. Her first boyfriend was a snob and violent so-and-so, and I am glad she got away from him to eventually marry Ken (Donald O'Connor). I was happy to see her big dance scene at the Fair.Donald was a fabulous dancer. I knew he would make a great dance team with Vera.Merman the greatest belter. Great "duet" she did with Donald, and how at the end they reversed which songs they sang. They were both total professionals.Slezak fun; I had seen him as the heavy in "The Pirate". He was in a balcony scene in both movies.De Wolfe his usually funny, snotty self. Merman eventually won him over. You couldn't get a better lap dog.Loved the phone convos with Harry, where Merman always asked about Bess and Margaret.Loved the dance finale, with Donald, Merman, Sanders and Vera-Ellen.10/10

Sally Adams (Ethel Merman) is appointed US ambassador to Lichtenburg and takes along Kenneth Gibson (Donald O'Connor) as her Press-attaché. The Lichtenburg Prime Minister (Steven Geray) is keen to get an American loan so that they can proceed with an arranged royal marriage between Princess Maria (Vera-Ellen) and Prince Hugo (Helmut Dantine). However, Sally is under instruction not to provide the loan. She meets General Cosmo (George Sanders) and they fall in love with each other, as do Kenneth and the Princess. After her stay, she returns to the US where there is a final twist in the tale at her home-coming party.This film contains annoying accents. Ethel Merman has a voice that irritates when she speaks, let alone when she sings, and George Sanders and Vera-Ellen affect poor foreign accents throughout the film. George Sanders is also slightly creepy in the oily, slimy sense of the word and Vera-Ellen just naturally looks weird. The songs (ruined by Merman's staged deliveries) aren't that good and neither are the dances. Ethel Merman delivers some funny lines and she is funny to watch in some scenes but overall the film is bland.

Ethel Merman certainly proved her comedic gifts in this 1953 gem of a musical.Loosely based on Pearl Mesta, "Call Me Madam" deals with a female ambassador to an imaginary kingdom.Merman pulls out all the stops in blasting away such nostalgic music. She certainly was the hostess with the most.What makes the film so good is that she is ably supported by a great cast including Donald O'Connor, who played her bad boy son in "There's No Business Like Show Business." In this film he portrays a reporter who finds romance while assigned to her. He is with the wonderful, charming Vera-Ellen.George Sanders, with a thick European accent, shines here as a count. He gets away from the usual cads that he played in films.Billy de Woolf is his usual irritating but wonderful self here.

I love Donald O'Connor and it's so hard to find his movies. So when I found this one I jumped at the chance to get it. I had never seen it before I bought. I went home and watched and quickly fell in love with it. The acting was well done and it's a cute little story line. I had seen There's no Business like Show Business with Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor so I knew a little bit what it would be like to see them together. I'm not a huge fan of Ethel but like I said I love Donald and this was one of his best! On a scale of 1-10 I would give a 10. It is in my opinion one of the best musicals around. I love the songs in it. I think that my favorite song in the movie though would have to be You're Just in Love. Though I also think that Donald looks a little funny in those glasses. But I also really like What Chance have I with Love. Donald shows in this song that he was one of the best dancers ever around. He's right up there with Gene Kelly.