MovieChat Forums > Delightfully Dangerous (1945) Discussion > Jane Powell was great !

Jane Powell was great !

posted 17 years ago by thorsail
3 replies | jump to latest

Hi movie fans...
Saw Delightfully Dangerous last night , I was very impressed by Ms. Powells
performance . I came into this knowing nothing about the (then) young lady and
couldn't wait to get on IMDB and find out more about her . I am not the biggest fan of the musical genre but thought her portrayal convincing - was
wondering all through the film how old this actress really was ( she was 16
playing a 15 year old).
Of course the movie has a few flaws but then most do , like where did Sherry
get the cash for her big makeover for her night out with Ralph Bellemy ? She had
her hair done , I think she was wearing a fur and that dress didn't come from
Woolworths . And all throughout Ralph Bellemy is saying she is too young to
work in theater but there she is in the big finale number with her sister.
But when she went into the burlesque house and saw her big sister didn't
you feel for her ? Watch her body language and facial expressions - she used
them very well .

[–] rooprect 17 years ago

Hiya thorsail, are we the only 2 people who saw this movie? If so, what a tragedy; this movie is a gem.

To respond to your loophole questions, I believe:
1) Sherry's makeover came courtesy of her rich friend Molly. We see that Molly is quite well off as soon as we meet her butler, as well as when we see her bedroom (did you get a load of that BED?!) and when she brings the recording machine which, in those days, must've cost as much as a car. So I just assumed that Molly footed the bill for the fur & makeover.

2) Right, Arthur says she's too young to work in theatre, but I assumed he was talking about the lifestyle that comes with it, and he meant she was "too young to work alone in theatre". The solution to the problem was kind of like the punchline to the film: both Sherry & Jo work together. With big sis watching over her, the pressure is off.

And I totally agree with you on the burlesque scene. She was brilliant. Also I thought Jo's facial expression was perfect when she first learns that Sherry found out about her burlesque. She doesn't say a word. She just sort of looks at Arthur, then looks away, then looks at him again with a pleading look. Gawd, I got chills from that.

[–] Devans00 15 years ago

The irony of course is that Jo's burlesque routine was 20 times more classy and talented than 90% of the entertainment on TV. I hate how judgmental and self superior the "good" people were in old movies.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] rdfarnham 11 years ago

The "good people" were just as judgmental in real life. For example, a girl who got pregnant out of wedlock was considered to be trash and was whisked away to stay with a distant relative until after the birth and the baby was almost always given up for adoption (no abortions in those days). The way they show people acting in the movies is about 90% accurate for the time.