Academy Award for Best Song, "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening", defeating "A Kiss To Build a Dream On" from The Strip, "Never" from Golden Girl, "Too Late Now" from Royal Wedding, and "Wonder Why" from Rich Young and Pretty.
Robert Riskin and Liam O'Brien were nominated for Best Motion Picture Story, losing to Seven Days to Noon.
PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: In some respects, this is a comic version of Bing Crosby's later vehicle, Little Boy Lost (1953).
COMMENT: A combination of Bing Crosby and Frank Capra should have produced something really special. Maybe because that didn't happen is why the picture received such a drubbing from the critics. But how explain the appeal of this disappointingly mediocre offering to the public. Particularly the American and Australian public?
Here are two of my original reviews. The first from Photoplayer, published when the movie was first released. The second is extracted from my TV page in Shout written about twenty years later:
Capra well below par with this noisy, static, over-talkative comedy. There are a few flashes of the old master's genius, notably in the visit to a vast office pile at night, but most of the action takes place in some very cramped sets and the handling (in long takes) closely resembles that of a filmed stage play. Most of the jokes are poor. They are stretched so thin, that when they do come along they are delivered so portentously as to drain off any vestiges of sparkle. If the script had been drastically shortened by 30-45 minutes and if the direction and playing had been suitably light, it would doubtless have provided fairly agreeable entertainment. But as it is, it's a loud, long-winded bore.
OTHER VIEWS: It was no wonder that director Frank Capra did not make another film after this for some time. It's a very noisy affair with some good ideas but far too much talk. A brisk hand in the cutting room would have helped considerably. The songs are by a very uninspired Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, although one number is helped out by some surprise guest appearances. Even George Barnes' photography is not quite up to his usual superb standard.
Robert Riskin and Liam O'Brien were nominated for Best Motion Picture Story, losing to Seven Days to Noon.
PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: In some respects, this is a comic version of Bing Crosby's later vehicle, Little Boy Lost (1953).
COMMENT: A combination of Bing Crosby and Frank Capra should have produced something really special. Maybe because that didn't happen is why the picture received such a drubbing from the critics. But how explain the appeal of this disappointingly mediocre offering to the public. Particularly the American and Australian public?
Here are two of my original reviews. The first from Photoplayer, published when the movie was first released. The second is extracted from my TV page in Shout written about twenty years later:
Capra well below par with this noisy, static, over-talkative comedy. There are a few flashes of the old master's genius, notably in the visit to a vast office pile at night, but most of the action takes place in some very cramped sets and the handling (in long takes) closely resembles that of a filmed stage play. Most of the jokes are poor. They are stretched so thin, that when they do come along they are delivered so portentously as to drain off any vestiges of sparkle. If the script had been drastically shortened by 30-45 minutes and if the direction and playing had been suitably light, it would doubtless have provided fairly agreeable entertainment. But as it is, it's a loud, long-winded bore.
OTHER VIEWS: It was no wonder that director Frank Capra did not make another film after this for some time. It's a very noisy affair with some good ideas but far too much talk. A brisk hand in the cutting room would have helped considerably. The songs are by a very uninspired Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, although one number is helped out by some surprise guest appearances. Even George Barnes' photography is not quite up to his usual superb standard.