A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court *** (1949, Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, William Bendix, Cedric Hardwicke, Henry Wilcoxon, Murvyn Vye, Virginia Field) – Classic Movie Review 5941

Bing Crosby is quite the homespun charmer and certainly a wizard with the catchy songs, particularly the classic ‘Busy Doing Nothing’, in the 1949 American Technicolor comedy musical film A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

Bing Crosby plays Hank Martin, singing mechanic from 1912 who suffers a bump on the head and is sent back in time to Arthurian Britain in 528 A.D. and hailed as a wizard at King Arthur’s court, in director Tay Garnett’s mildly entertaining and pleasantly carefree 1948 film musical version of the Mark Twain fable novel.

Crosby may stroll through his acting performance, but he is quite the homespun charmer and certainly a wizard with the catchy songs particularly the classic ‘Busy Doing Nothing’, sung with William Bendix as lummox Sir Sagramore le Desirous and Cedric Hardwicke as a lordly Lord Pendragon.

Rhonda Fleming makes a good impression as the royal Alisande La Carteloise, the King’s niece and the men’s object of desire, and also very welcome are Henry Wilcoxon as her fiancée Sir Lancelot, Murvyn Vye as Merlin, and Virginia Field as Morgan Le Fay.

Plus Paramount Pictures throw in sumptuous sets (designed by Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson), costumes and colour (lensed by Edmund Beloin) in a near-ideal production.

Also in the cast are Joseph Vitale as Sir Logris, Richard Webb as Sir Galahad, Alan Napier as the High Executioner, Julia Faye as Lady Penelope, Charles Coleman as Richard, Olin Howland as Sam, Gordon Richards as Tour Guide, Mary Field, Ann Carter and Harry Wilson.

The other songs are ‘Once and for Always’ sung by Bing Crosby and Rhonda Fleming, ‘When Is Sometime?’ sung by Fleming and ‘If You Stub Your Toe on the Moon’ sung by Crosby and child chorus, all with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke.

A further song, ‘Twixt Myself and Me’, sung by Murvyn Vye, was cut from the film after its world premiere  on 7 April 1949 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. In its second week there, it grossed a record $170,000 and it became the number one film in the US. Nevertheless, with a budget of $3.4 million, it grossed $3 million.

In Britain it was called A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

It runs 106 minutes.

The film-makers were unable use the musical’s original score as it had been bought for Words and Music (1948).

It has been filmed many times, and other versions include: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1921, silent with Harry Myers), A Connecticut Yankee (1931, the first sound version, with Will Rogers, Maureen O’Sullivan and Myrna Loy) and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1989, made for TV with Keshia Knight Pulliam, Jean Marsh and Rene Auberjonois). In the 1931 version just called A Connecticut Yankee, Will Rogers took Crosby’s part of a modern American in Camelot. It runs 95 minutes or 85 minutes on the 1936 re-release. The 1921 silent film is incomplete in the Library of Congress, and only reels 2, 4 and 7 survive.

Meaning of lummox = a large, ungainly and dull-witted person: ‘As a rule, a knight is a lummox, and sometimes even a labrick, and hence open to pretty poor arguments.’

It is on a double feature DVD with The Emperor Waltz (1948).

Rhonda Fleming had to audition for the part that Deanna Durbin had turned down, but she won the role and it was her first Technicolor film. She shows off her singing ability, duetting with Crosby on ‘Once and for Always’ and soloing with ‘When Is Sometime?’. They recorded the songs for a three-disc 78-rpm Decca album, conducted by Victor Young, who writes the film’s orchestral score. Her Hollywood vocal coach Harriet Lee praised her lovely voice, saying: ‘She could be a musical comedy queen’.

Rhonda Fleming recalled: ‘Bing was so easy going and very relaxed.’

Rhonda Fleming [Marilyn Cheverton Louis] died on 14 October 2020, aged 97. Despite that, she was still able to vote for Donald Trump in that year’s presidential election by means of an absentee ballot. She was known as ‘The Queen of Technicolor’.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5941

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com