On Moonlight Bay *** (1951, Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Leon Ames, Jack Smith, Rosemary DeCamp, Billy Gray, Mary Wickes) – Classic Movie Review 7680

Director Roy Del Ruth’s 1951 On Moonlight Bay pairs cute, clean-cut couple Doris Day and Gordon MacRae to rousing, tuneful effect.

Day stars as toothsome tomboy Marjorie Winfield and MacRae plays her handsome neighbour William Sherman, who are the young lovers in this popular period musical based on Booth (The Magnificent Ambersons) Tarkington’s stories set in a small town in the early years of the 20th-century.

On Moonlight Bay is entirely sweet, old-fashioned and wholesome, and it was highly popular. The stars were called back for a sequel – 1953’s By the Light of the Silvery Moon.

Day and MacRae are fresh, lively and appealing, and there is lovely support from scene-stealers Mary Wickes as the maid Stella and Leon Ames as Marjorie’s dad, George Winfield.

Also in the cast are Rosemary DeCamp as Alice Winfield, Billy Gray, Ellen Corby, Sig Arno, Esther Dale, Jack Smith, Henry East, Jeffrey Stevens, Eddie Marr, Lois Austin, Tony Butala, Jimmy Dobson, Creighton Hale, Sherry Hall, Anne Kimbell, Hank Mann, Ralph Montgomery, Roland Morri, Jack Mower, Ray Spiker and Susan Whitney.

On Moonlight Bay is directed by Roy Del Ruth, runs 94 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose, is shot in Technicolor by Ernest Haller, is produced by William Jacobs, is scored by Max Steiner and Ray Heindorf, and is designed by Douglas Bacon.

Leon Ames, Rosemary DeCamp, Billy Gray and Mary Wickes all also re-create their roles in the sequel By the Light of the Silvery Moon.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7680

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