Review of Call Me Madam

Ethel Merman's overly-jovial, happily impersonal, maniacally spirited stage persona didn't always translate well to the silver screen (she was accused of projecting too big, as was Carol Channing). She certainly had some worthwhile movie opportunities however, this bright musical from Fox--modeled on the career of Perle Mesta--being one of them. Merman plays a Washington, D.C. hostess who is appointed U.S. Ambassador to Lichtenberg by her good friend Harry Truman, whom she telephones once in a while to check up on. Farcical, frantic and thoroughly insincere, the picture is still a marvel to behold as seen in unreal Technicolor (looking like 20 different flavors of Jell-O). Finger-snapping Merman is a hoot in her duet with lackey Donald O'Connor ("Your heart goes pitter-patter/I know just what's the matter..."), although Ethel never really adjoins herself to anybody else: she's intent on towing this ship fully on her own steam. It's a snug, entertaining concoction, though one which is apt to amusingly perplex and frazzle those unfamiliar with Merman's impertinent charm and gimme-some-elbow-room gusto. **1/2 from ****