Clifton Webb is a former movie star, now a college professor, who tries to suppress the showing of his creaky, ancient movies on the (then) new medium of television. Ginger Rogers plays an actress often teamed with him in those movies (as she was so often with Fred Astaire in real life, though these aren't dancing movies). Anne Francis is Webb's straight-laced,college-aged daughter, appalled by her father's hidden past.
Though Webb wants his old movies suppressed, Rogers loves being in the limelight again and is determined to keep their movies being broadcast. She's also able to fit in warbling a few numbers.
This movie is quite funny, especially after delightful supporting actor Fred Clark enters as the hustler/TV executive. Clark was always a major scene stealer, and he and the quiet Webb have a tug of war between them in their scenes together. Watch him in "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine." Webb's dry delivery is wonderful, and he always comes out on top.
Though the movie displays new technology (a la 1952) it will appear dated to most people. It's black and white so young people won't come near it. And it's difficult to find as it seems to have slipped through the cracks of time. I was born only nine years after it was released and I though I considered myself something of a motion picture expert I never heard of it until 2023. It's nice to come to something such a treat late in life but I wish I'd found it twenty years earlier when I was a boy of forty. A delight.
Though Webb wants his old movies suppressed, Rogers loves being in the limelight again and is determined to keep their movies being broadcast. She's also able to fit in warbling a few numbers.
This movie is quite funny, especially after delightful supporting actor Fred Clark enters as the hustler/TV executive. Clark was always a major scene stealer, and he and the quiet Webb have a tug of war between them in their scenes together. Watch him in "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine." Webb's dry delivery is wonderful, and he always comes out on top.
Though the movie displays new technology (a la 1952) it will appear dated to most people. It's black and white so young people won't come near it. And it's difficult to find as it seems to have slipped through the cracks of time. I was born only nine years after it was released and I though I considered myself something of a motion picture expert I never heard of it until 2023. It's nice to come to something such a treat late in life but I wish I'd found it twenty years earlier when I was a boy of forty. A delight.