tavm Review of Best Foot Forward

Best Foot Forward (1943)

Lucille Ball is funny playing a version of herself in Best Foot Forward

[7/10 · 5 February 2015]

After years of reading about this movie, I finally got to see Best Foot Forward last week though the DVD I borrowed from the library was defective since the picture started-and-stopped during the beginning credits and also the first number so I waited to order another copy from Netflix which I just watched. Lucille Ball played herself as a very popular movie star though she probably wasn't as popular in real life at the time as she was so depicted in the movie. And, of course, her characterization is much different from the one that really made her such a success a decade later when she and hubby Desi Arnaz starred on TV in "I Love Lucy". Still, she brings the funny in her wisecracks and in being humiliated quite a few times so in that way, she wasn't too different from her usual characterization. Anyway, this was a wonderfully contrived musical comedy about a cadet from Winsocki writing to Ms. Ball about going to the prom with him since his real girlfriend wasn't initially going to show up. The girlfriend is played by Virginia Weidler-a former child actor whose last film this turned out to be. There's also some good female singers in the cast like Gloria DeHaven and June Allyson. Oh, and comedienne Nancy Walker does self-depreciation in making fun of her looks to a fine art as well as provide some brassy charm when doing her Big Band numbers especially during the "Alive and Kickin'" song she clowns in with musician Harry James who also provide some additional great numbers. The songs by Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane are tunefully enjoyable. So on that note, I highly recommend Best Foot Forward. P.S. The reason I watched this just now was because since I've been reviewing the Our Gang comedies the past several months, I decided to also review films outside of the series which had individual members appearing like Darwood "Waldo" Kaye as a young student named "Killer"! Also, Sara Haden, who had played Miss Pipps in the series short Come Back, Miss Pipps, appears here as Miss Talbert.