Best movie of this year hands down!

Simply Perfect

One of my all time favorites.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

If you've read my reviews of musicals, then you know that I watch most of them only so that I can heckle them like Mike, Servo and Crow do to the crummy movies that Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank send them on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". One of my cracks to the arch-hokey "State Fair" was during the taste-testing scene: I said that one of the characters had put LSD in the punch. I heckled the equally hokey 1962 version to a lesser extent, just since I'm not tempted to heckle Ann-Margret.Yes, you probably think that I'm some sort of curmudgeon. Look, these big pompous movies set themselves up to get mocked. If we can make fun of famous people, then why not the movies in which they star? And no, you can't give me any of this "Golden Age of Cinema" mumbo-jumbo; there were just as many bad movies back then as there are now. It's just that we only remember the good movies. The point is that this is just the sort of movie that begs to get given a "Weird Al" Yankovic-style treatment. And just to remind you that I'm not playing favorites, I did the same with "My Dream Is Yours", "Show Boat", "Oklahoma!", "The King and I", "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music". "MST3K" would have a field day with all these flicks. As for me, I'd like to see Quentin Tarantino remake them.

It is some testament to the growing stature of the movie musical in the 1940s that Rodgers and Hammerstein, then revitalising the stage musical in a way not seen since the death of Ziegfeld, decided to turn their hands to a piece for the screen. State Fair had been a popular non-musical movie back in 1933, a simple yet touching love story that Rodgers and Hammerstein could adapt with very few changes in what looked like a simple case of "add songs, create hit".Individually both members of the duo had worked in film before, so the format was not unfamiliar, and they are prepared to make concessions to it. Of all the Rodgers and Hammerstein pictures produced by Fox State Fair is the shortest by a considerable margin. The epic musical that would appear in the mid-50s (boosted primarily by the adaptations of Rodgers and Hammerstein's big stage works) was still an unknown concept. Nevertheless, they seem keen to make the most of the cinema's possibilities. At one point, a snatch of singing becomes an internal monologue, something that doesn't really work on stage (although having said that it never really caught on in the movies either). Apart from this, all the usual Rodgers and Hammerstein touches are there, with songs that move the story along emotionally and tonally rather than semantically. "It Might as Well Be Spring" is integrated into the background scoring and becomes an illustration of Jeanne Crain's confused dissatisfaction.This is also one of the earliest musicals in which non-singing actors would be dubbed by professional vocalists. In later years this would be done a lot because the studio wanted the right performer for each role more than they wanted someone who could sing. Strangely though there is nothing special about Jeanne Crain or Dana Andrews, both of whom were dubbed here. The best player is surely Fay Bainter, the archetypal mother figure in numerous 40s movies. She is full of endearing, twitchy mannerisms, as in her hesitation over adding more liquor to the mincemeat. There's also a nice little supporting part from sweet old man Donald Meek as one of the judges.State Fair is undoubtedly a nice-looking picture. At this point Technicolor was still quite a special thing, but it was beginning to become standard for musicals. The colours here are rich and vibrant without being garish, the screen filled with subtle pinks, blues and natural greens. Director Walter Lang handles the scenes with poise and delicacy. His staging of "It Might as Well Be Spring" is simple yet beautiful, slowly closing the camera in on Jeanne Crain as the shadow of the trees teases across the image. His arranging of the crowds is excellent too, often keeping people moving rhythmically but realistically, and forming careful patterns to draw our attention to the stars in the foreground.Good as it looks and sounds, State Fair is ultimately a rather flat experience. Apart from the fact that this version has songs, its 1933 counterpart was better in almost every aspect. The earlier movie was certainly far more intensely romantic. Even the songs in State Fair are far from Rodgers and Hammerstein's best, the delicate charm of "It Might as Well Be Spring" being the only example up to their usual standard. The movie's one real asset can be summed up in Craine's sudden anger that the ultra-modern farmhouse proposed by her bespectacled suitor would have "nothing useless". In other words, she yearns for the purely decorative things in life. State Fair, with its fragile beauty and quaint frippery wrapped around a rather mundane slice of Americana, is a purely decorative movie.

I've seen this musical several times before and enjoyed it well enough, but it never really impressed me. Until this time. I put on the 1962 version, watched about 10 minutes, and decided to switch to the 1945 original. Within five minutes it had introduced the theme and had me hooked, and by 10 minutes it had me laughing at some of the same scenes that left me cold with the remake.While I am a great fan of Rodgers & Hammerstein, I hadn't paid much attention to State Fair before. I had always considered Oklahoma! the beginning, and it is, as far as Broadway goes with a debut of 1943, but the film didn't come out until 1955. Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote mostly musicals with an edgy social commentary and included some tears, which are missing from State Fair, which looks weak by comparison. When viewed as their first film, and second musical, the perspective changes. And I'm not so often in the mood for an emotionally stressful musical. State Fair is Rodgers & Hammerstein's most cheerful musical, and their only light comedy, though there is some comedy in all their works. I think in the old broadcast TV rerun movie days, we took this genre for granted, and when I saw State Fair, I basically said, nice movie, and promptly forgot about it. Now I appreciate how delicately and effectively the director Walter Lang worked in the comedy, as well as developed the heart-warming romantic subplots, which modern movies so often flub. I really laughed and chuckled at many scenes, especially the pickle contest tasting, and I genuinely cared about the characters. All the acting was on the mark, even the minor parts, and every scene generated the appropriate emotion, without feeling manipulated. You have to remember when this was made, near the end of WWII, and when it was released, Aug. 30, 1945, shortly after the surrender of Japan. With such timing, Americans must have rejoiced at the return to normalcy State Fair embodied. An edgy, violent musical like Oklahoma! would been wrong for the time. I was just re-watching the Harvey Girls, which came out in January 1946, and it, too, was a light Americana musical. What you see in these two is the birth of the modern film musical, with singing and dancing and a strong plot, but without the crutch of having the leading actors play professional musicians or dancers, as in the 1930s Astaire musicals. The Wizard of Oz in 1939 was actually ahead of these two movie musicals, though it was aimed at children. There is a tip of the hat in State Fair to an even earlier musical, also for children, Disney's enormously successful, but enormously risky, Snow White, the first full-length color animated movie in 1937. Listen to the orchestration and style of the music as Mrs. Frake prepares the mincemeat in the kitchen, particularly as she is grating something -- it matches the style as Snow White is cleaning the kitchen of the seven dwarfs. Their song My State Fair even seems similar to the chords and pace of Disney's Whistle While You Work. I bet audiences in 1945 caught the reference. I guess Rodgers and Hammerstein are giving credit to Snow White as a great musical, and the first to so fully integrate music and plot, as well as including some edgy conflict from the evil queen, perhaps influencing their own approach. The orchestration style reappears briefly near the end of the movie. When I finished watching State Fair, I felt good. This is one of a handful of films that I think you can count on to cheer you up if you are feeling bad, including Princess Bride and Dave. I came away with a new appreciation for the craftsmanship of director Walter Lang, whose credits include The King and I, and No Business Like Show Business.I was also surprised to find that the same Vivian Blaine who plays Emily Edwards also played Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls in 1955. Now that's acting. As a footnote, the philosophizing by Dave Miller was a reference to Ralph Waldo Emerson's great essay, Compensation. This is the underlying theme of the story, and the bet establishes a certain tension that carries through the film. But we see that bad does not have to balance good, if we choose happiness. With its focus on bringing a pig to the state fair, this is an obvious companion to Charlotte's Web; another is Friendly Persuasion. All are fine family movies. I think it is safe to say the original is the best. But this is not to put down the 1962 remake. Actually, I think it would be a fine thing to remake State Fair every couple of decades, setting the story in a new generation. State fairs are in at least their third century now. The fundamentals haven't changed much. I think this is a tradition Rodgers & Hammerstein would have approved.

So where else does snooty Hollywood celebrate a hog judging contest, of all things. Then too, I'll bet the movie made it onto the Farmer John list of favorites. Actually, the musical is more sweet than bouncy, an overdue tribute to rural America and one of the so-called "pig- pen" musicals of the time. The fair itself is brightly rendered by TCF's expert photographer Leon Shamroy, along with an attractive cast. And what a sweet paragon of innocence is the sparkling Jeanne Crain. I can imagine hundreds of guys leaving for Iowa after seeing her. Haymes too projects a pleasant boyishness and a fine singing voice. But it's really Winninger who steals the film with his addled comedic touch. Then there's that really suspenseful moment in the hog show, that is, until the enchanting Esmeralda comes to the lovelorn Blue Boy's rescue, surely one of Hollywood's more delightful romances.Of Course, there're also the great R&H's tunes. That massed rendition of It's a Grand Night for Singing is a show-stopper and wonderfully captures the carefree spirit of the fair. Add to that some nice light-hearted character touches, such as the perennially grouchy Percy Kilbride and the mincemeat freak Donald Meek. However, note that the script has one of the two siblings, but not both, abandon the farm for an urban fast life. After all, having both leave would reflect negatively on the movie's main theme. Note too, director Lang's unusually deliberate pacing for a musical, to bring out the story values, I guess.Anyway, it's a highly pleasant musical diversion with a fine cast, lots of color, and at least two first-rate tunes. The 100-minutes may lack bounce, but they do entertain, even 60-years later.