Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Dreadfully Boring

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

"Too Many Girls" is fluffy little musical that most likely would be getting no attention today...if it wasn't for the chance pairing of Lucille Ball with her future husband, Desi Arnaz. Apart from this, there's not much to recommend it...not the story nor the songs.When the film begins, four college football players decide to forego returning to their old schools but instead enroll in tiny Potowomanie College in New Mexico! Why? Because a pretty but spoiled young lady (Ball) is going there and her father hires them all to keep an eye on her from a distance. Why they would leave the top football schools in the country seems a bit dubious and it's all an excuse for a lot of singing and dancing and nonsense. My recommendation? If you must see it, well, it's harmless. Just don't THINK very much, as the story seldom makes any sense and overthinking this one will ruin it. Otherwise, if you skip it and watch something else, the chances are what you chose instead is better!

Too Many Girls is an interesting film for the above reason and is worth the look also. But while a long way from the worst film musicals, it is not a particularly great film either. There are definitely things that do salvage it. Desi Arnaz is very charming in his role and gives it his all, though his singing can sound strained because of the register. The songs make for very pleasant listening, I Didn't Know What Time It Was is the best number and is a classic, though other than that none really are among Rodgers and Hart's best. Hal LeRoy beguiles with his dancing and toe-work, and you have to love the comedy comebacks of Eddie Bracken as well as the vocal talents of Frances Langford and the dancing of Ann Miller. The football footage is interesting too, the film does look nice if not quite audacious and look out for Van Johnson. Too Many Girls has all those good things but is for me a very flawed film. When there aren't any songs, much of the film is weak with draggy pacing, a pretty dispensable story and stilted dialogue. The direction and choreography are definitely competent- the Conga at the end is an absolute riot and anything danced by Ann Miller is fun enough- but are not particularly memorable and could have had more passion. Lucille Ball's Connie is too exaggerated, and while the singer providing her singing voice has a beautiful silky voice- much better than Ball's, whose I can't stand, especially in the dire Mame- it is one of those instances where you can actually tell it's not the actor/actress singing. And Richard Carlson is unbearably wooden here too. Overall, not a bad film, not a good one either, kind of a difficult one to judge actually because there is some entertainment value there are a lot of noticeable bad things too. 5/10 Bethany Cox

George Abbott was a brilliant Broadway play writer/director/producer. He won five Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize. His Hollywood career was interesting, although a bit less successful. "Too Many Girls" is one of only three of his Broadway musicals that he brought to film. "Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees" are the other two. While not quite as good as those two, this one is a lot of fun and does have a lot of energy. Abbott also directed nine early sound films from 1929-1931. It is unfortunate that none of these are out on DVD, as far as I know.People have already noted the excellent cast: Eddie Bracken, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Francis Langford, Richard Carlson, Hal Leroy and Ann Miller. They all sparkle here. They hold a silly and absurd plot together by not taking any of it seriously for a moment. This is a good thing because the plot is unrealistic in wink, wink, nudge, nudge fashion. The absurdity of having Desi Arnaz who looks like he weighs 150 lbs. as a superstar football player is only topped by the absurdity of having Eddie Bracken, who looks 140 lbs., as a star quarterback.Culturally, it is fascinating to see the way colleges were portrayed in 1940. Apparently, the only reason a woman went to college was, as Lucille Ball bluntly puts it, was to get a man. I also wondered about the women wearing beanies. The movie is unclear, but apparently all the girls who wear beanies, nearly all the women students, are virgins. I assume this was made clear in the play, although in the movie it is not so clear. After Ball and Carlson spend a night together, the movie pointedly shows Ball still wearing her beanie. One is supposed to believe this in the same way that one is supposed to believe Desi and Eddie are football players.

With obvious clumps of studio foliage, this movie must have certainly cost very little to make: however, it does have a few saving graces (Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, and Frances Langford amongst the girls; Richard Carlson, Desi Arnaz, and Eddie Bracken amongst the boys; a handful of good songs from the Rodgers and Hart show - including 'I Didn't Know What Time It Was'). Between the musical numbers it drags quite badly and seems pretty stilted - some of the script has lines like: 'we're handing our strip back'/'you mean you're going to play in the nude?'; 'I'm looking for the Stunted Hag.'/'No, this is the Hunted Stag.'; 'You know, that college that doesn't give its right name - Smith.' and so on.The tale of a wayward girl going to her father's cheapo alma mater and shadowed by four Ivy League students is not that original, or done in a particularly interesting way. But, at the few moments when the music kicks in, it just about saves itself from oblivion.