Did you people see the same film I saw?

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Colorful minor musical is of interest mostly as a chance to get a glimpse of Gypsy Rose Lee in one of her few movie appearances. She offers a pleasant performance, nothing special but full of personality. It also has some eye popping costumes in vivid Technicolor and Gypsy's hair is done up in some truly gravity defying styles throughout. Dinah Shore doesn't make much of an impression, her high sweet thin voice is put to service on some forgettable songs but in the acting department she is woeful. Fortunately the supporting cast of old pros is there to prop up the shaky leads with Florence Bates, usually cast as stuffy matrons, fun as Gypsy's flashy traveling companion.

The color of the Canadian territory of the Yukon is proudly displayed in this beautiful to look at semi-musical about a Saloon owner (Randolph Scott), his former flame (Gypsy Rose Lee) who arrives to entertain, the saloon's manager (Charles Winninger), and his pretty daughter (Dinah Shore) who is in love with a man supposedly married with children (William Marshall). Scott is involved in a scheme to defraud the local residents thanks to a phony professor ("Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" grandfather Victor Kilian) and when he is on the verge of being exposed by Ms. Lee, he changes his plans. Another villain (Robert Armstrong) uses this as an opportunity to take away the gold stashed in Scott's newly opened bank, while Sheriff Guinn "Big Boy" Williams has various supposedly humorous encounters with hick Bob Burns that usual end up with Burns holding Williams' gun. The last minor plot is unfunny, and gives Burns (a "B" star at Paramount in the 30's and early 40's) no sense in being there.However, the major plots of the story are the romances between Lee and Scott, and Shore and Marshall. There are obvious problems in the first romantic storyline; Scott is ill-defined as a supposedly honest saloon owner who would cheat his customers out of their gold. Also, Ms. Lee is a very wooden actress. When her character in the musical "Gypsy" exclaims that June (Havoc), her sister, was the one with all of the talent, she wasn't kidding. She was fine when making specialty appearances in the Fox musicals of the 30's, but to star in a film is downright silly of the producers. In the opening musical number, she has to keep saying over and over "Every girl is different". Not looking unlike MGM comic Virginia O'Brien, here she acts like her too, but without the hilarity that the delightful Ms. O'Brien had. (Watch "The Big Store" to see Ms. O'Brien "rock it baby" and try not hold your sides from laughing too much!) I laughed here, but it was more on account of how bad it was. And how many Saloons in the Yukon of this era had a stage that large? The production number has some elaborate costumes, but is simply bad. It's not even camp like "The Lady in the Tootie Frootie Hat".As for Dinah Shore, I enjoyed her TV show as a youngster and found her to be charming in some of her other films ("Thank Your Lucky Stars" and "Aaron Slick From Punkin' Crick"), but here, she is not only directed badly, but outfitted and made-up badly as well. She wears a red wig that does not suit her, and the scarlet lipstick and corsets make her appear to look like a cartoon character. I instantly thought of Helena Hyena from "Roger Rabbit" when I saw her in a too-tight corset that seemed to squish her waste down to 12 inches and give her an enormous backside and an outlandishly large top. I've heard of hour glass figures, but that sand couldn't get through the tiny little tube between the top and bottom! Obviously, Ms. Shore was not a trained actress, so one can't expect much, but she did much, much better in her other films, so obviously the director must be faulted. She did better in her cameo as herself in "Oh, God!" than she does here. William Marshall is handsome, and a good fit with Ms. Shore, but it is very obvious that he is innocent of what Shore's father (the delightful Charles Winninger) has accused him of.Winninger is hysterically funny with the little he has to do, drinking sasparilla throughout and choking on it. As Ms. Lee's companion, the delightful Florence Bates shines as well. They have a very cute romance that is quickly passed over. I would have loved to seen more of them, even though they are both past their prime. They are adorable together! It's hard to think of a worse color musical of the 40's (perhaps "The Kissing Bandit", but that had a few good songs and a few more good performances). Here, the songs are weak, the leading couple (Lee & Scott) have no chemistry, and the beautiful landscape is only fleetingly viewed. Unless you are a film connoisseur who must try to see every major release of every year movies were made, skip this one!

One could envy the first movie viewers who saw this flick in 1944. It's a gorgeously colorful film with a lot of good looking women floating around. You would quickly realize that the so called Western plot is just something strung between the comic and musical numbers, most of which are good old fun. There's a number of regulars among the actors, as well as some newcomers and less familiar faces. Dinah Shore takes some getting used to, but she sings and handles humor quite well. Gypsy Rose Lee is sort of a slimmed down Mae West who tosses off her lines like she's throwing gloves to a cheering crowd. It would have been nice if Hollywood had made more use of her.And Randolph Scott is a good sport about it all.So when you've got the time and want some light entertainment, this is it.

Although the plot of Belle of the Yukon is so tired that its not worth recounting (but isn't this true of most old musicals?), this gorgeously technicolored musical/western has some pleasing elements of interest for fans of 1940's nostalgia. The young, brunette Dinah Shore (with an eye-poppingly voluptuous figure) sings beautifully two lovely standards, "Like Someone in Love," and "Sleighride in July." What a warm, pleasing voice she had. One of the all-time great singers. Her blonde, blue-eyed love interest, William Marshall, is so ridiculously pretty that he looks like a vintage comic book hero come to life. Gypsy Rose Lee is relaxed and fun with her foot-high pompadours and Belle Epoque gowns by Don Loper, and a very handsome Randolph Scott is clearly enjoying himself.