Take Me Out to the Ball Game (Busby Berkeley, 1949): USA

Reviewed by Byron Potau.  Viewed on DVD.

As a lover of baseball and a lover of musicals, 1949’s Gene Kelly vehicle Take Me Out to the Ball Game would appear to be a treat, but unfortunately, due to a lackluster script and forgettable songs and dances the film drops the ball.

When new owner K.C. Higgins (Esther Williams) of the successful baseball team, The Wolves, turns out to be a woman with some strict curfew rules star shortstop Eddie O’Brien (Gene Kelly) takes every opportunity he gets to harass his new boss until he begins falling for her.  To complicate matters, second baseman Dennis Ryan (Frank Sinatra) has also fallen for the new owner, but he is getting chased around by his biggest fan Shirley Delwyn (Betty Garrett).  Finally, big gambler Joe Lorgan (Edward Arnold) hires O’Brien for his vaudeville act in order to throw his game off and cause The Wolves to lose to insure he wins a bet he placed that The Wolves would not finish first.

Lots of talent involved here, but the essential components to make a good musical are good dancing, and good songs and this film has neither of them.  The choreography by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly is fairly simple, not really allowing Kelly or anyone else to let loose, and the songs are at best forgettable.  Writers Harry Tugend and George Wells story is very basic, predictable and not very funny, and adds very little to get excited about.  With all that is lacking in the musical end of the film, director Busby Berkeley appears to be out of his league with the subject of baseball as there is little authenticity there.  All in all this seems to be a very cookie cutter type of musical with very little creativity and a waste of a lot of good talent.