mark.waltz 1953 Hollywood-MGM had "Small Town Girl"; Warner Brothers had "Three Sailors and a Girl", and Paramount announced "Here Come the Girls". 20th Century Fox added its own girl to the group by putting a girl next door. Here, June Haver plays a Broadway star who moves next door to a handsome widower (Dan Dailey) with a young son (Billy Gray) who enjoys keeping his father busy with fishing trips and things that guys do, no females allowed. When Haver has a dinner party, they ruin it, first with pet pigeons that literally get into people's hair, then with a cook-out that threatens to be a smoke-out. Haver storms over to complain but finds herself entranced by Dailey, which upsets young Gray. They had earlier shared a duet entitled "I'd Rather Have a Pal than a Gal", and now papa Dailey is tempted to switch the two nouns in the song.Haver soon finds out that writer Dailey is quite a song and dance man himself, sharing a number with helium voiced Dennis Day that ends with the usual pose of the performers having their hands out to the audience begging for applause. But Gray won't back down on trying to keep Haver and Dailey apart, having a cute little animated dream that while fishing with his father (and a talking pooch and raccoon), Haver shows up as a witch, threatening to spoil their fun. You know in the end he'll change his mind and help reconcile the two; It's just a matter of getting through a few so-so musical numbers where the songs aren't very good, but the colorful Fox direction helps distract the viewer to that fact. The choreography by Richard Barstow (whom I had never heard of until I saw his name in the credits for this film) is also covered with lavish art direction, particularly in Dailey's dream finale that has Gray using a giant pencil in his efforts to keep Haver and Dailey apart.Minus Betty Grable for the first of a few times during his Fox musical career, Dailey is likable, and more down to earth than he was in backstage musicals such as "Mother Wore Tights" (where he plays a total ham) and "When My Baby Smiles at Me" (receiving an Oscar nomination as an alcoholic). He would be paired with Jeanne Crain and Ethel Merman in other movie musicals, but here, it is blonde June Haver who gets him. Some people confuse her with the similarly named June Havoc (Baby June of "Gypsy" fame), but they are very different people. The June Haver musicals, with titles such as "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" and "Look For the Silver Lining", are enjoyable but not among the top rated musical films of the golden age. She had a pleasant personality, was a talented singer and dancer, passable actress, but lacked the spark of other blonde musical stars of that era such as Betty Grable, Betty Hutton, and Doris Day. It's perhaps because there's no seemingly temperament there; She's like the chorus girl who made good and never forgot from where she came. There's no scandal or temperament to her personality that make her front page news. Day could get away with her spunky sweet nature because you knew somewhere underneath laid sadness from unspoken traumas; Grable could swear and spar with the crew, yet you knew she was one of the gang who enjoyed having fun. The lack of these qualities, plus the mystery of the newest rising blonde bombshell (Marilyn Monroe), makes Haver equally talented if not remarkable in these films. Those qualities ruined her best chance for stardom as the real-life temperamental Marilyn Miller in "Look For the Silver Lining".Young Billy Gray, who was fun as the younger brother in the Doris Day/Gordon MacRae films "On Moonlight Bay" and "By the Light of the Silvery Moon", is thankfully not obnoxious as the determined kid. It's easy to understand his desire to keep his dad to himself, so he avoids being a stereotypical screen brat. It was tempting to fast forward through any moment where Dennis Day sang, but I avoided it just to make sure I didn't miss any of his love interest Cara Williams' funny wisecracks. (Her appearance with the pigeons all over her is quite humorous.) They really are a mismatched second couple and are no threat to the same years young lovers Tommy Rall and Ann Miller in "Kiss Me Kate". Natalie Schaefer, the matronly Lovey Howell of "Gilligan's Island", plays of all things, a maid, paired with Clinton Sundberg's Franklin Pangborn-ish butler. Schaefer had better screen work playing society matrons in several Joan Crawford and Lana Turner films, as well as a memorable cameo in the film version of William Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life"."The Girl Next Door" is not a hard film to like, but it is one of those musicals that had good ideas, high ambitions, but unfortunately doesn't quite come together. Try not to laugh out loud at the silliness of the final musical number which is pretty to look at, yet worthy of gapes similar to the ones of the audience to "Springtime For Hitler" in "The Producers".

edwagreen Entertaining Dan Dailey and June Haver film. It's the story of a boy affected by his widower father's attachment to the woman who has moved next door.The singing, dancing and cartoon like sequence scenes are an absolute joy to watch.Dennis Day is wonderful here in a supporting role along with a very young looking Cara Williams.The story moves along at a rapid pace and is well done with the music adding so much to the story.Look for a stodgy Clifford Sunberg as a butler.

Andrew Schoneberg This obscure film was a treat for me, a classic film buff; it's a rare musical from Hollywood's golden age that's I've never seen nor even heard of. The Girl Next Door is not only very well made and entertaining, but in 1951 this was cutting edge both in story and in the way it's musical numbers are staged.Plotwise, it's a mild domestic drama, coupled with a conventional romance. Innovative is that the story portrays a warm, friendship-based father-son relationship which functions very well without a mother or other woman being around. When the father falls for the professional singer-dancer woman next door, the son is resentful.The dance numbers are not only well staged and performed, but refreshingly creative. The standout is a film-noirish number, shot with highly stylized camera angles, stark lighting, highly effective use of contrasting colors, and slinky jazz dance moves. The capper is that the number is supposed to be a nightclub performance with Dan Daily in the audience; mid-number, he imagines himself into the number, first as a shadow and then as the primary male dancer (a la "The Purple Rose of Cairo", decades later). The film's opening is remarkable for it's time; credits are superimposed (very unusual for the time) on the first of a three song extended musical number which immediately set's up the story and gives us a lot of information about June Haver's character.Dan Daily is likable, charming, masculine, believable, as well as being a good enough dancer and singer. June Haver is sexy in a very wholesome way, has a great body, moves well, but is somewhat bland in the personality-acting department. Her singing is dubbed. The only weakness in the film are that Denis Day is barely mediocre as a comic second banana, though his singing is beautiful, if you like old fashioned Irish tenor vocalizing. Cara Williams is radiant and sassy in the typical role of wisecracking friend of the heroine, but she's given little screen time and the zingers she's given to say are bland. Otherwise the dialog is far above the norm for musicals of it's era.The DVD includes 3 documentary featurettes; 2 are very informative and well done, one is about the film and the other about Dan Daily. The third is about Billy Gray (Bud of "Father Knows Best"), it's hampered by not having any footage from non-Fox films he made, nor from the classic TV show.

reelguy2 As of this writing, the IMDb user rating for this unpretentious musical is an amazingly high 8.3 - higher than The Band Wagon also released in 1953. So what accounts for such a rating? Most of the songs are awful ("I'd rather have a pal than a gal, anytime" is an example), and the choreography is just so-so. But despite these deficiencies, The Girl Next Door is one of the most amiable entertainments from the '50s. The slight story is played with humor and warmth by the entire cast. The dialog is bright. The modest fashions and decor make this a fascinating time capsule - closer to early 50s suburbia than the highly stylized productions from MGM.Although it's not about to supplant The Band Wagon from a critical standpoint, this film does weave a particular magic and has obviously won its way into a lot of hearts - mine included!