“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is a musical film with Esther Williams playing the owner of a minor league baseball team, of which two players are also vaudeville performers, portrayed by Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. One would think this would be a formula for top-rate entertainment, but Busby Berkeley (“The Gang’s All Here” 1943) was unfocused in his direction from a poorly written screenplay by Harry Tugend and George Wells, based on a well-meaning but mediocre story from Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.
The result is a film that is sluggish, tedious, and dull, despite energetic performances by Sinatra, Williams, and Kelly. Co-stars include Betty Garrett, Jules Munshin, Edward Arnold, Richard Lane, Tom Dugan, Mitchell Lewis, and Ed Cassidy as Teddy Roosevelt. The music featured the unofficial anthem of baseball, which was also the title of the film, penned by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, performed by Kelly and Sinatra, and again by Williams in a swimming pool, of course.
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was filmed in Technicolor and was a modest success in theatrical release for producer Arthur Freed and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It seems like nothing could help “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” hit a home run, although it might be worth watching just for the star power alone.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
cinema
My Review
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is a musical film with Esther Williams playing the owner of a minor league baseball team, of which two players are also vaudeville performers, portrayed by Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. One would think this would be a formula for top-rate entertainment, but Busby Berkeley (“The Gang’s All Here” 1943) was unfocused in his direction from a poorly written screenplay by Harry Tugend and George Wells, based on a well-meaning but mediocre story from Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.
The result is a film that is sluggish, tedious, and dull, despite energetic performances by Sinatra, Williams, and Kelly. Co-stars include Betty Garrett, Jules Munshin, Edward Arnold, Richard Lane, Tom Dugan, Mitchell Lewis, and Ed Cassidy as Teddy Roosevelt. The music featured the unofficial anthem of baseball, which was also the title of the film, penned by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, performed by Kelly and Sinatra, and again by Williams in a swimming pool, of course.
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was filmed in Technicolor and was a modest success in theatrical release for producer Arthur Freed and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It seems like nothing could help “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” hit a home run, although it might be worth watching just for the star power alone.