Best Foot Forward (film)

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Best Foot Forward
Best Foot Forward Movie Poster.jpg
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Directed by Edward Buzzell
Written by Irving Brecher
Fred F. Finklehoffe
Dorothy Kingsley
Based on Best Foot Forward
1943 book
by John Cecil Holm
Produced by Arthur Freed
Starring Lucille Ball
William Gaxton
Virginia Weidler
Cinematography Leonard Smith
Edited by Blanche Sewell
Music by Lennie Hayton
Distributed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release date
  • October 8, 1943 (1943-10-08)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,162,000 [1]
Box office$2,704,000 [1]

Best Foot Forward is a 1943 American musical film adapted from the 1941 Broadway musical comedy of the same title. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Edward Buzzell, and starred Lucille Ball, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler, Chill Wills, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, and Nancy Walker.

Contents

The actors did their own singing, except for Lucille Ball, whose singing was dubbed by Gloria Grafton; Virginia Weidler, whose singing was dubbed by Jeanne Darrell; and Jack Jordan, whose singing was dubbed by Ralph Blane.

Weidler, then 16 years old, retired from acting after this film was made, making Best Foot Forward her final screen appearance.

Plot

Lucille Ball is at a military academy full of frisky boys. Ball is the reluctant guest of a diminutive cadet, Bud Hooper, who wrote her a "mash note" and invitation to be his date at a school prom.

Ball's publicity man, Jack O'Riley, seizes upon the situation as a perfect PR stunt, and convinces her to travel 3,000 miles to join Hooper at Winsocki Military Institute's dance. When Ball actually shows up, mayhem ensues. Hooper, who never dreamed she would accept, has to disinvite his girlfriend, Helen Schlesinger, and ask Ball to pretend to be Helen, lest the actress herself not pass muster with the institution's screening committee.

Helen fights back while Hooper tries to keep Ball from the clutches of other cadets who want to steal her for themselves. Meanwhile, Harry James and his orchestra perform various songs, including "The Flight of the Bumblebee".

Cast

Musical numbers

Sydney Guilaroff tinted Lucille Ball's hair flame red for her previous film, Du Barry Was a Lady (1943). She was so pleased, she kept it red for the rest of her life. Lucille Ball in Best Foot Forward trailer.jpg
Sydney Guilaroff tinted Lucille Ball's hair flame red for her previous film, Du Barry Was a Lady (1943). She was so pleased, she kept it red for the rest of her life.

All songs by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin.

Box office

According to MGM records, the film earned $2,051,000 in the US and Canada, and $653,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $398,000. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. Du Barry Was a Lady (1943) Trivia at IMDb