State Fair

Rating:
Summary: Pure American Heritage
Review: All I can say is that this movie leaves you with a good feeling. It is a movie that wouldn't...COULDN'T be made today. The songs are as sweet as apple pie, the characters as warm and inviting as chicken soup. Sure, the language may be dated, the plot predictable and implausible, but hey, it's worth it. Jeanne Crain was perfectly cast as the innocent Margy, and every scene is filled with nostalgia. It's almost as if the movie was MEANT to be looked back upon 50 years later, it's so perfect. Look for the delightful mince meat and pickle scene. PURE AMERICANA AT ITS BEST!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Musical, but.........
Review: As far as the story, cast, and songs go, State Fair is a warm nostalgic film which is highly enjoyable. I bought the DVD for what I hoped would be an improvement over my VHS. I was disappointed by the audio and video quality of the DVD to be quite honest. The audio is so low that I really had to crank up my receiver to get an acceptable volume. Afterall, this is a musical isn't it? In the early part of the film when Jeanne Crain is singing "It Might as well be Spring", there seemed to be little gnats flying around her face. In reality they were spots on the film that SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEANED UP. This condition improved later on, but come on! These Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals should have been given a lot more loving care than they have received. I say this because other musicals in the series also have problems. The audio and video on State Fair needs some restoration, the kind that is afforded other classic films. Otherwise, a worthwhile purchase.

Rating:
Summary: TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
Review: Hick family go to Des Moines for State Fair. Girl wins prize fo best pie. Boy wins ribbon for best pig, mom has best pickles, Dad guesses everyones weight...bizarre. And this homily to middle America of the mid 1940's...could easily be dismissed as pure sap. Except for on thing - there is a disturbingly haunting edge to this film. Amid the festivities comes this stranger who seduces the young naive farm girl. He claims to be a reporter for the Des Moines Register. But he doesn't seem to know much about Des Moines. A one of a kind film that is visually stunning and hypnotic. Listen for Harry Morgan's voice-over as a carney.Almost the entire film takes place at the fair...in real time!

Rating:
Summary: Americana at its very best!
Review: I could not have been much older than 12 when I first saw this movie musical which I now know was the first of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals to be shown on movie screens. It was then, and will undoubtedly continue to be a thoroughgoing delight! The cast of characters were obviously chosen with great care for all of them reflect a time when Americans were shown to the world as being people with character and principles as well as real heart. And, in my view at least, the score and all songs were Rodgers and Hammerstein at their earliest best for the song "It Might as Well Be Spring" won the Academy Award and has, I suspect, come to epitomize the very essence of Spring feelings for virtually all budding young lovers. This movie should be re-released for it depicts the best of the spirit of America, despite its having been filmed during the early years of World War II, which together with The Holocaust effectively all but destroyed the values embodied and displayed by this truly heart-warming movie musical. I am nearly 70, and I most sincerely wish it were possible to return the world to a time when life was precious and people cared for people without regard to ethnic origin or religious preference...what a wonderful world that would be.

Rating:
Summary: Americana at its very best!
Review: I could not have been much older than 12 when I first saw this movie musical which I now know was the first of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals to be shown on movie screens. It was then, and will undoubtedly continue to be a thoroughgoing delight! The cast of characters were obviously chosen with great care for all of them reflect a time when Americans were shown to the world as being people with character and principles as well as real heart. And, in my view at least, the score and all songs were Rodgers and Hammerstein at their earliest best for the song "It Might as Well Be Spring" won the Academy Award and has, I suspect, come to epitomize the very essence of Spring feelings for virtually all budding young lovers. This movie should be re-released for it depicts the best of the spirit of America, despite its having been filmed during the early years of World War II, which together with The Holocaust effectively all but destroyed the values embodied and displayed by this truly heart-warming movie musical. I am nearly 70, and I most sincerely wish it were possible to return the world to a time when life was precious and people cared for people without regard to ethnic origin or religious preference...what a wonderful world that would be.

Rating:
Summary: It's a Grand Night for Singing
Review: I don't know about you but somehow each time i go to the State Fair and i am riding the Freswheel i just wish for once that everyone in the park would just start singing "It's A Grand Night for Singing."Ok,,,well maybe that is stupid but after seeing this great film and this version you will feel great and alive and maybe sing-a-long in your living room.I only wish that this could have been channeled for DVD in 5.1 Stereo but there again,,you would have to peal me off the wall.So does this tell you anything about how i feel about this movie? You heart will pound, your pulse will race, you'll want to sing the night away and for the running time of this excellent movie you can escape to that fantasy world of "The State Fair."

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful film musical!
Review: I really loved this movie. It has auch beautiful songs and is a great romance story as well. I highly recommend it. It's a movie the entire family can watch.

Rating:
Summary: A beautifuol film musical!
Review: I really loved this movie. It has auch beautiful songs and is a great romance story as well. I highly recommend it. It's a movie the entire family can watch.

Rating:
Summary: Postwar prosperity evident in the production
Review: I rented "State Fair" this weekend to watch with my brother and his wife, and the idea that most often poppped into our heads was, "This doesn't seem like a farmhouse family to me!" I mean, when you consider how Aunt Em's farm looks in "Wizard of Oz", this family is surely living high on the hog! They've got a stunning kitchen and both children have brand-new extremely well-made wardrobes--part of our unintentionally cynical enjoyment was to comment on these kinds of details that make sure you know you're in the era when America was emerging as the top nation in the world, and the Great Depression was well behind.

I thought the best performances were handed in by the older generation: the mom and pop were appealing and conveyed very nice people. Donald Meek was especially great as the pickled mincemeat judge who keeps following Ma through the fair. I had my difficulties with the romantic couples. I was just watching Dana Andrews again in "The Best Years of Our Lives" and he was reminding me of that character again here. It's a man who smiles with his lips only--it never extends to his eyes. A troubled man who is not really capable of being happy. I don't think Jeanne Crain (or Teresa Wright in the other film) would be doing a wise thing in marrying him because of this. I suppose it's also worth commenting on that Jeanne's parents haven't the foggiest clue that she's even met Dana Andrews, let alone is going to marry him at the end. They think she's going to marry her fiance who is rather unfairly characterized as a bore. He actually sounds like a fellow who's going to be very successful as a modern farmer, like a Bill Gates of the dairy world. His chief crime in un-romance seems to be that he wears glasses. If she would just be honest with him, maybe he could be as romantic as she'd like. Not very cricket to be engaged to a man you don't love, you know, and she already is at the outset.

Then there's the son. He's got a girl he seems to be sweet on back home. She's a very lovely blonde, as we see during his telephone call. Then off he goes to the fair and takes up with the band singer, who isn't nearly as lovely as the girl he's already secured back home. He has no compunction, though, about pursuing the band singer; he totally dumps mentally the girl back home, whose only crime was that she couldn't come to the fair because a relative was sick. So how nice is he? Of course, Dick Haymes has a good voice, but otherwise he appeared to be miscast in this film; as one reviewer noted, he seemed to fit right in to the posh party thrown by the showbiz folks, and really he should be a fish out of water. My brother and sister-in-law thought he had a strange-looking face, and then my brother concluded he was supposed to be a spin on then-popular Joe Di Maggio. He more reminded me of the pre-cortisone treatment JFK.

So, "State Fair" does not rank that high on the Rodgers and Hammerstein geiger counter. It's not a bad score, though it's not the most memorable thing I'd ever heard. "Grand Night for Singing" (my personal favorite song) morphed in later years into "Real Nice Clambake" from "Carousel"--listen to see if you agree with me. I thought Fox did a creditable job of a rip-off MGM musical. Better things were to come from R&H in the next few years. "State Fair"'s strongest point is that it's lovely to look at in its technicolor glory. So sit back and enjoy it for what it's worth.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful musical!
Review: I've seen this movie many times, and very highly
recommend it. It is such a sweet story, filled with romance,
and some great songs and dances. I'd give it ten stars if I could.