Themes: Vacation Romances, Family Vacations, Parenthood
Main Cast: Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, Vivian Blaine, Charles Winninger
Release Year: 1945
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Twentieth Century-Fox couldn't make a film version of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Oklahoma in 1945--that particular Broadway musical would remain a "hot ticket" until the end of the decade--so the studio did the next best thing by hiring Rodgers & Hammerstein to pen the score for the Technicolorful State Fair. Fox had previously made a non-singing movie of Philip Stong's novel in 1933, with Janet Gaynor and Will Rogers in the leads. The musical remake downplayed the older characters in favor of the younger members of the cast. Set during the annual Iowa State Fair, the story concentrates on the Frakes family: father Charles Winninger, mother Fay Bainter, and grown-up children Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes. Each has his or her own reason for attending the fair: Winninger intends to win the "prize hog" ribbon, Bainter hopes to defeat her longtime snooty rival in the "best pickle contest" (she wins when the judges get schnockered on the alcoholic "special ingredient" in her pickles), Crain falls in love with fast-talking journalist Dana Andrews, and Haymes woos footloose and fancy-free vocalist Vivian Blaine. Musical highlights include the Oscar-winning "It Might as Well be Spring," "It's a Grand Night for Singing," and the title number. To avoid confusion with the 1962 remake, the 1945 State Fair was for many years retitled It Happened One Summer for TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
20th Century Fox knew how to use Technicolor better than anyone else, and the Iowa sky in State Fair is breathtakingly blue -- almost as breathtaking, in fact, as Vivian Blaine's crimson tresses. But the vibrant color scheme isn't the only ingredient that separates the Fox musical tradition from, say, MGM's. Could anyone imagine the overly exuberant Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney take the place of such pleasantly corn-fed folks as State Fair's Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes? Crain and Haymes may not possess the sock-it-to-them gusto that members of the Arthur Freed unit over at Metro demonstrated but they also don't wear out their welcome quite so soon. Granted, Miss Crain's singing voice needed dubbing (by Louanne Hogan) and Haymes never truly made it to stardom, but they both fit State Fair to the proverbial "T." Nothing much happens here, you see; nothing much, or so the screenplay seems to imply, ever happens in "I-o-way" and that is the musical's ultimate charm. Decent folks struggling with everyday problems of pride and romance and not a true villain in sight, unless you count the overly confident Mrs. Metcalfe (Josephine Whittell), whose prize mincemeat loses to Mrs. Frake's (Fay Bainter) brandy-fortified ditto. Almost always choosing purebred Americana over showbiz sophistication, 20th Century Fox knew well how to spin such a negligible yarn, and the tuneful Rodgers & Hammerstein score simply clinches the deal. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
