Main Cast: Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Pamela Tiffin, Ann-Margret, Tom Ewell
Release Year: 1962
Country: US
Run Time: 118 minutes
Plot
This is the third time around for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. The action takes place in urban Texas instead of the traditional setting in rural Iowa. This film version contains five extra songs written exclusively by Richard Rodgers. Box office results were adequate at best, and movie going public deemed this version the least interesting of the three. The youth audience was lured by the casting of Ann-Margaret, Pat Boone and Bobby Darin. Alice Faye returned to the big screen after a sixteen year absence as Melissa Frake. Tom Ewell plays her husband, Abel. The plot finds a family traveling to Dallas for the Texas State Fair. Singing commences on the ferris wheel, the merry-go-round and in other locales. The only real action is the anticipation of a drag race between Wayne (Pat Boone) and the carrot topped, malevolent motorhead Red (Edward "Tap" Canutt). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
State Fair, in all its three cinematic incarnations (and for that matter in its original book form), is pretty thin stuff. The first two versions got by on charm and atmosphere (and, in 1945, on the strength of the Rodgers and Hammerstein score). The third is not so lucky and begs the question of why remake material that was so obviously dated by 1962. It further begs the question of why one would hire Jose Ferrer to helm this remake. An often brilliant actor, Ferrer was an indifferent director, and despite his obvious fondness for the genre was ill-suited to the musical film. As a result there's no cohesiveness to the film, which serves to point up the weaknesses of its plot and dialogue. The cast tries hard, but Alice Faye and Tom Ewell are not particularly well cast, and Pat Boone and Pamela Tiffin are a bit on the dull side. Bobby Darin is much more fun, but the only real reason to see State Fair is Ann-Margret. She's in fine voice, making "Isn't It Kinda Fun" a jazzy delight and winging delightfully through "It's a Grand Night for Singing." More importantly, she's a livewire, infusing much-needed energy into all of her scenes -- even when called upon to don a hideous yellow yarn wig for a misguided production number. She grabs the screen and by sheer force of will breathes life into an otherwise-dead film. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Alice Faye - Melissa Frake; Wally Cox - Hipplewaite; David Brandon - Harry; Clem Harvey - Doc Cramer; Robert Foulk - SquatJudge; Edward "Tap" Canutt - Red Hoerier; Margaret Deramee - Lilya; Bebe Allan - Usherette; George Russell - George Hoffer; Anton Arnold - Lackey; Jack Carr; Claude Hall - Sime; Albert Harris - Jim; Linda Heinrich - Betty Jean; Sheila Mathews - Hipplewaite's Girl; Meat Loaf - Boy In Stands; Carl Princi; Kay Sutton; Bob Larkin; Freeman Morse; Tom Allen
It was considered to be a financially and critically unsuccessful film. It starred Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Ann-Margret, Tom Ewell, and Alice Faye. Richard Rodgers wrote additional songs, both music and lyrics, for this version, as Oscar Hammerstein had died in 1960.
While the stage musical, the 1933 movie and the 1945 movie were set at the Iowa State Fair, the 1962 version was filmed in Dallas, Texas, where the State Fair of Texas takes place every year in Fair Park. The Tilt-A-Whirl that was used in the movie is currently at a small theme park in Golden, Colorado.
