Plot
This lightweight 20th Century-Fox Technicolor musical stars Dan Dailey as Bill Carter, a widowed comic strip illustrator and June Haver as Jeannie, the title character, a glamorous Broadway star. When next-door-neighbors Bill and Jeannie fall in love, Bill's son Joe (Billy Gray) seethes with resentment. Fortunately, Joe's schoolmate (and erstwhile sweetheart) Kitty (Mary Jane Saunders) convinces the boy that the world would be a sorry place without couples, using Noah's Ark as an example. This provides the cue for an extended animated cartoon sequence, courtesy of UPA Studios (then under contract to Columbia: Fox's house cartoonists at Terrytoons weren't quite up to the assignment). Naturally, the film finds time for a few engaging song-and-dance interludes, performed by Dailey and Haver. What really makes The Girl Next Door click is the unforced camaraderie between Dan Dailey and little Billy Gray. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
Many better musicals have been created from no better material than The Girl Next Door, a so-so offering that simply lacks any kind of spark. Part of the problem lies with leading lady June Haver, a performer who can sing and dance passably but who simply doesn't light up the screen the way that a musical actress should. Watching Haver perform a nothing number like "Nowhere Guy," one keeps wishing that Betty Grable or Debbie Reynolds would come out and show her how it should be done. To be fair, though, Haver is working with a substandard score and script; even Dan Dailey, who has much more in terms of personality, has to struggle to make something out of his role in Girl. As a matter of fact, the only one who really comes off well is Cara Williams, whose sharp-tongued friend gets all the best lines. There's a very eye-catching animated sequence, and the ultra-1950s production design is eye catching, but for the most part Girl is a pretty ho-hum affair. ~ Craig Butler, RoviCast
- Dan Dailey - Bill Carter
- June Haver - Jeannie
- Dennis Day - Reed Appleton
- Cara Williams - Rosie
Credit
Richard Barstow - Choreography, Richard Sale - Director, Robert L. Simpson - Editor, Cyril Mockridge - Composer (Music Score), Lionel Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Leon Shamroy - Cinematographer, Robert Bassler - Producer, Leslie Bush-Fekete - Screen Story, Isobel Lennart - Screenwriter, Mary Helen Fay - Short Story Author| The Girl Next Door (1919 Film), The Girl Most Likely To... (1973 Film) | |
| The Girl Next Door (1998 Film), The Girl Next Door (2000 Film) |
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