The Frake family is headed for the Iowa State Fair. Both children, Margy (Crain) & Wayne (Haymes) are having relationship problems. Margy's fiance Harry (Phil Brown) doesn't understand her...and she dreams a new man will come into her life. And Wayne's girlfriend Eleanor (Jane Nigh) can't come to the fair, leaving him depressed. Their father, Abel (Winninger) bets his pig Blue Boy will win a prize, while mom Melissa (Bainter) wants her mincemeat to win, without the aid of liquor (which her husband wants her to add).
At the fair Margy & Wayne find new flames. Margy meets ace reporter Pat (Andrews) who helps her tame her fear of roller coasters, and Wayne finds Emily (Blaine) the singer for the Fair's Band who helps him find justice. Have they found true love? Will Blue Boy triumph? Will the mincemeat win? Will their dad silence their snooty neighbor?
This was the FIRST Rogers & Hammerstein musical to hit the big screen, and while I like it, I don't think it's the same caliber as the others. The plot is too simple, I mean the characters don't have a depth that later films achieved. Also, this film was made because of the Broadway success of Oklahoma and people wanted to see Rogers & Hammerstein in cinemas...R&H weren't willing to make Oklahoma yet (since it is the story about the land, they wanted to be able to show the beauty of the land...and cameras weren't up to the challenge), so they produced this film. I love the score (and own the soundtrack), but the story just doesn't cut it. It's cute and fluffy...but I prefer the others.
This was the FIRST Rogers & Hammerstein musical to hit the big screen, and while I like it, I don't think it's the same caliber as the others. The plot is too simple, I mean the characters don't have a depth that later films achieved. Also, this film was made because of the Broadway success of Oklahoma and people wanted to see Rogers & Hammerstein in cinemas...R&H weren't willing to make Oklahoma yet (since it is the story about the land, they wanted to be able to show the beauty of the land...and cameras weren't up to the challenge), so they produced this film. I love the score (and own the soundtrack), but the story just doesn't cut it. It's cute and fluffy...but I prefer the others.
State Fair (1945) 100 minutes
Director: Walter Lang
Starring: Jeanne Crain as Margy Frake
Dana Andrews as Pat Gilbert
Dick Haymes as Wayne Frake
Vivian Blaine as Emily Edwards
Charles Winninger as Abel Frake
Fay Bainter as Melissa Frake
Fay Bainter as Melissa Frake
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