"Roberta" (1935) was based on a play of the same name. Now here in 1952, MGM decided to remake it. However, they didn't really like the plot and the characters and so all they really kept were the songs and a few pieces here and there. Not exactly a re-make, huh?I should point out that the reason I watched this is because I really like Red Skelton films. But, I don't usually like him in musicals because then his comedy clearly takes a back seat. Can this film somehow be a good musical AND a good Skelton vehicle?Al (Skelton) and his two buddies (Howard Keel and Gower Champion) are trying to get backers for their Broadway show...but with no luck. Then, out of the blue, Al receives a telegram...his aunt in Paris has died and left him her fancy dress business. So, the three head to Paris...intent on selling the place and using the money for their show. But there's a problem...Al is smitten with one of the ladies running the business (Kathryn Grayson) and has a hard time telling her of his intentions. The same happens with his buddies and they decide, instead, to try to make the place even bigger and grander...and they seem to have forgotten about their play. This is odd...even odder is their idea of turning this dress shop into a combination dress shop and night club of sorts! If this sounds confusing, welcome to the club!!The confusion gets worse when practically everyone seems to have fallen in love with Tony (Keel)...and you wonder whether he'll end up with Stephanie (Grayson) or Bubbles (Ann Miller) or the one he really seems to be in love with...Tony! As for the third friend, Jerry (Gower Champion) says very little and is really only there to do fancy dance numbers with his real life wife, Marge Champion.So is this any good? Well, it depends. If you love a big, long and very splashy dance sequence at the end and don't mind that the film has many formulaic elements (pretty much all of them are embodied in Tony!), then you'll no doubt enjoy it. As for me, I wanted more comedy, more Skelton and less of everything else. Mildly entertaining and that's all.

Neither the RKO 1935 version of Roberta or MGM's 1952 Lovely To Look At are anything like the original show on Broadway. RKO eschewed a male lead singer opposite Irene Dunne and went with Randolph Scott. In and of itself that necessitated change as the vocal chores got divided up between Irene Dunne and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who were the secondary leads. In that version it was Scott who inherited the Parisian dress shop and romanced a woman who managed the place named Stephanie played by Dunne.Stephanie played by Kathryn Grayson is still running the dress shop known as Madame Roberta's. But here it's Red Skelton who inherits half the place from his late aunt. He's partners in an act with Howard Keel and Gower Champion and they want him to sell his half so that they can get the money for a Broadway show. The three of them have to cut Ann Miller in on the deal just to get passage over to Paris.Of course it's Keel who Grayson pairs off with and in doing so the film comes into balance vocally as the stage show did. Getting the dance numbers are Marge and Gower Champion, Marge playing Grayson's younger sister. I think I can see the way the minds worked at MGM. In 1950 they copped the Best Picture Oscar for An American In Paris with a nice Parisian setting. Then the following year, Keel, Grayson, and the Champions were in a remake of another Jerome Kern classic Showboat which did very well. What to do, but combine all that in a Jerome Kern show that's Parisian based in Roberta. Besides why let all those expensive sets recreating Paris go to waste.Also the fashion show finale was absolutely inspired by the fantasy ballet from An American In Paris. But the fantasy of Kelly in that film is replaced by a surreal reenactment of Jimmy Durante's famous line of 'everybody's getting into the act'.Sometimes these things work and sometimes they don't. In this case the sum was definitely not greater than its parts. Howard Keel in his memoirs said that he felt that Mervyn LeRoy did not do right by him in this film that he had to make up his own interpretation of his character. Maybe LeRoy had too loose a hand and the film needed an overall creative genius like Gene Kelly.

Typical MGM treatment. Not much plot but the musical numbers are beautifully staged and the whole production is much more enjoyable than the Astaire-Rogers version. Grayson and Keel blend well in their duets and Ann Miller is in top form. Marge and Gower Champion have a field day in their roles and certainly deserve the praises they received during their time together. Red Skelton was always a class act and this role is no exception.

A lackluster reworking of Jerome Kern's "Roberta" threw the original plot out through the window, and the magic with it. What we are left with is no plot and mediocre interpretations of the music. None of the stars are in top-drawer form, and Red Skelton is enough reason to miss this film altogether. Skip this one and go straight for the Rogers-Astaire version, "Roberta".