"Mother Wore Tights" is an easy going, easy-to-take musical comedy/drama of the kind Hollywood no longer makes. It is quintessential family fare with something for everyone, with two attractive and talented stars playing off one another and exhibiting the necessary chemistry required for most successful movie match-ups. Especially good are the song-and-dance numbers with Betty Grable and Dan Dailey, who play a married vaudeville team who separate when she finds she is expecting. They are surrounded by a good supporting cast, including William Frawley, Sara Allgood and with Mona Freeman and Connie Marshall as the daughters of the vaudeville duo... and when was the last time you saw Senor Wences? (I think I'm talking to older reviewers now).This one has all the usual trappings of a Fox musical except that it lacks good songs. The big production number, "You Do", got an Oscar nomination but is just passable, and is delivered heavy on the syrup. The better song is "Kokomo, Indiana", which I thought was the best song and dance number in the picture and is Grable and Dailey at their best.This picture is still a good example of 'G' rated movie entertainment and should appeal to moviegoers of all ages. It just needed 1 blockbuster number to make it a great movie - as is, it is good enough for a rating of seven.

While BETTY GRABLE was never in the same league with Ginger Rogers or Rita Hayworth as a dancer, she does manage to keep up nicely with DAN DAILEY in this pleasant backstage musical of a vaudeville couple who become a dance team, marry and raise a family. The voice-over narration is by none other than ANNE BAXTER, although MONA FREEMAN and CONNIE MARSHALL play the couple's children.Grable is still at the height of her box-office popularity here, charming in the song-and-dance routines that show off her shapely figure and modest talents as a dancer, while Dailey is at his breezy best as her highly confident partner.By today's standards, it's no doubt going to find some who find it too schmaltzy and corny but fans of the escapist movies of the '40s will no doubt succumb to its charms.Alfred Newman's musical score won a Best Musical Score Oscar and the film had two nominations for Color Cinematography and the song "You Do". The musical numbers are light and entertaining, my personal favorite being the "Kokomo, Indiana" song-and-dance, although the Oscar winning ballad is nice enough.But there's nothing special here. Grable fans might be disappointed that the musical numbers aren't more lavish (or as garish as they usually are in a Grable film), but the story has some warm appeal that makes up for the neglected gaudier aspects.Trivia note: An actor named STEPHEN DUNNE (as Roy), bears a remarkable resemblance to GEORGE MONTGOMERY. Could be his twin brother!!

Betty Grable and Dan Daily were an excellent team, and this was one of their best. The music, while old fashioned corn, is fantastic, and the storyline -- also corn-- is great musical material. A great family picture. Song standouts include a delightful TRA LA LA LA LA, and also a great tribute to KOKOMO, INDIANA. Granted, Betty was no Garland, and she never tried to be, and this picture utilized more of her than just her valuable legs and incandescent beauty. Dan Daily brought out the best in Betty Grqble, and their numbers are always a delight. For any Fox musical aficionado, this film is a necessity. Not a wrong note in the whole picture.

I saw this movie when it was "first run" in 1947. Betty Grable was at the height of her popularity and "Mother Wore Tights" helped her to remain as the highest paid woman of that year. The back-stage story, a cliché and, perhaps, quite trite in 2005, was fresh, especially because of the family element: two Vaudevilians raising their two daughters, one of whom provides the voice-over narration (done by Anne Baxter). Visually, the film is spectacularly Technicolorful. The songs and dancing are typical of the era and delightfully entertaining. While "You Do" was nominated for Best Song, I think that "Kokomo, Indiana" is a better candidate. This is one of the best of Betty Grable's films, and for the first time she has a male partner in Dan Dailey who is more than just a dancing extra. After almost fifty years, the film is still fun to watch. It's too bad that a similarly appealing film, the 1948 "When My Baby Smiles At Me" with Grable and Dailey, is not available.