Bring Your Smile Along

In 1955, Blake Edwards and Richard Quine produced two musical comedies for Columbia. They collaborated on both screenplays. The Quine directed effort, "My Sister Eileen" started with sure-fire material and had the star and support power of Jack Lemmon, Betty Garrett, Janet Leigh, Bob Fosse, Tommy Rall, Dick York, and Kurt Kasznar. There was a new sparkling score by Jule Styne and Leo Robin. Well, Edwards got the short end of the stick with "Bring Your Smile Along", a hum-drum "B" movie which seemed to use the same sets as "My Sister Eileen". The screenplay was an original, but does not have an original thought in it. The performing is left to the wooden acting of jazz singer turned pop star Frankie Laine, Constance Towers, a skilled theater singer who found better opportunities on the stage, and Keefe Brasselle, whose claim to fame was miming to Eddie Cantor's soundtrack in the "Eddie Cantor Story". The musical numbers are made up of standards and some very sub-standard original material written by a committee of songwriters. The whole mess is not unpleasant, but I expected more comedy from Edwards. There is very little here. Quine's direction of "My Sister Eileen" is personal and stylized. However, Edwards' work here is strictly pedestrian.