Let's Do It Again (1953)

After a marital misunderstanding, a musical comedy composer (Ray Milland) and his wife (Jane Wyman) file for a divorce even though they still love each other. When she gets a new beau (Aldo Ray) and he gets a new girlfriend (Karin Booth), they each try to break up the other's relationship. In the 1950s, Columbia decided to add Technicolor and remake several of their classic screwball comedies into semi-musicals. Thus IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT became YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM IT, TOO MANY HUSBANDS became THREE FOR THE SHOW and the Oscar winning THE AWFUL TRUTH ended up as LET'S DO IT AGAIN. They needn't have bothered. The songs are a dull lot, the sparkle is gone and while both Milland and Wyman have displayed comedic gifts in the past, they're on auto pilot here. Oddly, some of the best bits from the 1937 film have been eliminated and nothing worthwhile put in their place. The casting of Aldo Ray in the Ralph Bellamy role backfires. Who wouldn't choose Cary Grant over Bellamy but Milland comes off as smarmy next to the Aldo Ray's likable, hunky doofus. Directed by Alexander Hall (MY SISTER EILEEN). With Leon Ames, Tom Helmore, Kathryn Givney and the dancer Valerie Bettis, who has the one good number in the film.