Call Me Mister (1951)

Set in Japan shortly after WWII, a soldier (Dan Dailey) goes AWOL to follow his estranged wife (Betty Grable) who is putting on a show for servicemen in Kyoto. Very loosely based on the 1946 Broadway musical (which was a revue with sketches) and directed by Lloyd Bacon (THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS). The reigning Queen of the box office during the 1940s, Betty Grable was America's sweetheart singing and dancing her way through Fox's Technicolor musicals. Unfortunately, most of them weren't memorable and few were very good. This falls under the mediocre (and I'm being generous) category. Dan Dailey was Grable's best dance partner at Fox but the Busby Berkeley choreography is too simple and uncomplicated to amount to much. The songs are an insipid grab bag by a gaggle of various songwriters. For Grable fans only. With Danny Thomas (who brings some needed punch to the movie), Dale Robertson, Jeffrey Hunter, Richard Boone, Benay Venuta and Frank Fontaine.