Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943)

An American stage star (Betty Grable) of the British stage gets engaged to an English Duke (Reginald Gardiner). But an unscrupulous American reporter (Robert Young) writing for a tabloid digs up her past as a burlesque queen. Directed by Irving Cummings (THE DOLLY SISTERS). Betty Grable was at the height of her fame and the number one box office attraction in U.S. cinemas and this was one of 20th Century Fox's biggest hits of the year. For some reason, audiences loved the period musicals Grable starred in. Her other 1943 hit was CONEY ISLAND, another period musical. Personally I prefer Grable in her contemporary musicals like SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES, DOWN ARGENTINE WAY and MOON OVER MIAMI. This effort is colorful courtesy of the Technicolor lensing by Ernest Palmer (BLOOD AND SAND) but it's unexceptional in every other way. The songs are dreary, the plot recycled, the acting unremarkable with only Hermes Pan's choreography highlighting Grable's hoofing meriting any note. With Adolphe Menjou, Virginia Grey and Sig Ruman.