Down to Earth ** (1947, Rita Hayworth, Larry Parks, Roland Culver, Edward Everett Horton, James Gleason) – Classic Movie Review 12,201

They liked to put Rita Hayworth in musicals, but unfortunately she couldn’t sing. She said the 1947 musical comedy film Down to Earth was the least favourite of all her films.

Director Alexander Hall’s 1947 musical comedy film Down to Earth stars Rita Hayworth, Larry Parks, Roland Culver, Edward Everett Horton, and James Gleason. Rita Hayworth said it was the least favourite of all her films.

Down to Earth is a musical follow-up to Here Comes Mr Jordan with Roland Culver taking over from Claude Rains as the Devil’s messenger Mr Jordan in a daffy fantasy about dance goddess Terpsichore (Rita Hayworth) returning to Earth pretending to be a hoofer to stop Broadway producer Danny Miller (Larry Parks) putting on a show that sends up the gods. His play shows the Muses as man-crazy women fighting for the attention of a pair of US Air Force pilots who crashed on Mount Parnassus.

The campy choreography (Greek ballet by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco) and lovely Rita’s looks aren’t quite enough to distract attention from the dull songs (music by Doris Fisher and lyrics by Allan Roberts) and frankly silly plot. Edward Everett Horton (Messenger 7013) and James Gleason (Max Corkle) are back after the original film.

Remake: Xanadu (1980). Down to Earth inspired the film with Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck and Gene Kelly.

They reused the title for the Chris Rock comedy film Down to Earth (2001), a remake of Here Comes Mr Jordan.

The original screenplay is by Edwin Blum and Don Hartman. It is based on the play Halfway to Heaven by Harry Segall.

Rita Hayworth, Larry Parks and Adele Jergens could not sing. Anita Ellis sang for Hayworth and Hal Derwin dubbed Parks, while Jergens’s singing voice was dubbed by Kay Starr.

Hayworth picks up a snow globe from a table and throws it at a mirror. It is the one at the end of Citizen Kane (1941) dropped by Charles Foster Kane, played by Orson Welles, Hayworth’s husband at the time.

The cast are Rita Hayworth (singing voice dubbed by Anita Ellis) as Terpsichore/ Kitty Pendleton, Roland Culver as Mr Jordan, Larry Parks (singing voice dubbed by Hal Derwin) as Danny Miller, James Gleason as Max Corkle, Edward Everett Horton as Messenger 7013, Adele Jergens (singing voice dubbed by Kay Starr) as Georgia Evans, Dorothy Hart [Dorothy Brady] as The New Terpsichore, William Haade as Spike, James Burke as Detective Kelly, Marc Platt as Eddie, Kathleen O’Malley as Dolly, Arthur Blake as Nathaniel Somerset, Frank Darien as Janitor, Ethan Laidlaw as Stagehand, George Macready as Joe Manion, William Frawley as Police Lieutenant, Jean Willes [Jean Donahue] as Betty, and Fred F Sears as Orchestra Leader Bill.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,201

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