''Dreamboat'' is a 1952 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Claude Binyon Claude Binyon (October 17, 1905 Chicago, Illinois – February 14, 1978 Glendale, California) was a screenwriter and director. His genres were comedy, musicals, and romances. As a Chicago-based journalist for the ''Examiner'' newspaper, he be ...

and starring

Clifton Webb Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966), known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, i ...

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

Anne Francis Anne Francis (also known as Anne Lloyd Francis; September 16, 1930 – January 2, 2011) was an American actress known for her ground-breaking roles in the science-fiction film ''Forbidden Planet'' (1956) and the television action-drama seri ...

and

Jeffrey Hunter Jeffrey Hunter (born Henry Herman McKinnies Jr.; November 25, 1926 – May 27, 1969) was an American film and television actor and producer known for his roles in films such as ''The Searchers'' and ''King of Kings''. On television, Hunter ...

Plot

Anne Francis-Clifton Webb-DREAMBOAT-Promo

The respectable lives of English literature lecturer Thornton Sayre and his daughter Carol are disrupted when it is revealed that Thornton was once the matinee idol Bruce Blair, who played El Toro (based on

Zorro Zorro ( Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante w ...

) and other romantic figures, and was widely known as the "Dreamboat". His films are now being broadcast on a television show hosted by his former costar Gloria Marlowe. Thornton's daughter Carol is belittled by fellow students following the revelation. Her father affirms that he was a teacher before he was an actor. The college administration committee ask for his resignation, but president Mathilda May Coffey requests power to decide how to proceed. In private, she admits to Thornton that she had been one of his biggest fans, and attempts unsuccessfully to seduce him. Thornton and Carol hastily leave for New York to seek an

injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in p ...

against the show. There they meet Sam Levitt, the man responsible for airing the movies. While Sam and Gloria try to convince Thornton to change his mind, Sam has underling Bill Ainslee show Carol the city. Thornton eventually procures his injunction, but he is fired after spurning Coffey's advances. Meanwhile, Bill and Carol have fallen in love and are planning to marry. When Gloria gloats over Thornton's setbacks, he reveals that a major movie studio is interested in reviving his film career. Months later, Bill and Carol attend Thornton's premiere in '' Sitting Pretty'' - a real film starring Clifton Webb. Gloria then reveals to Thornton that she has bought his contract and is now his boss.

Cast

Music

The film features the 1920 standard

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

hit "

Avalon Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...

", written by Jolson,

Buddy DeSylva George Gard "Buddy" DeSylva (January 27, 1895 – July 11, 1950) was an American songwriter, film producer and record executive. He wrote or co-wrote many popular songs and, along with Johnny Mercer and Glenn Wallichs, he co-founded Capitol Recor ...

and Vincent Rose, and includes Ginger Rogers singing "

You'll Never Know "You'll Never Know", sometimes referred to as "''You'll Never Know (Just How Much I Love You)''" in later years, is a popular song with music written by Harry Warren and the lyrics by Mack Gordon. The song is based on a poem written by a young ...

", a 1943 song written by

Harry Warren Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna; December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ...

and Mack Gordon.

Reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

wrote: "Hollywood's low opinion of TV is once more revealed with blithely superior derision and a lordly splurge of burlesque ... e fastest and most hilarious sport in the film is that generated in the travesties of old silent movies that are shown. ... These are the most inventive and satiric bits in the film." Crowther praised "the serene and eloquent Clifton Webb" as "deliciously consistent when dishing out cutting remarks or betraying the slightest traces of middle-aged vanity

References

External links

* * * * {{Claude Binyon 1952 films 1952 comedy films 20th Century Fox films American comedy films American black-and-white films Films about actors Films directed by Claude Binyon Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge Films set in New York City Films produced by Sol C. Siegel 1950s English-language films 1950s American films