Call Me Madam

Call Me Madam was a good topical musical. Now as an historical motion picture, it is even better. For Call Me Madam was filmed as a part of the past--1951, when Harry Truman was entrenched in the White House and Perle Mesta rampant in Luxembourg. As contemporary satire, the Broadway version lacked bite; now, as a glossy tuneful bit of history, the film lacks nothing.

Ethel Merman is again Ambassador Sally Adams: brassy, breezy and profane. She intimidates the Irving Berlin songs with her raucous voice, getting out every beat of rhythm and a good deal of the tune. With her immense mouth and her bright, frank eyes--for twenty years symbols of Broadway--she gives the film the excitement of authentic musical-comedy.

Miss Merman has been given better support in Hollywood than on Broadway. George Sanders, as the Prime Minister of Lichtenburg, is amiable with a pleasant bass voice. And dancer Vera-Ellen with her thistle movements is a gracious princess. There is, however, a little too much of Donald O'Connor at the expense of footage of Merman. O'Connor is likable as a young press attache, but Miss Merman's brash charm should not be diluted with attaches.

The Berlin score has been preserved almost intact. If his lyrics are somewhat flat, his melodies are spirited. "They Like Ike" the visionary number of 1949 has been replaced by "The International Rag," evidently less partisan. "You're Just in Love," which held up the show for six encores in New York, is repeated often enough to satisfy even the most dogged. And the first song, "The Hostess With the Mostes' on the Ball" is a good-natured introduction to Miss Merman and the spirit of the film.

If Miss Merman's one-sided telephone chats with "Harry" get a little routine and if her romance with Sanders is inspired too often by her million dollars, it doesn't matter much. As long as Call Me Madam has Ethel Merman for its head lady, it can brazen out any lapse at all.