Three Little Words (1950). Photofest.
Three Little Words (1950). Photofest.
Three Little Words
(Richard Thorpe, US 1950, 102 min., 35mm)
The music of songwriting team Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby is highlighted in this biography of their life and work starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton. In the 1910s, vaudeville performer Kalmar injures his knee, which will sideline him for at least a year. Overhearing a tuneful song, he requests to meet its composer. It turns out to be Ruby, who had previously ruined one of Kalmar’s performances—but the song is good, and the partnership turns out to be as well, up to and including a trip to Hollywood. Featuring Kalmar and Ruby hits such as “My Sunny Tennessee” and “Who’s Sorry Now?,” the film also includes the debut of seventeeen-year-old Debbie Reynolds performing “I Wanna Be Loved By You.”