Good News (1947) User Reviews

Don't Get Yourself in a Sweat !

[drednm · 10/10 · 3 May 2005]

Great MGM color musical from 1947 that boasts terrific performances from June Allyson and Peter Lawford as the stars and Joan McCracken, Ray McDonald, Patricia Marshall, Connie Gilchrist, Donald McBride, Mel Torme, Tom Dugan, Clint Sundberg, and Jane Green in support.

"Pass That Peacepipe" is one of the best production numbers I've ever seen, and McCracken and McDonald are super in it. It seems to have only 3 cuts in it and it's an amazing production numbers full of color and energy.

Allyson and Lawford have so much fun in the "Varsity Drag" number on a huge stage that it's infectious (but watch for the female dancer in pink who falls). Good songs throughout from the 20s stage show like the title song as well as "Lucky in Love," "The Best Things in Life Are Free," "Lady's Man," "Good News," "The French Lesson," and the sad song "Just Imagine" Allyson sings. Lively, colorful, and totally fun, this is an grossly underrated musical from MGM's golden years.

The 40s riff on 20s songs works thanks to Kay Thompson, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Great fun from the opening sequence til the end. Joan McCracken, by the way, was married to Bob Fosse.

Musical numbers in Good News

[Sterling-3 · 9/10 · 6 January 2011]

This movie and other MGM musicals in particular should be viewed by anyone who thinks they want to produce a film musical today. Watch the Pass That Piece Pipe number and the Varsity drag. Pretend you are the camera and take note of the long uninterrupted takes and the fluid motion of the dancing in concert with the camera. Then look at the musical numbers from Chicago . . . where all they did was cheat and all the action was produced in the cutting room . . the skill is gone. It is a lost art, along with dancing which has been replaced by callesthenics.

Also, if you look closely to the left of the screen in the early part of The Varsity Drag, you will see one of the dancers hold her head and drop to the floor. She does not reappear in the remainder of the shot. June and Peter are the perfect couple and he is totally light on his feet unlike Richard Gere who was so lauded for being a non-dancer who was now "dancing" . . . ha! Now Peter was actually a non-dancer who was dancing and doing a good job of it without cheating, just as Frank Sinatra did in Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

A knockout!

[jeffhaller125 · 10/10 · 31 March 2013]

I know of no other movie musical that feels so much like I am watching a Broadway show. Just one great number right after another and they all have something to do with the story or characters. And just think of all the history behind those actors. June? Well, there never was a role she was better suited for and she gives it an enthusiasm no one else could have. Peter? Miscast? Yup, but this isn't Shakespeare and he is so sweet. McCracken? What a shame there is so little of this talent on screen. I remember first seeing this movie when I was a teenager. 40 years later it is better. Now I can appreciate the broad comedy and it is amazing to see how tender it can be. Why they didn't extend the design into 1920s hairstyles for the women I can't understand,but the movie looks great. The DVD I just saw must have been remastered; the colors were brilliant. For some of us this is MGM's best. Certainly its most honest and least pretentious. What a peek into a world that is gone and will never come back. Such innocence.

Good News is one of the most underrated MGM musicals

[tavm · 9/10 · 9 August 2007]

Good News is one of the most underrated MGM musicals from the '40s I've ever seen from that era. While leads June Allyson and Peter Lawford are no Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney (who ironically, were the original considered leads for this movie version years ago), they sing and dance entertainingly enough for one to not notice after a while. Another underrated talent showcased here is one Joan McCracken who shines in the opening number and the later made-for-film specialty "Pass That Peace Pipe", which was eventually nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. And dig the "Velvet Fog" Mel Torme in his younger days crooning here! Excellent debut for director Charles Walters and screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green makes this one of the most spectacular musical comedies I've seen yet! P.S. Among the extras on the DVD are two numbers from the 1930 film version of Good News, the title number and "The Varsity Drag", both performed energetically and athletically by a young woman named Dorothy McNulty, later to be known as Penny Singleton from the Blondie movies. All of the above are well worth checking out!

Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic!

[artzau · 9/10 · 23 October 2001]

Aside from Peter Lawford and June Allyson, no great stars came out of this classic movie. Yes, I know Mel Tormé was in it but he made his fame playing the drums and not in films. But, this film made a tremendous impression on me when I saw it as a 10 year old kid. Not to mention the fact that my aunt (was a teenager at the time) had an old 78 with "Pass that peace pipe..." When I came across the video, I had to watch the peace pipe number about 15 times before I could get enough of it. This is not a perfect, slick film by any means and as full of flaws as a jock's composition paper for English 1A: the hair and clothing styles are late 40s and not the late 20s as the story is set; the characters are often thin and underdeveloped; Mel Tormé's acting is awful but, the show is still great. One of the things that makes it great is Joan McCracken who, tragically, never got her career off the ground, as it were. Her timing, her delivery and solid singing and dancing cover any shortages one would find with any of the rest. OK, so Lawford wasn't a great singer but the French lesson works. June Allyson was no Catherine Grayson but her rendition of "The Best Things in Life are Free" is classic. This is just a great show. I waited for nearly 50 years to see it again and when I finally got the chance, I did watch that great dance sequence of "Bury that hatchet and pass that peace pipe, like the Chocktaw, Chipawah, Chatanoogah, etc."

Good News-Ode to Non-Academics ***

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 7 March 2013]

Campus fanfare in the l920s with Peter Lawford, the captain of the football team, a campus heart-throb, needing to pass his French exam so that he can play in the football game. Of course, June Allyson is called in to tutor him, the same girl he broke a prom date with so that he could escort the new girl on campus, a snob-seeking status girl, only interested in money.

I just love these so called college musicals where academics is never really the focus, but rather good old fashion fun.

What makes this film a delight is the singing and dancing. While Lawford's voice could have been better, he does fairly well nonetheless. Allyson, who was 30 at the time the movie was made, looks like a college co-ed all the way.

Mel Torme has his moments as a college student as well.

Football & prom season

[gkeith_1 · 16 July 2006]

Football is in the fall, at least nowadays it is. Prom is in the spring. So is graduation, at small colleges (I think).

This movie had football, prom, and graduation, all in the spring. Then, to top it all off, Tommy said he was getting a degree in French LOL. Tommy came off as such a dunce, and I never really picked up on what his major was, anyway.

I expected the women's hairstyles to be short bobs of the 1920s, and more Charleston dancing. These two points became lost when I decided to let myself get lost in the escapism and pure entertainment.

All in all, I still like this movie, very much. I really like the singing of June and Peter, and feel that they had very nice voices. Hope they were not dubbed. At any rate, they were honest and heartfelt vocal renderings.

June Allyson passed away several days ago (today is July 16, 2006), at age 88. In 'Good News', which I saw today for the third time, I figured I would melt in tears when she & Peter Lawford did the scene of 'The French Lesson'. That happened a little when I saw June in 'Little Women', shown 2 hours or so earlier, where Jo meets Laurie (June & Peter) late in the movie (I just saw the last part of it). I knew that I would be watching them again in 'Good News' a little later, because today was the June Allyson special presentation on TCM (7 of her movies).

I do like the 'Varsity Drag' in 'Good News', and wish June had danced more in this movie. I did enjoy how she and Peter led all the other dancers in the huge finale, each leading their group in a large tight triangle. It was so neat.

RIP June and Peter. We love you so. I am still melting in tears.

12/10

A Colorful Musical Worth Watching

[atlasmb · 8/10 · 3 June 2016]

"Good News" is a musical comedy about life at Tait College in 1927. The script--by Comden and Green--features plenty of Roaring 20s patter, like "bee's knees". Its dance numbers also contain plenty of anachronistic swing dancing, to satisfy audiences of its time. Since the dancing is one of its best features, it gets no criticism from me.

Filmed in Technicolor, it also displays some wonderful fashions, though some are not as nice as others. The songs, written by Henderson, Brown and DeSylva, are similarly uneven, but they include "The Best Things in Life Are Free", which gets the classy treatment of Mel Torme.

The story centers around sorority girl Connie Lane (June Allyson) who--despite her best intuitions--develops a crush on BMOC Tommy Marlowe (Peter Lawford). Neither of them are spectacular singers, and they would not be my choices for these roles. The lensman must have used all the gauze in the set's first aid kit achieving the relentless soft focus for Allyson (who was age 30).

The show is stolen by Joan McCracken, who plays Babe Doolittle--the vivacious ball of energy who leads the electrifying dance sequence for "Pass That Peace Pipe". She would have few acting credits in films. (She would also marry Bob Fosse)

Despite one of June Allyson's weaker performances, this film has much to recommend it. June had plenty of other roles in which she shines.

A wonderful fantastatical world of joy and possibilities

[sisbarrolouis · 18 December 2013]

The chance of waking up at six AM in a semi semiconscious state, flipping on my T.V. and seeing the 1947 film GOOD NEWS, well was such a wonderful surprise. The film of a fantasy life on a college campus sparked me into awaking on a happy positive note. Zany,yes Colorful,yes Lighthearted,yes ESCAPE,yes into a world that seem be be removed from our modern day world. Why shouldn't a Film, Broadway play allow you to slide back into a more comfortable Time and Place? Look theater and the film industry's job is to give us all a place to regenerate our joys and outlook of life. Some how the current films main purpose seems too be,to hang a dark cloud over the populous, retreat into the sanctuary of our home. Times are a changing! and bad in now good. Someone with Intelligence and Knowledge should pick up the script of GOOD NEWS! and run like deer to Broadway in good old N.Y.C. and get this gem on stage. The American public is ripe for some good,happy toe taping fun. I want to leave a theater and feel there is still hope for the human race.....Isn't that what entertaining is all about? But of course the non talented producers seem to not understand the needs of a American Renaissance. Is there something wrong leaving a theater with a smile on your face and a song in your heart". Or is that too plebeian? Lou Sisbarro

Great fun! "Pass That Peace Pipe!" is the Cat's Meow!!

[Doylenf · 13 May 2001]

Neglected MGM musical has some great things going for it.

For one thing, it has an amusing Adolph & Green script, some dazzling dance numbers choreographed to perfection, and a simple plot (two gals in love with the same fellow) that never gets in the way of the well staged song-and-dance numbers. It gives a charming look at college life in the 1920s--in non-realistic fashion, of course!

June Allyson's singing voice never impressed me but she's a good dancer and here she proves it in the "Varsity Drag" number. Peter Lawford is surprisingly good considering he's miscast as the football player (where was Van Johnson?) Joan McCracken almost steals the show with her frantic dancing amid talented chorus boys in the "Pass That Peace Pipe" number in a drugstore, a highlight among the dance routines. Allyson and Lawford are terrific on "The French Lesson" and she is properly wistful in her rendition of "The Best Things In Life Are Free". Patricia Marshall does well as "the other girl" in a role originally offered to Gloria de Haven who rejected it as too similar to her other "spoiled girl" roles. Some of the humor falls flat and dates the picture badly, particularly the overdone scene with Connie Gilchrist repeating words June has written for her.

All in all, a fun-filled, tuneful college comedy about academics and football with an early glimpse of Mel Torme. Lighthearted plot with a solid score!

Trivia note: It's amazing how far JUNE ALLYSON went on virtually no singing voice to speak of, and a modest talent for kicking up her heels. But she and Lawford are charming here.

Pleasant Light Entertainment

[Snow Leopard · 21 November 2005]

Pleasant light entertainment with a rather nostalgic feel, "Good News" works fine as long as you aren't expecting too much substance. The plot, characters, and setting are all pretty familiar, but the cast gives it an upbeat tone and a good energy level. As the two leads, Peter Lawford and June Allyson keep their characters likable and sympathetic with solid performances.

The setting is a 1940s conception of what a 1920s college campus was like, and it is thus something of a mythical world that never actually existed. Yet it's a setting that lends itself well to the story and to the musical numbers, and the cast all seem at home in it. Lawford plays the football star whose academic and romantic difficulties threaten his place on the team, and Allyson plays a bookish girl designed to win the audience's sympathy. Patricia Marshall plays a rather innocent version of a campus vamp.

The musical numbers fit well with the story, and while neither contains anything particularly memorable, they are entertaining. The movie maintains pretty much the same pace and tone for the whole running time, and it's a good way to pass an hour and a half or so when you just want to see something light and positive.

The good news is...this is a delightful musical

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 7 September 2016]

There are definitely better musicals than 'Good News' made before, during and since. That doesn't matter, because although it has imperfections it is still a delight in so many ways.

Starting with 'Good News' problems, it is agreed that the scene with Connie Gilchrist is overwritten and overacted (in fact, some of the humour is tiresomely flat) and that the football scene is overlong and drags. It is also a shame that Mel Torme, by far the best singer in the cast, has very little to do, a singer of his calibre deserves better than that.

On the other hand, 'Good News' is very lavishly produced. It is true that the costumes and hair-styles are more 1940s than 1920s, but they do look lovely, and numbers like "Pass that Peace Pipe" and "Varsity Drag" are filmed beautifully. The music is wonderful, especially "Pass that Peace Pipe", "Varsity Drag", the title number, "Imagine" and the most famous song "The Best Things in Life are Free". "The French Lesson" is very funny as well. The choreography similarly dazzles, especially in "Pass that Peace Pipe" and "Varsity Drag", which are two of the energetic musical numbers of the 40s.

Charles Walters directs excellently, hard to believe that this was his directorial debut. The script is mostly very amusing and fills the heart with warmth, the film crackles with energy and while the story is fluffy and predictable admittedly it is also light-hearted, heart-warming and charming with solid pacing, also not being as contrived or corny as some musicals' stories were.

June Allyson has a role that fits her to the bone and it shows off her personality and strengths so well. She sings "Imagine" touchingly wistfully. Am not usually a fan of Peter Lawford, but while his singing is only adequate if even that he does give some charm to a rather caddish character and his dancing looks more comfortable than in other musicals he participated in. He and Allyson sparkle together, especially in "The French Lesson", even if they are too old to pass for college students. Joan McCracken is crackling fun that it beggars belief that her career wasn't bigger.

In conclusion, has flaws but 'Good News' is a delight on the most part. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Other Than The Fact The Two Leads Can't Sing Or Dance, It Wasn't Too Bad A Musical!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 3/10 · 3 October 2007]

You have to be kidding! People actually like this film and think is the music is great? They must be deaf! June Allyson and Peter Lawford are two of the worst singers you will ever hear on screen. Really! Hey, they're fine actors, but singers? No way. Dancers? Not really.

The worst of the numbers are in the beginning of the film, which immediately make you wonder what you are in for the rest of the way. Generally speaking, "what you are in for" is a pretty corny movie, really dated, and sub-par song and dance numbers.

Allyson's old-fashioned wholesomeness is appealing, and the college atmosphere was refreshingly the same (contrast that to today where they invite dictators who want to destroy us to speak)......but that's about it. This is not a good musical and not really fitting into a story about the 1920s. It doesn't quite have the '20s "feel."

I hate to say this a for a nice film, but to be truthful: this movie is "bad news",,,,,,at least for your ears.

A medicine man I met, said don't get yourself in a sweat!

[drednm2004 · 10/10 · 3 May 2004]

Goods News was an antique when MGM dusted it off for this 1947 musical. Big,

splashy, colorful, and with great music and dancing, Good News is one of

MGM's most underrated musicals. The 1940's sensibility added to the Roaring

20s theme makes for some anachronistic moments, but June Allyson is

wonderful in the lead, Peter Lawford is surprisingly good as the football hero. I always thought Lawford was tacky, but he seems to enjoy himself in this film and it shows. Joan McCracken is superb in "Pass That Peacepipe," one of my all- time favorite dance numbers, with Ray McDonald also excellent. Mel Torme,

Patricia Marshall, Connie Gilchrist, and Donald McBride are all fine. Allyson and Lawford are fine in the "Varsity Drag" finale and Allyson does a nice job on "The Best Things in Life Are Free." Great Technicolor, costumes, etc give Good News a BIG, bright look and takes it miles from the 1930 version, which starred Bessie Love and Penny Singleton. Good News would make for a great retro- Broadway musical. Pay especial attention to "Pass That Peacepipe" and notice

how FEW cuts there are!!!! Almost all one take. GREAT!!!! A medicine man I met, said don't yourself in a sweat....

Lightweight and, at best, watchable.

[MartinHafer · 4/10 · 4 June 2013]

Despite winning an Oscar for one of its songs, "Good News" appears to be a strictly second-tier sort of musical with little to distinguish it. The plot is paper-thin, the singing a bit suspect and the film very light and forgettable.

The film is set at Tait College in 1927 (though, oddly, the women's hair and many of the dresses are strictly 1940s). The plot hinges on whether the school's star quarterback (Peter Lawford) will pursue a snobbish new student (Patricia Marshall) or recognize how wonderful the assistant librarian (June Allyson) is. The plot doesn't get any deeper than that!

Like all musicals, the film is chock full of singing as well as dance numbers. However, I was amazed at the mediocrity (at best) of most of the singing. Apart from Mel Tormé (who had a great voice), the singers are either adequate (such as Allyson) or pretty awful (Lawford--who NEVER should have been allowed to sing in a musical). The songs, while bouncy, are pretty much fluff--which works perfectly with the plot, which is also pure fluff. Overall, the film isn't unpleasant but it also isn't very good or memorable. Strictly a second-tier sort of film from MGM.

By the way, I thought it awfully funny that when Allyson was supposedly teaching Lawford French, she would say words in French and invariably, Lawford's pronunciation (of words he'd never supposedly heard before) was as good or better!

The BEST 1940s musical ever!

[preppy-3 · 9/10 · 3 July 2000]

Bright, cheerful and lots of fun! June Allyson loves Peter Lawford but he's being pursued by a beautiful, agressive golddigger. Who'll win him? Who do you think? Thoroughly predictable plot but the acting is good (even though Lawford is totally miscast as a football player), the songs are pleasant, the production numbers are VERY colorful (and numerous), the color is beautiful and it just basically makes you feel good! How many movies can you say that about? A very good, colorful, charming movie. A must see!

This is a charming musical!

[roadlt · 9/10 · 1 February 2000]

This is a charming musical! It's a remake of a movie of the same name that was based on a stage play from the 1920's (whew!). With the exception of Mel Torme', who's in a supporting role here, there are no vocal powerhouses, but June Allyson and Joan McCracken put their songs over very well. The big dance numbers, particularly the finale, are terrific. Apparently, this is Joan McCracken's only major musical; she should have done more. Good News is a wonderful feel-good movie that can be enjoyed again and again.

Shows what happens when Hollywood mangles a Musical classic

[sussmanbern · 5/10 · 2 June 2016]

GOOD NEWS was a Broadway classic of the 1920s. But most of you haven't seen a really good production of the original musical. Even threadbare amateur attempts have been seen by very few modern viewers. So you can be excused for thinking that this 1947 movie is a faithful rendering of something that your grandparents raved about.

No such luck. This musical about college romance is chockful of stars who are about a dozen years too old for college. And very little remains of the original story or script. The famous songs, such as The Best Things in Life are Free, Button Up Your Overcoat, etc. have been shuffled around, and the great dance classic, The Varsity Drag, has been moved from the middle to the finale and changed from a Charleston to something that looks like goosestepping. A soundtrack recording preserves the songs nicely but the movie distorts what was once a memorable night at the musical theater.

It's good news

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 24 December 2008]

Peter Lawford, June Allyson, Joan McCracken, Ray McDonald, and Patricia Marshall star in "Good News," a 1947 MGM musical about life at Tait University. Allyson is Connie Lane, working her way through college and living in a sorority house when she meets the big man on campus and star football player, Tommy Marlowe (Lawford). It looks like love, but he's been after the flashy, uppity new girl (Marshall) who's only interested in a man with money. When she thinks Lawford has it, she turns her attentions to him, and he cancels his date with Allyson to the prom - on the night of the event.

Had I been Allyson, the story would have ended right there, but this is 1947 and a movie, and it's a wonderful one - energetic and fresh, with good music and fabulous dancing from Broadway star McCracken and McDonald. "Pass the Peace Pipe," a politically incorrect song by today's standards, is one of the best numbers.

Allyson and Lawford make a great couple, and seeing Lawford so young and handsome, dancing and singing is not only a revelation but sad. He's terrific. Look for an unbelievably young Mel Torme in a small but showy role.

Delightful - don't miss it.

Not as good as people say!

[gleong-1 · 5/10 · 23 May 2007]

Honestly, I do not see why this film is so highly rated.

Apart from "The Best Things in Life Are Free" and the final Varsity ensemble number, the songs are real duds. The singers are not great either. There is one guy who croons rather well, but he is only a minor character. The two leads are not the greatest singers in the world. June Allyson sings in tune but her voice is so metallic, you rush for your ear muffs each time she opened her mouth to "sing".

Peter Lawford is appalling. He looks OK, but he can neither really sing or dance. In fact most of the big song and dance production numbers are embarrassingly sub-standard for screen musicals of the time, especially the opening number. The last number, choreographed and danced well, is not enough to redeem the rest of the rubbish one has to endure to get to this point.

PS. at one point when June Allyson is giving Lawford his first French Lesson (actually one of the clever moments in an otherwise BORING musical) she mispronounces the word "BAISER" pretty badly. No wonder we worry for the hero who later on in the film has to pass a French Exam.

Peter Lawford's character is such a DUMB CAD that any self-respecting intelligent female college student would NEVER bother with anyone so stupid.

wonderful and refreshing

[bmp-2 · 15 March 1999]

this is a favorite of mine and i watch it time and time again. My favorite scene is the malt shop where babe sings "pass that peace pipe" and dances with bobby. (Joan McCracken and Ray MacDonald) These two are wonderful dancers and what energy. Another favorite scene is the opening where babe sings "Thait" song (dancing included) I got a kick out of the men cheerleaders and their attire, although typical of the '40's i guess. Mel Torme singing "Luck be a lady", well you can understand why his voice is call 'the velvet fog" . I'm trying to find a biography on Joan McCracken, I so admire her and understand she is still alive. Connie Gilchrist lines in the dorm scene with June Allyson are a riot (where she repeats dialogue that June has written for her. An excellent film and i'm so glad i purchased it last year.

An old favorite, still lots of fun.

[Wayne119 · 2 January 1999]

When I was 13, this musical about college life was my fav film. Saw it again recently, and it's still good. June Allyson was one of everybody's favorites back then. It's kinda sad that hardly anyone seems to remember her any more, or if they do, they think she was kinda corny.

One of the best musical numbers in Good News is The French Lesson with Allyson and Peter Lawford. Another very enjoyable thing in this film is the opportunity to see and hear a very young Mel Tormé.

Rah! Rah! Rah! This Collegiate Musical Just Ain't The Bee's Knees

[strong-122-478885 · 4/10 · 5 July 2013]

The good news about "Good News" is that there really isn't any good news. (Ha! Just kidding there, folks!)

Actually, the good news about "Good News" is that this Technicolor Musical/Comedy from 1947 does, surprisingly enough, feature 3 outstanding and really swinging musical numbers, which are - Pass The Peace Pipe, Varsity Rag and the film's opening sequence.

But, on the other hand, the bad news about "Good News" is that, no, these 3 high-energy musical numbers do not in any way, shape, or form, come anywhere near to compensating the viewer for having to endure the drab and clichéd triteness of the rest of the film.

This picture's predictable, little story concerns the activities of a bunch of super-preppy rich kids in the late 1920s who are attending Tait University.

When these "golly-gee" brats aren't singing up a storm (sometimes quite out of tune), they spend most of their time either partying and/or gossiping about who's dating who.

These spoiled-rotten, whipper-snappers seem to have very little concern about their studies, their grades, or their finances. (Well, what the heck could you expect from this bunch, anyways?)

To be totally honest here, I thought that "Good News" (for the most part) really sucked. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. (But, hey, to each his own, is what I always say)

One of this film's biggest let-downs was that its 2 big-name stars, Peter Lawford and June Allyson, couldn't carry a tune even if their lives depended on it. They really couldn't. (I really couldn't say much in favor of their dancing, or acting, either)

And, that, my friends, is the good news, as well as the bad news, about "Good News".

Sis Boom Bah, Win It For Dear Old Tait

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 26 August 2011]

Good News was the best musical from the Roaring Twenties from the premier songwriting team of DeSylva,Brown&Henderson. It ran on Broadway for 557 performances in the 1927-29 season and gave the team a number of song hits identified with them like the title song, Just Imagine, Lucky In Love, and The Best Things In Life Are Free. All of those songs made it as well as one of the great dance numbers of the Roaring Twenties, The Varsity Drag.

The musicals of that era had the lightweight nonsensical plots which also was taken from the Broadway show. Big man on campus, Peter Lawford, has to get a passing grade in French to stay eligible for the football squad. He gets mousy student librarian June Allyson assigned as a tutor and the inevitable happens as it does in these films. After that Lawford has to choose between mercenary coed Patricia Marshall and Allyson. It's a struggle, but you guess who he winds up with.

This film is strictly about the music and dance numbers and it offers a rare opportunity to see Joan McCracken singing and dancing which she mostly did on the Broadway stage. She introduces a song especially written for the film Pass That Peace Pipe which was a big hit in 1947 and won for Good News its only Academy Award nomination. Pass That Peace Pipe lost to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah for Best Song. But the number is one of the best dance numbers ever to come from an Arthur Freed produced MGM musical. Joan McCracken died way too young as oddly enough her dancing partner Ray McDonald.

Good News presents an idealized version of the Roaring Twenties and is the quintessential college musical which flooded Hollywood mostly in the years before World War II. It holds up well as entertainment and the songs are still fabulous.

great memories of this movie

[laficabella · 8/10 · 3 December 2014]

I loved this movie when I was 4 years old. My parents bought me the records so that I could sing all the songs. I must have seen it at least 4 to 5 times during the year I was 4. I memorized all the songs and dance routines. I have seen it every once in while since then. I agree with all the reviewers who think it is underrated as a musical. The varsity drag number was great...I still can do it myself, even now. It made me fall in love with musical comedies. There is so much to like about this movie as a musical that it is a shame that it is not better known. It also made me want to go to college. I could not wait... Every parent who wants their child to go to university should let their child see this at the age of 3 or 4 years of age.... ie when the silliness of the plot is lost, but the pull of the university life seems magical.