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."
