Let's Be Happy

1957 film by Henry Levin

9 May 1957 (1957-05-09)

^[4]

Running time

107 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

Let's Be Happy is a Technicolor 1957 British musical film starring Tony Martin, Vera-Ellen and Robert Flemyng and directed by Henry Levin.^[1] It was written by Dorothy Cooper and Diana Morgan in CinemaScope. This film was an updated remake of Jeannie (1941), starring Barbara Mullen, which itself was based on the stage play Jeannie by Aimée Stuart.^[4]

The film was Vera-Ellen's final film; she later withdrew from public life after the death of her daughter, Victoria Ellen Rothschild.^[5] The film is also Tony Martin's final appearance in a movie musical, although he later made a cameo appearance in Dear Mr. Wonderful, a 1982 film.^[6]

Let's Be Happy premiered in London on 9 May 1957.^[4]

Plot

Jeannie McLean is 28 and lives in rural Vermont. Inheriting a few thousand dollars from her Scottish-born grandfather she was looking after in his old age, she decides to travel to Scotland to see her ancestral country.

On the journey by air and train, Jeannie finds herself continuously near Stanley Smith, a brash washing-machine salesman from Idaho. Having been closely monitored and controlled by her grandfather, she's hesitant to accept his help. However, Jeannie ends up asking for Stanley's aid a few times. His extroverted ways help her through various difficulties such as experiencing turbulence without becoming too nervous, getting through customs and getting seated in the dining car.

Jeannie finally reaches Edinburgh (during the Festival). Losing her room she'd expected to have in a boarding house, she seeks Stanley in his hotel. As he's sorting out her room, the impoverished landowner Lord James MacNairn, who has overheard them talking and believes that she is wealthy, introduces himself.

When Jeannie catches out Stanley in a lie, taking out a red-headed model to dinner instead of her as agreed, she breaks off their friendship and accepts James' attentions. After they sightsee in Edinburgh, Jeannie gets herself spruced up in a beauty salon, then splurges on a designer gown.

Stanley still follows her around, with the pretty French redhead in tow, including taking seats right behind James and Jeannie at the ballet, and inviting them to join him and the model in a restaurant. However, still sore at him, she disregards his invitation.

James takes Jeannie to see Loch Lomond, then to a family wedding of her distant relative and finally to his family home - a huge castle. However, he is restricted to a very small wing of the castle with his housekeeper Miss Cathie, and the rest of the building is open to the public.

James asks Jeannie to marry him, but before she can answer him Stanley approaches them. She tells him she's engaged and he leaves upset. When James learns that she has spent all her inheritance which was only a few thousand, he confesses he originally wanted her for her money but now really does love her. However, now knowing that he is needing someone with money, she turns him down.

Jeannie returns home to Vermont, but Stanley, having made a major sales coup, tracks her down. After declaring his love, he proposes and she accepts.

Cast

Vera-Ellen as Jeannie MacLean (singing voice was dubbed by Joan Small)
Tony Martin as Stanley Smith
Robert Flemyng as Lord James MacNairn
Zena Marshall as Helene
Helen Horton as Sadie Whitelaw
Beckett Bould as Rev. MacDonald
Alfred Burke as French Ticket Clerk
Vernon Greeves as First Air France Steward
Richard Molinas as Bearded Man
Eugene Deckers as Diner Car Attendant
Russell Waters as Hotel Reception Clerk
Paul Young as Page Boy, Bobby
Peter Sinclair as MacTavish
Magda Miller as Mrs. MacTavish
Brian Oulton as Hotel Valet
Guy Middleton as Mr. Fielding
Katherine Kath as Mrs. Fielding
Charles Carson as Mr. Ferguson, Lawyer
Jock McKay as Elderly Dancer
Michael Anthony as Monsieur Fior
Jameson Clark as MacPhail
Eric Pohlmann as Customs Official
Carl Duering as Customs Inspector
Molly Weir as Flower Girl
Ewan Roberts as Hotel Porter
Jean Cadell as Mrs. Cathie
Gordon Jackson as Dougal MacLean

Production

Location filming took place in Edinburgh and other locations in Scotland, Paris, and Thirlestane Castle which serves as Lord James' country house.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b "Let's Be Happy". BFI. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
^ Holmes, Su (2005). British Tv & Film Culture in the 1950s: Coming to a TVv Near You. Bristol UK & Portland, Oregon: Intellect. p. 227.
^ Let's Be Happy at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
^ ^a ^b ^c "Let's Be Happy - Stylish Strictly showgirl pop art by Art & Hue". Art & Hue.
^ Lobosco, David (21 December 2012). "A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: VERA-ELLEN: THE LATER YEARS". A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
^ Maslin, Janet (21 December 1983). "Lilienthal's 'Mr. Wonderful'" – via NYTimes.com.
^ "Let's Be Happy". REELSTREETS. Retrieved 13 May 2021.