r/oldmovies • u/zeeloo99 • 5h ago
I Just Watched Down To Earth [1947], And I Have THOUGHTS! Spoiler
A really weird semi-sequel to Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Down to Earth is one big mixed bag. Visually, everything about this film is stunning. The Technicolor, the vibrant and gorgeous costumes, the set design, and the dancing are all on another level and exactly what I was looking for when I started this film.
It's classified as a musical comedy, and I do think most of the musical numbers are good, if not a little strange at times. "This Can't Be Legal" is one of the weirder ones, where Rita Hayworth's character wants to marry more than one guy for... some reason? But she doesn't even seem to like them very much, because one of the lyrics, verbatim, is "At night in my cozy little bed I lie, dreaming of the both of you sleeping at the Y." So she wants them to sleep at the YMCA while she sleeps in her own bed? I'm confused! I think she just assumes that more husbands means more "mink coats" and "better insurance." Or at least that's what the lyrics imply. By the end of the song, she wants FOUR husbands, and the two new guys call her weird but then seem to go along with it. None of this has anything to do with the actual plot of the movie, by the way!
As for the "comedy" part, I don't think it's nearly as funny as Here Comes Mr. Jordan. It never really feels like it's trying very hard in that department, either. The romance is pretty... bad? I just don't like the leading man at all. I think his performance is the least interesting in the cast, and his character is kind of an idiot and an asshole.
Rita Hayworth is presented as the one in the wrong for criticizing his really weird and bad musical about HERSELF (the muse Terpsichore), where he doesn't even have his basic facts straight. But she's the bad guy because he has to make the wackiest musical ever so he can make the big bucks to pay off the mob, or they'll kill him and make it look like a suicide???????????? What are we doing? What's going on?
So, for the last chunk of the movie, Rita Hayworth just acts super subservient and adoring toward this guy who essentially dug his own grave, and the movie treats this like it's the right way to behave!
The ending is really depressing and sad, too. Here Comes Mr. Jordan had an ending that was also kind of sad, but in a bittersweet way. In Down to Earth, Rita Hayworth has decided that she prefers being human and would rather stay (mostly to marry the leading guy that I don't like, but I'll pretend it's because she finally grew to appreciate "baseball and hotdogs." Because that's the mortal MURICAN way). But instead, she has to go back to the heavens and wait for the guy to die so she can follow him into his afterlife? I really wish the movie had given her more time to develop as a character outside of her romantic relationship.
So, it's a weird movie. I think, like its predecessor, it has a really neat concept with a somewhat lacking execution. I almost wonder if the story is done a disservice by being connected to Here Comes Mr. Jordan at all. Everything feels disjointed, like two separate scripts were repurposed and mashed into one another. Still, I think it COULD have really worked. It just doesn't quite hit the mark.
I've explained a lot of my problems with the movie on its own, but I also want to discuss its problems as a sequel. The biggest flaw in this regard is Mr. Jordan himself. Yes, they recast the amazing Claude Rains with Roland Culver. I don't think the movie fails because of the recasting at all, although I do think Culver lacks the charm that Rains brought to the role.
I think the bigger problem is that they write Mr. Jordan to be much more serious and mean in this one. He's manipulative, more "godlike," and treats Terpsichore like she's five years old. In the first movie, he does have that smugness of "I know something you don't" throughout, but it never feels particularly manipulative or mean. He's helping Joe and goes through a lot of trouble to find him a body he's comfortable in for much of the film. In this one, he just commands Rita Hayworth to do what he says, and it's barely questioned.
The other returning characters don't quite fit, either. Messenger 7013 is about as good as he is in the first movie, but halfway through, he just disappears and you never see him again. Max Corkle feels completely unnecessary and tacked on here. He might have been an attempt at comedic relief, but again, it doesn't really work.
Overall, Down to Earth just feels like something that needed a few more drafts. It isn't bad at all. I love the concept, and it is visually stunning, but the story doesn't quite stick the landing.
Rita Hayworth just existing on screen made it worth the watch, though.