...Mr. Peabody, if you would, set the 'way-back' machine to a window of time...a span of years, from the mid-30's, to the late 40's...an uneasy and tumultuous era of progressively nation-involving conflict, culminating & peaking with World War II, and then, the post-war years...nations mourning their brave and battled dead. This was a time when whimsical escapism, fantastic flights of fantasy, and accompanying musical merriment held reign, in the cool and spectacled shrines...those movie palaces of yesteryear. 1941's "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" offered battling boxers, taken away too soon, and coming back to life, haven been given another chance...1937's "Topper" afforded us fun-loving earthbound ghosts, in search of a good deed...1947's "Down to Earth" brought down the very gods from above, solely for the purpose of inspiration...1943's "A Guy Named Joe" also had it's inspiring heavenly protagonist, though in the unlikely guise of a beloved, albeit deceased pilot...1947's "The Bishop's Wife" and 1934's "Death Takes a Holiday" had watchful heavenly angels, as well as brooding angels of death, assuming human form...1944's "Outward Bound" caught snapshot glimpses of a select few in a post-death, afterlife state of limbo, bound for otherworldly destinations...and even the goddess Venus herself, could not help but come down from the heavens, in search of true love, by way of a bumbling, albeit hopelessly lovelorn department store window dresser, in the light-hearted, musically laden, romantic fantasy/comedy fluff from 1948, "One Touch of Venus"...
...Eddie Hatch (Robert Walker), a lowly underling, slavenly employed as a window dresser, at a very posh department store...very mousy and overly kinetic...with one foot in the devoted service of of his work, and the other foot...nearly planted in the grasping, inescapable throes of matrimony, as obnoxiously encouraged by his ditsy, though well-intent and determined girlfriend, Gloria (Olga San Juan), who irritatedly tries to tip these scales in her favor, whenever possible. Given the important task of fixing a problem with unveiling a statue of the Venus to the general public...an elegant and exquisite piece, recent acquired by the store...Eddie becomes quite allured by the beauty of the stone image of Venus, and in the midst of his repairs, compulsively kisses the statue...and becomes quite astonishingly taken aback, when the statue not only comes to life, but also falls in love with him, as the result of his waywardly amorous gesture. Giving in to the initial human instinct of 'hiding the problem', Eddie rushes the lovingly clinging Venus (Ava Gardner) to one of the department store apartment facsimiles, and hilariously finds himself deeply mired in further trouble and turmoil, in his bumbling attempt to explain to his boss, as well as the police, how the statue of Venus has mysteriously disappeared from it's pedestal, in addition to explaining to his suspicion-savvy girlfriend, who the beautiful and mysterious woman is, whom he has been seen keeping company with...
...without a doubt, the exquisitely beautiful and ravishing Ava Gardner's undeniable sexual presence and charisma in the films which she performed in, during this time, possessed a uniqueness unto itself, in the sense that there was an alternating measure of playful innocence amidst her alluring appeal; in "One Touch of Venus", her performance as the love-stricken Venus, to actor Robert Walker's befuddled Eddie, was especially striking and playful...even a bit daring, in both presence AND in performance. As evident, some of the more amusing...even a tad bit risque moments in this endearing, and...well, let's face it...'so sickly sweet, it's cavity-inducing' fantasy, focuses on Venus' captivating sexual beauty, as well as an obvious underlining of suggestion, regarding her and Eddie, going to bed together. Clearly having a lot of fun with his energetic performance as Eddie, "...Venus" definitely proved to be the pinnacle of bumbling light-heartiness in ever-versatile actor Robert Walker's roles to date, as soon after, as the result of two tumultuous marriages, as well as bouts of inexplicably erratic behavior, drunkenness and the eventual nervous breakdown, Robert voluntarily committed himself to a rehabilitative sanitarium; released a year later, he obsessively buried himself into his movie roles...most of which were far more serious, and considerably less comical...progressively working his way to his most famous role as the mesmerizing psychopath, in the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller, "Strangers on a Train"...
...a supporting cast of respectables reside within these film frames, which not only effectively engage the main players, but also help to overall support the very production itself...with actress and comedienne Eve Arden snapping out uproariously angst wisecracks, as the department store's executive secretary...with actor Tom Conway, belting out an initially, albeit amusingly exaggerated pompous, stiff-shirted persona, as the store's manager, who at first sees Venus as a transient nuisance, but eventually melts, and boyishly falls for her captivating charm & beauty, love-drunkenly envisioning her as a glamor girl, conveniently fit for store advertising...and with Dick Haymes, as Joe, Eddie's best friend...and rival, who becomes unwittingly and frustratingly torn between his tried & true, buddy-buddy friendship with Eddie, and his unbequeathed & unherolded affections toward Eddie's unsuspecting beau, Gloria...
...Olive Films' Blu-Ray edition of this originally Broadway-rendered fantasy classic is, for the most part, sublimely sharp and crisp (...though occasionally soft, here and there, indicating the possibility of multiple sources, as far as film prints used), featured here in it's 1:37:1 ration (...with black bars on the sides), and the sound is equally sharp and crisp...especially effective during the softly melodic and serenading musical numbers; however, if this viewer had to give an overall grade on this release, it would have to be merely satisfactory, on account of the bare-bones presentation here...merely the film, with no extras or commentaries...and it seems to this viewer that there just has to be SOMETHING more to be said about this oh-so embraceable film, by film historians and possible powers-that-be, originally behind the making of the film (...that is, outside of the fact that the film...having given the subject matter, a colorfully whimsical, pop-rock '80's spin...was the inspiration for the well-conceived and clever 1987 fantasy/comedy, "Mannequin"). By comparison...a burger on a bun, with no condiments...equally satisfying on a minimal level, and so very disappointing, on the whole...tsk, tsk, tsk...
...however, in regards to the movie itself...must like the captivating Venus herself, quite alluring, irresistible and delightfully whimsical; a sweet-toothed, cotton-candy-poofed, comically romantic delight, which will unwarily carry any potential viewer off into wonderment, and...and...ooof!! Crunch!! Uh, you must excuse me...all this reflective praise and candy-coating has invariably ground in yet another cavity...but in this case, that's a good thing...
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