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Good News

GOOD NEWS

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CREDITS

1947, 93 minutes, Technicolor.
Producer, Arthur Freed; Director, Charles Walters; Screenplay, Betty Comden and Adolph Green; Music Director, Lennie Hayton; Choreography, Charles Walters and Robert Alton.

CAST

Connie Lane, June Allyson; Tommy Marlowe, Peter Lawford; Pat McClellan, Patricia Marshall; Babe Doolittle, Joan McCracken; Bobby Turner, Ray McDonald; Danny, Mel Torme; Peter Van Dyne III, Robert Strickland; Coach Johnson, Donald MacBride; Pooch, Tom Dugan; Professor Kenyon, Clinton Sundberg; Beef, Loren Tindall; Cora, Connie Gilchrist; Dean Griswold, Morris Ankrum.

SONGS

Just Imagine; The Best Things In Life Are Free; Lucky in Love; The Varsity Drag; He's a Ladies Man; Tait Song by Buddy De Sylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson; Pass That Peace Pipe by Roger Edens, Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin; The French Lesson by Roger Edens, Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"Peter Lawford plays the girl-crazy football hero who is more notable for his brawn (?) on the field than his brain in the classroom. When he learns he's about to flunk French and won't be able to play in the Big Game, he's tutored to success by June Allyson, a plain-Jane given to Peter Pan collars and looking hurt. To no one's surprise - least of all the audience's - he goes out and saves the day for good old Tait College, then opts for the egghead instead of the sexy vamp (Patricia Marshall) he's been dating. Surprise - June's not so square after all, cause she can do the 'Varsity Drag.' "
- Lawrence B. Thomas, The MGM Years

NOTES

". . .a colorful remake of the campest of all campus comedies. . .knockout entertainment. . .every number was a gem. . ."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Even though an oldtimer may view Good News with mocking eyes. . .the pleasures of reminiscence which the picture affords are worthwhile."
- Bosley Crowther, The New York Times

"One of the best of the lighthearted rah-rah college musicals."
- Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies


ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION:
Best Song - "Pass That Peace Pipe"

This was the film debut of Joan McCracken.

This was the directorial debut of Charles Walters.

This was the screenwriting debut of Comden and Green.

MGM had previously filmed Good News in 1930.

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