Ice-Capades (1941)
1h 28m | PG-13
Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating on a different New York rink and pass her off as Karen. The scheme backfires when promoter Larry Herman takes a look at Bob's film and decides to make the skater a star. Unfortunately, it's actually amateur (and illegal immigrant) Marie Bergin in the newsreel footage, not the great figure skater from Switzerland. Chaos ensues as Bob tries to straighten everybody out.
Director: Joseph Santley
Studio: Republic Pictures
Genre: Comedy, Music, Romance
Video: 720p
Cast
James Ellison
as Bob Clemens
Jerry Colonna
as Colonna
Dorothy Lewis
as Marie Bergin aka Anderson
Barbara Jo Allen
as Vera Vague
Phil Taylor
as Ice-Capades Skater
Alan Mowbray
as Pete Ellis
Reviews
“Is that a moustache or are you wearing a squirrel?” … and that’s one of the better quips from this rather mixed up musical comedy. It centres around the cynical “Bob” (James Ellison) who was supposed to film some ice skaters, but missed the plane! Reckoning that one of those critters looks just like another, he heads to the local rink in Central Park where he encounters the versatile young “Marie” (Dorothy Lewis) whom he thinks will make perfect fodder for his film. Job done, he hopes to forget all about it but promoter “Larry” (Phil Silvers) sees the thing and reckons she has what it takes to star in his “Ice-capades” feature. A deal is duly done, but when he comes face to face with his signing, he discovers that she isn’t what he was expecting and the woman he was is on the wrong end of an issue with the US immigration authorities. With the big boss irked somewhat, he and sidekick “Pete” (Alan Mowbray) have to find a way to keep the real star in the country - and that can only be done with a few vows and a band of gold. That’s assuming she ever stays put long enough for anyone, who now also includes “Bob” as well, to actually woo her. Those are the bare bones of the plot, but they don’t really make so much impact on a film that is essentially just a vehicle for us to enjoy some amiably scored routines on the ice that marry some considerable skill, a little predicable slapstick and an impressive performance four foot off the ground on stilts! It’s probably half an hour too long and it does labour the joke a little, but there are enough redeeming scenes to make it worth watching, you'll just probably never recall it afterwards.