I don't think that Frank Capra's Here Comes the Groom could get made these days. Not because it's particularly offensive or racist or anything, but because its main narrative is kind of skeezy. It focuses on a newspaper reporter played by Bing Crosby who, in an attempt to woo back his once fiancee, adopts two French war orphans and brings them home to the States. After being told that he has only a few days to become legally married before the US government removes the children from his care and returns them to France, Crosby begins to use every trick in the book to manipulate her into marrying him. Of course, this is difficult considering that she has already accepted a marriage proposal from another, more wealthy suitor. Part of Crosby's plan is getting the children emotionally attached to her and vice versa. Listen, I totally understand that in the context of this movie Crosby is a nice, warm-hearted guy. He really does mean well. But this plot still feels gross. It doesn't help that the musical numbers are some of the most jarring and perfunctory that I have encountered in quite some time. None of them cleanly transition from the non-musical scenes. Therefore, each one of them arrives with a resounding, uncomfortable thud. Still, it was nice seeing Louis Armstrong pop up for a bit in one of the first musical numbers. But what was up with the prolonged opera sequence near the beginning? Did it really have to go on for so long?
5/10
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