BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

gavin6942 Farm family Frake, with discontented daughter Margy, head for the Iowa State Fair. On the first day, both Margy and brother Wayne meet attractive new flames; so does father's prize hog, Blue Boy.I really liked this film from the opening shots. The first song is great, and includes the phrase "dollars to doughnuts", which I always thought was a strange one. Now I know where it comes from. After that, it sort of goes downhill. Most of the songs are rather dated, and the overall romance stories are cheesy. Granted, this is supposed to be a stage musical, so it has to be rushed a little... but it seems off.I really liked the pig, though. More pig and more catchy tunes and this would be a definite winner.

gkeith_1 Our Ohio State Fair is a great state fair. During the gloomy winter months (like now), I can picture our own state fair beginning next July (only 7 months away!) and think of this movie at the same time. I like this movie better than the 1962 version, because I feel that this 1945 version is warmer, homier and more nostalgic than the later version. Blue Boy is the star. He is a main reason for going. So is mother's canned pickle. The drunk judge is hilarious. Winninger and Bainter fabulous. "Grand Night for Singing". In my childhood, there were the Silver Airplanes (I called them that) in an amusement park. I think they were really early spaceship models. I love this song. Fifteen seconds of Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain (dubbing?) singing this song in those silver airplanes have forever melted in my memory ever since I first saw them in this movie. The other characters sing verses of this song, but IMO Dana's and Jeanne's part is way more memorable. I like the singing hayseed red-bearded Ioway men. This is also a memorable scene, and to this day I still find it snappy and memorable -- also not too hokey (or hokey-pokey, as S.Z. Sakall would say). Coloration still excellent. Costumes and hair colors show up very well. Movie a little draggy in places, however. I still give it high marks. 9/10.

mark.waltz For their second venture together, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II headed from the plains of Oklahoma to the farmland of Iowa where country folk prepare for the state fair, pop Charles Winninger certain that his prize hog will be top dog, mom Fay Bainter certain that her mince meat is certain to make the judges' eyebrows raise, and their children (Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes) hope that under the carnival night lights, they'll find romance. "It Might as Well Be Spring", the pretty Ms. Crain sings, and through this Oscar winning song, you see her hopes and dreams, and along with her, you long for her to find them. This, of course, is an adaption of the Philip Stong novel and a remake of a very popular 1933 film which starred the Fox studios sweetheart Janet Gaynor and Will Rogers, the most popular man in America at the time. There would be a third version of the tale, still with Rodgers and Hammerstein's songs attached, in the 1960's, but this middle version is probably the most remembered.Like their previous teaming, Richard and Oscar wrote a tribute song to the state they were praising, and "All I Owe Ioway" is a rip-rousing tribute to one of the gateways to the west. They also contributed a wonderful song celebrating young and old love, with the entire cast singing the merriment of the state fair in "It's a Grand Night For Singing". Of course, the non-singing Crain and Dana Andrews (as the city slicker reporter Crain falls for) are dubbed, but you do get to hear the remainder of the cast's real voices, including Vivian Blaine who would go onto Broadway legendary status with her nasally Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls", here playing the fair's leading lady in a musical show whom Haymes gets to romance.There's also a nice homage to Rodgers and Hammerstein's next Broadway show, "Carousel", as carnival and amusement park rides of all kinds are utilized as part of the action. There's also humor in watching the preparation of ma's mincemeat and judge Donald Meek's reaction to it, which is priceless. Every moment of this home-spun musical is pure joy, and it will be difficult for repeat viewers not to sing along. It's unfortunate that a Broadway version of this show didn't have a long life, but fortunately a recording of that show (utilizing a few songs from lesser known Rodgers and Hammerstein shows) was made. Animal lovers will delight in the sequence where two hogs involved in the contest begin having a conversation here, and you can just imagine the one hog saying to the other, "Lord, what fools these mortals be...."

dimplet I've seen this musical several times before and enjoyed it well enough, but it never really impressed me. Until this time. I put on the 1962 version, watched about 10 minutes, and decided to switch to the 1945 original. Within five minutes it had introduced the theme and had me hooked, and by 10 minutes it had me laughing at some of the same scenes that left me cold with the remake.While I am a great fan of Rodgers & Hammerstein, I hadn't paid much attention to State Fair before. I had always considered Oklahoma! the beginning, and it is, as far as Broadway goes with a debut of 1943, but the film didn't come out until 1955. Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote mostly musicals with an edgy social commentary and included some tears, which are missing from State Fair, which looks weak by comparison. When viewed as their first film, and second musical, the perspective changes. And I'm not so often in the mood for an emotionally stressful musical. State Fair is Rodgers & Hammerstein's most cheerful musical, and their only light comedy, though there is some comedy in all their works. I think in the old broadcast TV rerun movie days, we took this genre for granted, and when I saw State Fair, I basically said, nice movie, and promptly forgot about it. Now I appreciate how delicately and effectively the director Walter Lang worked in the comedy, as well as developed the heart-warming romantic subplots, which modern movies so often flub. I really laughed and chuckled at many scenes, especially the pickle contest tasting, and I genuinely cared about the characters. All the acting was on the mark, even the minor parts, and every scene generated the appropriate emotion, without feeling manipulated. You have to remember when this was made, near the end of WWII, and when it was released, Aug. 30, 1945, shortly after the surrender of Japan. With such timing, Americans must have rejoiced at the return to normalcy State Fair embodied. An edgy, violent musical like Oklahoma! would been wrong for the time. I was just re-watching the Harvey Girls, which came out in January 1946, and it, too, was a light Americana musical. What you see in these two is the birth of the modern film musical, with singing and dancing and a strong plot, but without the crutch of having the leading actors play professional musicians or dancers, as in the 1930s Astaire musicals. The Wizard of Oz in 1939 was actually ahead of these two movie musicals, though it was aimed at children. There is a tip of the hat in State Fair to an even earlier musical, also for children, Disney's enormously successful, but enormously risky, Snow White, the first full-length color animated movie in 1937. Listen to the orchestration and style of the music as Mrs. Frake prepares the mincemeat in the kitchen, particularly as she is grating something -- it matches the style as Snow White is cleaning the kitchen of the seven dwarfs. Their song My State Fair even seems similar to the chords and pace of Disney's Whistle While You Work. I bet audiences in 1945 caught the reference. I guess Rodgers and Hammerstein are giving credit to Snow White as a great musical, and the first to so fully integrate music and plot, as well as including some edgy conflict from the evil queen, perhaps influencing their own approach. The orchestration style reappears briefly near the end of the movie. When I finished watching State Fair, I felt good. This is one of a handful of films that I think you can count on to cheer you up if you are feeling bad, including Princess Bride and Dave. I came away with a new appreciation for the craftsmanship of director Walter Lang, whose credits include The King and I, and No Business Like Show Business.I was also surprised to find that the same Vivian Blaine who plays Emily Edwards also played Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls in 1955. Now that's acting. As a footnote, the philosophizing by Dave Miller was a reference to Ralph Waldo Emerson's great essay, Compensation. This is the underlying theme of the story, and the bet establishes a certain tension that carries through the film. But we see that bad does not have to balance good, if we choose happiness. With its focus on bringing a pig to the state fair, this is an obvious companion to Charlotte's Web; another is Friendly Persuasion. All are fine family movies. I think it is safe to say the original is the best. But this is not to put down the 1962 remake. Actually, I think it would be a fine thing to remake State Fair every couple of decades, setting the story in a new generation. State fairs are in at least their third century now. The fundamentals haven't changed much. I think this is a tradition Rodgers & Hammerstein would have approved.