Lady In The Dark

LADY IN THE DARK seemed like a breakthrough on Broadway, where it featured Danny Kaye and Victor Mature in support of Gertrude Lawrence. Unfortunately, none of these suitably cast players made it to the screen version, and the loss is evident. Also regrettable is the excising of several wonderful Weill-Gershwin tunes from the play in favor of new songs that don't enhance the plot. As if all this weren't enough, even the original's book doesn't seem quite as good as its reputation would suggest.

Ginger Rogers (in her first color film) is Liza Elliott, a magazine editor who's on the verge of a nervous breakdown, partly because she has too many men in her life. She...