MEET ME IN LAS VEGAS (1956)
Article 2091 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-6-2006
Posting Date: 5-4-2007
Directed by Roy Rowland
Featuring Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Agnes Moorehead

A cowboy with a bad losing streak comes to Vegas, and he wins for the first time when he grabs the hand of a ballerina for luck. He soon discovers that she is his lucky charm, and that he can’t lose when he’s holding her hand. They begin to fall in love.

This slight musical with fantasy overtones (the amazing good luck when they hold hands is the fantastic element) works well enough for the first half of the movie, thanks to a likable cast and some truly colorful characters (in particular, the Hungarian blackjack dealer played by Oskar Karlweis who can’t stand to see the cowboy gamble away his money is a favorite). but it starts to wear thin in the second half, partially due to some odd musical choices (the Sleeping Beauty ballet sequence feels out of place, in particular) and to the fact that the story takes some fairly glum twists towards the end. There are some really fun moments, though; I especially like Dan Dailey’s duet with Mitsuko Sawamura. It has a fun little cameo from Frank Sinatra, and another from Peter Lorre (his sole line is “Hit me, you creep!”). Mel Welles has an uncredited appearance in here as well.